1. WHITEPAPER / SITE OPTIMIZATION
Taking Control with
Marketing Optimization
Personalization is Key to Success

2. INTRODUCTION
Your company spends lots of money driving people to your site. Is your organization getting the most out of
those people? Proper testing and targeting fuels a relevant, personalized web experience that results in
more money for your company. Customers are asking for a personalized web experience. It’s time to listen,
and deliver.
This white paper examines why giving the consumer a personalized experience is no longer a choice but a
mandate and how marketers are listening to consumers in order to improve their experience through
digital marketing optimization.
The move from a traditional pushed marketing message to a consumer pull strategy has fundamentally
changed the way organizations look at marketing. For many consumers, their experience with a brand
online is key to evaluation and perception which influences if they interact with that company moving
forward.
Providing an experience which feels personal and relevant to the individual is critical. Websites can provide
a rich data environment, even in the absence of registration or log-in which can create a dynamic and
valuable experience for both user and brand. Making that happen requires a combination of the right
technology and a marketing process specifically designed to optimize the digital channel.
WHITEPAPER / SITE OPTIMIZATION 2

3. GETTING PERSONAL MEANS GETTING BUSINESS
Consumers have choices. Whether it be the channel in which they make a purchase or the brand of product
they choose, they have a choice. In this competitive landscape, how do organizations differentiate
themselves? For brands, becoming a part of a consumer’s lifestyle is central to nurturing long-term
customer relationships.
Companies are adopting a personalized approach to marketing that has conditioned consumers to expect
customized service anywhere they go online. From Amazon’s cohort marketing – presenting items that
other people have bought at the same time as the product being considered – to the grocery store clubcards
that reward loyalty with offers based on previous purchases, marketing as a personalized exchange based
on known preferences, behaviors and demographics has become much more sophisticated.
E-Commerce Scenario – From Store Front to Your Front
Online retailers face even more of a challenge in getting new products noticed, especially in multi-line
stores, because of the breadth of the proposition and the narrowness of the window of attention.
One in four consumers do not notice new food products on the shelf when they are shopping,
according to Datamonitor. And that is in the physical environment where the eye is able to roam across
physical space and take in information rapidly.
For high-inventory, “long tail” vendors, meeting the individual needs of visitors to their specialist
outlet is essential to business success. Yet most of the focus has been on using the digital channel to
gain advantages of distribution, supply chain ef ficiency and price comparison. Personalization has
of ten been restricted to broad product categories based on previous purchases.
Without the physical constraints, however, online retailing is better placed to pitch its merchandise and
of fers – and so build a higher basket value per visit – provided it leverages the right data and technical
infrastructure. That is what an optimized environment delivers. It allows an online retailer to begin
personalizing the experience from the first visit, even before the identity of a visitor is known.
Using referring data, such as search term or af filiate origin, a new visitor can be presented with
marketing of fers and content based on business rules developed from historical data. By testing many
combinations of these propositions, the of fers being served can be progressively optimized.
Navigation paths through the site can also be used to define content dynamically, but not randomly,
through the deployment of Next Best Of fer type models.
Once a visitor has registered or transacted, the full richness of personal information can be brought to
bear to provide a true, individual experience.
WHITEPAPER / SITE OPTIMIZATION 3

4. THE POWER TO KNOW
The next step is to develop segment-based of fers and content. First generation technologies of ten
restricted these targeted of fers to a few fixed areas on the site such as banners or skyscrapers, or lef t the
process to external advertising networks to manage.
As technology has advanced, websites can now combine multiple data sources to gain true intelligence
about an individual while also supporting real-time multivariate testing of every element with which
visitors interact. The knowledge gained with these new technologies progressively builds a rich, profile of
the individual which can be leveraged as a highly ef fective marketing tool for the business.
In a study of 6,474 users of a ringtone website, it was found that content matched to a user’s preferences
not only gained higher levels of consideration than non-matched content by 25%, but that users
downloaded more preference-matched ringtones (66.2%) than when presented with random selections
(42.2%). (Source: Personalization and Choice Behaviour, Ho et al).
Lead Generation Scenario – From Who to When?
Rather than the old method of casting a broad net of prospecting messages then qualif ying the
individual when they arrive at the website, a warm prospect can be pre-qualified through data
gathering and profiling then delivered to the right touchpoint for conversion.
The same data capture process used by external lead generation networks can now be deployed into
the corporate website to allow for on-site qualification and marketing optimization. The starting point
is to capture visitor characteristics and behavior from the clickstream. A wealth of important indicators
can be picked up in this way from before the visitor comes to the website through search terms or from
the origin of a clickthrough, data can also be geo-coded using the IP address.
From these sources, segments can be created that clearly distinguish between dif ferent types of visitor
and the way they act on site. Content is served based on these segment definitions – from marketing
collateral to product assortment through to data capture surveys. Over time, patterns can be
determined through testing that allow the site to be optimized for each segment and, ultimately as
data integration becomes more extensive, down to the individual level.
WHITEPAPER / SITE OPTIMIZATION 4

