When tailored personalisation becomes too much personalisation

Why FEDESSA have adopted a 70/30 rule

As membership professionals, we're constantly told that the more personalised the member journey, the better. The conventional wisdom promises that hyper-targeted content will deliver more value, drive higher engagement, and increase system utilisation. Members will be more satisfied, more active, and more likely to renew when everything is tailored specifically to their preferences and behaviours. But what if this fundamental assumption is wrong?

The quest for perfect personalisation can sometimes lead associations down a rabbit hole.

You start with good intentions - wanting to deliver exactly the right content to exactly the right members at exactly the right time. Before you know it, you've created dozens of micro-segments, each receiving carefully curated content based on their interests, job level, and engagement history.

But what happens when your members start actively engaging with the content they weren't "supposed" to see?

That's exactly what happened to FEDESSA (the Federation of European Self Storage Associations), and it led to one of the most important realisations about content strategy that any association can learn from.

 

The personalisation paradox

Rennie Schafer, CEO of FEDESSA, had built what many would consider a personalisation success story. Representing over 2,500 self-storage facilities across 15 national associations, they'd created sophisticated member segmentation that could target communications based on interests, job seniority, engagement levels, and geographical location.

Their ReadyMembership platform was humming with conditional content filters, automated workflows, and precisely targeted messaging. It was a personalisation enthusiast's dream.

This observation led FEDESSA to a counterintuitive discovery: they'd taken personalisation too far.

The 70/30 revelation

Rather than doubling down on more sophisticated targeting, FEDESSA took a step back and developed a 70/30% rule. They discovered that the most effective content strategy wasn't about maximising personalisation - it was about finding the sweet spot between relevant targeting and broad appeal.

"So we end up creating a whole lot of content, which is probably 70% generic, but that 30% of personalisation makes a massive difference in terms of the engagement with the member," Schafer explains.

This hybrid approach recognises something fundamental about association membership: people join for community and broader industry insights, not just narrowly focused content that matches their stated preferences. Sometimes the most valuable content is the information they didn't know they needed.

Why less targeted can be more effective

FEDESSA's experience highlights a crucial truth that many associations miss: personalisation fatigue is real. When every piece of content is hyper-targeted, members can end up in information bubbles that actually limit their engagement with the organisation.

Email and website behaviour analytics became goldmines for insights, showing FEDESSA exactly when members engaged with generic versus personalised content. This data-driven approach meant they could be strategic about where to apply their 30% personalisation for maximum impact.

The results tell the story

Since implementing their hybrid strategy, FEDESSA's results have been remarkable:

320% increase in email click-through rates

Member retention jumped from 85% to 94%

29% boost in event attendance

50% of members now renew two months early

Administrative time reduced by 12 hours per week

These aren't the metrics you'd expect from "less personalisation," but that's exactly the point. FEDESSA learned that effective personalisation isn't about targeting everything - it's about targeting the right things at the right moments.

Strategic personalisation in practice

FEDESSA's approach has practical applications across their entire member experience. They use their 30% personalisation budget on:

• Renewal communications: Automated reminders sent four months before expiration, personalised based on membership history and engagement
• Event targeting: Conference promotions tailored to geographical location and past attendance patterns
• Regulatory updates: Legal advice filtered by the countries where members operate their facilities
• Engagement nudges: Gentle prompts for late event bookers based on previous behaviour patterns

Meanwhile, their 70% generic content includes industry insights, educational resources, market trends, and community updates that benefit the entire membership base.

The broader lesson for associations

As Schafer puts it: "Personalisation isn't just about kind of making it pretty or putting your name on it or all that kind of thing. It's really about understanding the member and understanding what their needs are and delivering that information."

FEDESSA's 70/30 rule isn't a magic formula - it's a mindset that prioritises member value over personalisation sophistication. It recognises that sometimes the best member experience comes from knowing when not to personalise at all.

For associations drowning in segmentation complexity or wondering why their perfectly targeted campaigns aren't resonating, FEDESSA's approach offers a refreshing alternative: focus your personalisation efforts on the moments that matter most, and let your broader content serve the entire community.

After all, the goal isn't to prove how clever your targeting can be - it's to deliver genuine value that keeps members engaged and coming back for more.

Want to explore how smart personalisation balance could transform your member engagement strategy? Discover more about ReadyMembership's intelligent content capabilities.