My fustrations of Kobos personalized book offerings, recommendations etc.
1. marking books as "not interested" or "already read";
2. rating books that have been read;
3. book genres that I will not read ever
This doesn't stop Kobo from offering these marked books over and over again.
They randomly show up under "similar books you reading", "featured" or "new releases" (in case of a rerelease). Regardless how many times I've stated that I was not interested in that particular book.
Or get genre specific recommendations. E.g. I've never read science fiction books in my life, never opened a science fiction book on the Kobo webiste, or read a book preview or stated that I was interested in this genre. On the contrary, I've always marked science fiction books as "not interested". But without avail, Kobo keeps pushing this genre (and others too).
4. Offering books in foreign languages
Kobo keeps offering books in foreign languages like Italian and German (or any language that is not your native and/or local language), while I never ever bought or looked at books that are written in Italian or German.
Even that I can read German, I don't read German books. I do read German magazines but that is totally not releated to Kobo.
Kobos policy seems to be that users should be offered books no matter what. If there are not enough books to offer in the local language then offer them in a foreign language. Regardless a user is interested or can actually read that specific foreign language.
This is probably not an issue if you local language is English.
5. Try to sell me a book that I've already bought
They occasionally even try to make me buy a book that I already bought in the Kobo store.
It is very unlikely that I will buy a second copy of a book that I've already bought in the Kobo shop or a book that I have marked as "already read" or "not interested".
Or, when I rate a book it means that I've read it! Don't keep offering me those books. I will not buy them.
The current implementation of book offerings is not functioning very well.
The conversion rate between "personalized book recommendations" and "actual book sales based on these recommendations" must be very low because it contains to much noise. In this case noise means garbage.
1. marking books as "not interested" or "already read";
2. rating books that have been read;
3. book genres that I will not read ever
This doesn't stop Kobo from offering these marked books over and over again.
They randomly show up under "similar books you reading", "featured" or "new releases" (in case of a rerelease). Regardless how many times I've stated that I was not interested in that particular book.
Or get genre specific recommendations. E.g. I've never read science fiction books in my life, never opened a science fiction book on the Kobo webiste, or read a book preview or stated that I was interested in this genre. On the contrary, I've always marked science fiction books as "not interested". But without avail, Kobo keeps pushing this genre (and others too).
4. Offering books in foreign languages
Kobo keeps offering books in foreign languages like Italian and German (or any language that is not your native and/or local language), while I never ever bought or looked at books that are written in Italian or German.
Even that I can read German, I don't read German books. I do read German magazines but that is totally not releated to Kobo.
Kobos policy seems to be that users should be offered books no matter what. If there are not enough books to offer in the local language then offer them in a foreign language. Regardless a user is interested or can actually read that specific foreign language.
This is probably not an issue if you local language is English.
5. Try to sell me a book that I've already bought
They occasionally even try to make me buy a book that I already bought in the Kobo store.
It is very unlikely that I will buy a second copy of a book that I've already bought in the Kobo shop or a book that I have marked as "already read" or "not interested".
Or, when I rate a book it means that I've read it! Don't keep offering me those books. I will not buy them.
The current implementation of book offerings is not functioning very well.
The conversion rate between "personalized book recommendations" and "actual book sales based on these recommendations" must be very low because it contains to much noise. In this case noise means garbage.