How persuasive is personalized advertising? A meta-analytic review of experimental evidence of the effects of personalization on ad effectiveness

Despite the widespread use of personalized advertising, particularly on social media, to enhance brand awareness and engagement through highly targeted campaigns, extant literature suggests that personalization can produce both positive and negative persuasion outcomes. This meta-analytic review of 53 experimental studies addresses this personalization paradox by examining the persuasiveness of personalized advertising. The results indicated that personalized advertising is generally more effective than generic, non-personalized advertising in influencing overall persuasion, consumer attitudes and behavioral intentions. Consistent with congruity and self-referencing theories, meta-analytic structural equation modeling finds that perceived relevance—but not perceived intrusiveness—explained the persuasiveness of personalized advertising.