Yes, “personalization” is plastered on our homepage.

I say it out loud at some point in pretty much every conversation to describe what we do.

But no, it does not mean what most people think it means. And it’s time we stop pretending it does.

Let’s rewind. Decades ago, “personalization” was revolutionary. Seeing “Hi Daniel” on an envelope probably felt downright magical when you may have never seen your own name in print before.

Today, this thing would be in the recycling bin before you even made it back into the house. 

And yet, weirdly, our definition of personalization is still stuck there – pasting in names, dropping in job titles, “customizing” based on a few clicks or an open rate.

That’s not personalization. That’s mail merge with nicer fonts.

I get it, you’re using personas! You’ve got research! But if your personalization strategy treats a whole group of people the same, you’re not personalizing. You’re just politely stereotyping.

Personalization Needs to be Personal 

Personalization needs to be about me – the actual me. Not a group of people the same age in the same health condition in the same metropolitan area.

It’s time for an intervention.

Because real personalization is now possible. For real. And AI makes it scalable. Psychology makes it smart.

It’s not just “Hi Dan,” it’s “Hey Dan, you’ve been here twice this week – what’s going on?”

It’s not clicking a button that says “Explore treatment options,” it’s asking a question like “Is this normal?” “Will this go away?” “What would someone like me do next?”

Where to Start

You don’t need a full website overhaul to start. Pick one service line. Skip the demographics. 

Focus on need and emotion. We’ve built a Healthcare Persona Studio – a tool for creating personas based on need and emotional status rather than demographic information – to help with that. It’s a solid first step in the right direction in your current tech environment.

What’s coming next is a revolution – and it’s closer than you think.

What We Do at White Rhino

At White Rhino, we blend AI and our own psychology frameworks to create personal user experiences that improve patient acquisition and retention. There are two specific ways we work with healthcare marketers: 

• Partner with us to improve your patient acquisition strategy –  We build hospital landing pages, websites, and marketing roadmaps that go beyond information architecture – they connect emotionally with patients, caregivers, and clinicians, inspiring trust and action.
• Use our AI-driven tools – We’ve built a suite of tools powered by AI and our behavioral framework for healthcare marketing. They’re HIPAA-compliant and include our Healthcare Persona Studio. Ask us for more information and to demo them.

Let’s stop calling mail merge “personalization.” Let’s make experiences that feel more like a 1:1 conversation and less like a form letter.

Because that’s what patients expect. And it’s finally what we can deliver.