Personalize or Customize?

There are two major trends in displaying information in the interface to users.
Personalized Interface and Customized Interface. Below is the description of differences from the slides of Vinay Mohanty and Devesh Jagatram on slideshare

Customization allows users to explicitly specify what you want. It gives user control at a generic feature level , where users see/hide etc what they want Eg: My Yahoo - user chooses which information elements might be presented on a home page, choosing display colors, etc.

Personalization uses implicit interests and learns what you like from your actions (you are what you click on and what you buy ) E.g. getting the information related to one’s preferences and regular activities Personalization is at the data/ content served level Amazon.com is an example of personalization where the latter learns your interests and adapts to your needs. Personalization also are called 'Adaptive Interfaces'

This brings the question where do I which one?
Customize interfaces to

• Prioritize content
• User controlled content
• Customized Look & Feel for each user
• Promote regular usage

Customizable interfaces work for interfaces like My Yahoo! Here user can customize features like colors / layout , placement of features on screen, etc.

Personalize when you need to

• Promote sales of various products
• Build a relationship that encourages the customer to return
• Provide customized experience for online shopping to make it as real as in-person shopping
• Target each individual customer differently by providing one-to-one marketing
• Predict customer needs and purchase patterns
• Identify customer characteristics by initiating 2 way communication
• Make the interaction efficient and satisfying for both parties

A good example is Amazon.com. Personalization features in Amazon record customer preferences by asking her to rate/tag products ( 2 way communication), displaying recommendations based on user's shopping history or wish list.

Personalization doesn't waste time as it shows users what everyone else sees and then asking you to search or display / hide things. Make the interaction efficient and satisfying for both parties.

Personalization is increasingly becoming popular as it offers a way to focus on customers / users. Tools like collaborative filtering, rating, click stream analysis, cookies help personalization.

Few examples where it can be used - e-Retailer promotion, Financial portal content recommendation, Help desk or on-line technical support content, Gift recommendations for e-Retailer, Music, movie, book , or other product rating and recommendations, Travel - trip planners

Before defining the interface, decide which one you want to choose. Define what you want the interface to accomplish and select accordingly.

Few materials online -
http://www.slideshare.net/write2vin/user-experience-issues-personalization-vs-customization-presentation
http://www.slideshare.net/stephenpa/the-conversation-gets-interesting-creating-the-adaptive-interface