This paper explores the concept of tailoring in health communication, emphasizing that it involves individualizing messages to enhance their relevance and effectiveness. Tailoring aims to improve message processing by addressing cognitive preconditions or modifying behavioral determinants of desired outcomes. It employs strategies such as personalization, feedback, and content matching. These strategies are organized in a 2×3 matrix, reflecting different goals and tactics. The paper highlights the need for more specific research questions about how tailoring works, rather than just whether it is effective. It discusses various mechanisms through which tailoring influences health communication, including attention, effortful processing, peripheral processing, self-reference, and immediate determinants of behavior. The paper also outlines three main tailoring strategies—personalization, feedback, and content matching—and their associated tactics. It emphasizes the importance of understanding how these strategies affect different aspects of health communication and the need for further research to clarify their impact. The paper concludes that tailoring research should focus on how and why tailoring works, not just whether it does, and that a deeper understanding of tailoring strategies and their effects is essential for effective health communication.This paper explores the concept of tailoring in health communication, emphasizing that it involves individualizing messages to enhance their relevance and effectiveness. Tailoring aims to improve message processing by addressing cognitive preconditions or modifying behavioral determinants of desired outcomes. It employs strategies such as personalization, feedback, and content matching. These strategies are organized in a 2×3 matrix, reflecting different goals and tactics. The paper highlights the need for more specific research questions about how tailoring works, rather than just whether it is effective. It discusses various mechanisms through which tailoring influences health communication, including attention, effortful processing, peripheral processing, self-reference, and immediate determinants of behavior. The paper also outlines three main tailoring strategies—personalization, feedback, and content matching—and their associated tactics. It emphasizes the importance of understanding how these strategies affect different aspects of health communication and the need for further research to clarify their impact. The paper concludes that tailoring research should focus on how and why tailoring works, not just whether it does, and that a deeper understanding of tailoring strategies and their effects is essential for effective health communication.