5. HELPING CUSTOMERS HELP THEMSELVES
The rise of digital media has given customers unprecedented ways of interacting with organizations.
While keeping the cost of access low and creating a virtual 24/7 presence for the organization, online
self-service fits well into a consumer’s busy lifestyle and compressed attention span.
According to the annual NCR Self-service Survey, 86% of consumers say they are more likely to do business
with a company that of fers a self-service option up from 77% the year prior. A majority (52%) say it gives
them a more positive view of the provider’s brand to have this flexibility.
While customers save time and organizations save on costs, there is huge potential for upside for an
organization.
Customers of ten use self-service facilities in a purely transactional mind-set, entering with a specific goal
and looking to achieve that goal as quickly as possible. In other channels such a phone purchase,
organizations can cross-sell and up-sell allowing the customer to feel understood and supported.
Online, an optimized self-service site can make more dynamic use of their their of fer models. At
registration, a customer can be served of fer A which is related to content or products they recently viewed,
for example. If this of fer does not generate a click, of fer B can be introduced and so on through the course
of the consumer’s visit.
Not only does this open up every consumer visit as an upsell opportunity, it also enhances the customers’
experience by expanding their knowledge of the product and service range, pricing and of fers available.
Since these messages are visible but do not interfere with the transaction itself, the negative impact is
minimal to non-existent on visit duration for a customer who is not interested in these of fers.
Self-Service Scenario - From Friction-Free to Stick-With-Me
Bills and statements are an important contact point for any company that has an ongoing relationship
with its customers involving recurring payments or service usage. For customers, this information has
always been delivered on a schedule that suits the company.
Opening up online self-service changes this dynamic by allowing customers to access account
information at any time. It can also deliver an environmental benefit by eliminating the need for
printed output. Many banks and telecommunications companies have used this to incorporate a
marketing message to persuade customers to switch from printed statements to online.
If the customer is able to log-in whenever they choose, then the organization should be ready to
capitalize on this free advertising platform and promote additional products and services during that
visit, otherwise it loses a valuable opportunity. Optimizing this channel with relevant real-time
marketing content and service information is critical.
In this approach, the system draws on detailed profile and history information as each customer logs
in. This identifier should be the trigger for a system of rules that dynamically pull up the most
appropriate messages for that customer and serve them in real-time within the self-service site.
For the customer, this optimized visit will feel highly personal, even if the propositions have only been
built at a segment level. The incremental revenue which can be driven in this way can be significant,
especially if the of fers are closely aligned to the service action – for example, promoting travel
insurance if a customer is ordering foreign currency online.
WHITEPAPER / SITE OPTIMIZATION 5

6. WEBTRENDS OPTIMIZE - A RELEVANT EXPERIENCE FOR
EVERY VISITOR
Personalized content can dramatically increase conversion rates. Reaching the point where the optimal
content or offer is made to each customer during a website visit can be challenging for an organization if
resources or budget are constrained. That is why Webtrends brings you Optimize - a self-service platform
or full-service solution specifically designed to enable you to develop your digital content and match it to
specific audience groups.
Optimize provides a unified solution for the key dimension so f dynamic online marketing – testing,
segmentation and targeting. As your ability and knowledge increases, Webtrends optimize scales and
extends your digital marketing reach. Start with the uplift achieved from A/B or multivariate testing then
progress to predictive analytics to decide which offer a visitor should receive in real-time. All using the
same elegant technology platform.
Optimize segmentation lets you focus your offers to specific visitor types, whether it be by geo-location,
new visitors or returning customers just to name a few. Build a segment library for re-use across your
online estate and within existing channels. As you would expect with Webtrends, you can access any
available data for use within the segmentation process.
Segmenting content can be progressively optimized until you reach the point where targeting by user is
appropriate and achievable. Your optimal offer or content can be delivered to segments which have been
identified as the most valuable or important to your business. Optimize supports the delivery of a true
one-to-one customer experience by targeting to the individual using a rules engine that turns tested
results into continuous positive outcomes.
CONCLUSION: PERSONALIZATION IS KEY TO GROWTH
Providing the customer a customized experience is easily attainable. With the right technology and
resources, organizations can take incremental steps to personalized digital optimization.
With the arrival of a new generation of website management platforms, marketing is now able to create a
customized experience for the consumer.
For the consumer, this means a website that enables the visitor to quickly find the information they are
looking for. For the organization, this means having the ability to align products and services to the
consumers’ interest.
By having the technology resources to effectively conduct multivariate testing and customize content ever
easier to manage is critical to the success of an organization. To effectively take advantage of the
technology,
Consumers want a personalized experience. They want to know that companies are paying attention and
can add value to their experience. It is time for Marketing to deliver.
WHITEPAPER / SITE OPTIMIZATION 6

7. 851 SW 6th Ave., Suite 1600 Webtrends Sales Europe, Middle East, Africa For offices worldwide, visit:
Portland, OR 97 204 1.888.932.87 36 + 44 (0) 1784 415 700 www.Webtrends.com
1.503.294.7025 sales@Webtrends.com emea@Webtrends.com
fax: 1.503.294.7 1 30
About Webtrends Inc.
Webtrends is the global leader in mobile and social analytics. We help marketers create, measure and improve campaigns for more than 7,000 leading
brands including: The New York Times, Microsoft, BMW, RIM, China Telecom, China Mobile, CCTV, Tencent QQ, Hitachi, The Associated Press, HSBC,
Barclays, Vivo Cellular and Petrobras. Our leadership extends beyond the web analytics industry we founded to the measurement, optimization and
integration of all digital content and customer intelligence, including web sites, social media, mobile and paid-search advertising. Webtrends is a registered
trademark of Webtrends Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the properties of their respective
owners.
WHITEPAPER / SITE OPTIMIZATION 7