Outsmarting the Devil: How to Add Product Personalization Features Without Jeopardizing Brand Image

Product personalization has ancient roots in woodblock garment printing from around 200 CE in China, but it wasn’t until the advent of mass marketing of standardized goods post World War II that customization at scale became possible.

Now, new production methods let retailers like Zazzle offer shoppers the ability to print their own images onto sandals and Mars to sell personalized M&Ms for any occasion. Meanwhile, new fulfillment strategies give consumers access to limitless combinations of materials, allowing brands like Knoll to offer custom furniture textile patterns.

E-commerce brands must offer such customization options to engage customers in exciting new ways, giving them a hand in the creation process and beating the competition. Shoppers expect their interactions with a brand to be seamlessly tailored to their tastes across multiple channels, and that includes product options that indulge in this level of hyperpersonalization. The growth of the metaverse will only deepen this desire, allowing consumers to create unique objects for their avatars and even order real versions for themselves.

According to Deloitte, close to one in five (19 percent) consumers have purchased a customized article of clothing, and 20 percent of those interested in doing so would be willing to pay a 20 percent premium.

However, offering personalized products is a devil’s bargain for brands in the digital age — essential for establishing deeper relationships and driving sales, but dangerous for brand image and customer experience.

When users choose how to personalize their products before a purchase, companies are exposed to the risk of copyright infringement or publication of illicit content. Even if a user’s submission is “safe for work,” it could be harmful to the brand (NSFB) by going against its values in order to embarrass or provoke reaction.

To confidently offer customization options, brands must understand the true extent of the threat and refine their content moderation strategies to stay ahead of bad actors.

The True Danger of Product Customization

Brands receive thousands of custom product submissions per day and 42 percent of these contain copyright infringement. Allowing shoppers to print custom T-shirts featuring another company or individual’s intellectual property would not only clash with that brand’s image but could also have legal repercussions.

Beyond copyright infringement, every one in 24 user submissions is not safe for work (NSFW) and, even more common, roughly one in 19 are NSFB. These aren’t occasional threats; retailers deal with thousands of potentially compromising user submissions per day while meeting customer demands for personalization.

Strategies to Preserve Brand Image

Each brand’s content moderation strategy must be tailored to its individual needs; some brands accept more edgy or gray area content in their submissions while others won’t take the risk. Choosing what gets through, however, should be the brand’s decision and a deliberate policy, not a matter of chance.

Brands must balance moderation with consumer expectations, requiring both rapid and thorough review to minimize risk. If the process takes too long, shoppers could abandon their carts; too short, and companies risk letting NSFB designs slip through the cracks.

Employing a combination of human moderators and artificial intelligence (AI) tools can help create this balance. AI tools immediately assess images as they’re uploaded within the product designer, eliminating any obviously illicit images, explicit text, or common copyright issues. Before the design is finalized, a human moderator can take a second look and recognize nuances AI failed to catch, like subtle sexual innuendos, sarcasm or highly distorted — but still recognizable — logos or other intellectual property. In this way, brands ensure customers receive timely responses while conserving their human workforce to review only the edge cases.

Customized content is essential to capturing shoppers who demand products molded to their exact specifications. By intercepting inappropriate content before patrons hit print, e-commerce brands can protect themselves from designs that will jeopardize their brand image without losing the ability to establish a one-of-a-kind connection with their customers.

Joshua Buxbaum is the co-founder and chief growth officer at WebPurify, a platform for AI and live image moderation, video moderation, profanity filtering, and nudity detection to keep kids safe online.