We’ve all sat in those planning meetings. The ones where someone asks: “So… what’s the ROI of personalisation?” Cue the usual responses: conversion uplifts, incremental revenue, a handful of customer quotes, maybe a bar chart or two.
But maybe they’re asking the wrong question.
Because while proving the value of relevance is important, the real issue – the one quietly bleeding out your customer value, channel value and eroding your brand equity – is this:
“What’s the cost of irrelevance?”
That’s where the issue really is. And most organisations are paying for it – daily – without even realising.
“When we talk about irrelevance, we’re not talking about creative misfires – we’re talking about systemic waste. Operational drag dressed up as ‘marketing activity’.” – Ross Robinson
Relevance isn’t optional. It’s respect.
Relevance isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the minimum standard customers now expect. It’s how they decide if you’re worth listening to – or ignoring.
McKinsey tells us that 76% of consumers feel frustrated when experiences aren’t personalised. Let’s pause on that: frustrated. Not indifferent. Not bored. Frustrated.
And what do frustrated customers do? They unsubscribe from your comms, either physically or simply mentally They switch. They ghost your brand while you’re still pouring money into the next campaign.
The truth is, irrelevance is insulting. It says: “We have your data, but we’ve done nothing with it.”
It’s the email offering you 10% off something you already bought. The push notification reminding you to download an app you’ve been using for years.
Every one of those moments sends a message. Just not the one you intended.
“Relevance doesn’t just drive performance. It earns the right to communicate again. Without it, you’re just adding to the noise.” – Lynsey Craig
Irrelevance is expensive. And not in the hypothetical sense.
Let’s talk actual costs:
- Churn: 40% of consumers will leave a brand because of irrelevant messaging. Not because of price. Not because of bad service. Because of irrelevance. (Gartner (2021) – Personalization Survey)
- Wasted spend: Every irrelevant email, push, banner or SMS costs you money – in production and media spend,
- Opportunity Cost: One of the most significant yet hidden dangers. Your contact rules will dictate the number of contacts a customer can receive in a period of time. Think of the wastage and lost revenue in ‘using up’ these contacts with irrelevant content.
- Lifetime value leakage: Customers who don’t feel understood don’t buy again. They don’t explore other products. They don’t advocate.
- Digital fatigue: Banner blindness. Inbox apathy. App notifications ignored by default. Once your comms become wallpaper, recovery is hard.
- Operational inefficiency: Irrelevant experiences drive avoidable calls to contact centres, higher servicing costs, and internal rework. It all adds up.
And let’s not forget the slow drip of brand erosion – the cumulative effect of thousands of micro-disappointments that make a customer think: “They just don’t get me.”
“Every generic journey is a missed commercial opportunity. I’m not saying everything has to be hyper-personalised – but you need to understand where relevance and personalization really MATTER and deliver in these moments” – Ross Robinson
Automation doesn’t save you if your inputs are rubbish
There’s a dangerous assumption in many boardrooms: that throwing AI or automation at the problem will fix it.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth:
If your logic is off, if your data’s stale, if your content is generic – all automation does is help you scale irrelevance *faster*. You’re not delivering personalisation. You’re just industrialising noise.
We’ve seen the results:
- A bank promoting student accounts to a customer celebrating their 50th birthday.
- A retailer nudging you about a winter coat… in the middle of a heatwave.
These aren’t edge cases. They’re happening every day – and customers notice.
Irrelevance kills attention
We’re not just competing for wallet share anymore. We’re competing for mindshare. And mindshare is limited.
When your comms are ‘off’, customers don’t just ignore that message – they begin ignoring all messaging in that channel, or worse still, you as a business altogether. You drop down the priority list. You become background noise. This isn’t a slow decline. It’s a cliff edge. One minute you’re relevant, next minute you’re spam.
And once you’ve lost attention, all the retargeting in the world won’t bring it back… even though so many of you think it will… (your CFO would go into shock if they knew the full monetary value of pointless re-targeting that’s happening out there!)
Let’s stop pretending this is theoretical
These aren’t abstract concepts. This is what irrelevance looks like on your P&L:
- Declining engagement rates
- Increased opt-outs and unsubscribes
- Flatlining customer value
- Higher cost to serve
- Degrading ROI on paid and owned channels
You need to fix the basics:
- Know your customer & make sure you utilise their data, especially data points they’ve proactively shared with you!
- Listen to real-time signals and react in a meaningful, timely and appropriate way.
- Design your operations for adaptability, not rigidity. You need to be able to deliver relevance and this requires an operating model that enables this!
And – crucially – you need to start measuring the true business impact of irrelevance.
Introducing the R.E.A.L. Score – Relevance Effectiveness Across Lifecycle – as coined by Ross.
If you’re not measuring irrelevance, you’re probably funding it.
The R.E.A.L. Score is a practical lens for identifying where irrelevance is quietly eroding performance across the customer lifecycle.
| Metric | What It Reveals | Why It Matters |
| R: Retention | Are customers quietly disappearing? | Irrelevant journeys and onboarding = early exits. |
| E: Engagement | Are open, click, or conversion rates flat or declining? | Indicates content or timing isn’t landing. |
| A: Acquisition cost | Are you spending more to get less? | Mis-targeting and noise = rising CPA. |
| L: Lifetime value | Are upsell/cross-sell journeys underperforming? | Without relevance, depth of relationship stalls. |
This isn’t a gimmick. It’s a reality check.
Start by mapping where your communications are missing context, signal, or intent. Then ask: what’s that costing you – in attention, in effort, in return?
This is about commercial discipline as much as customer experience. And now is the time to act.
“Relevance isn’t just a content problem. It’s a commercial one. Every irrelevant moment is a potential hit to your margin and your credibility… hence why ‘Irrelevance’ should be a business wide priority” – Lynsey Craig
Relevance is a growth lever – and a cost management strategy
The brands that win aren’t just more personal. They’re more efficient. More effective. More focused.
Relevance builds trust. Trust builds loyalty. Loyalty reduces churn, increases LTV, and improves ROI.
Ignore that equation and you’re not just missing out on growth. You’re haemorrhaging value.
The cost of irrelevance isn’t coming. It’s already here. Make relevance your default – not just for your customers, but for your bottom line.
Your CFO will thank you. And so will your customers.
Contact Optima Partners here to learn more.
