1.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
TARGETED EXPERIENCES
BY COLIN EAGAN, M.S.
IA Summit | May 7, 2016
PERSONALIZATIONFIVE STEPS TOWARD BUILDING THOUGHTFUL
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE FOR

2.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
COLIN EAGAN
PLEASED TO MEET YOU.
PRINCIPAL, USER EXPERIENCE | ICF OLSON
@colineags #ias16
HIA IA

3.
(Today’s Topic)

4.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
TODAY WE WILL:
EXPLORE AN EXCITING NEW IA POWER:
TARGETED USER CONTENT
LEARN HOW TO USE IT
FOR GOOD OR FOR EVIL
LEAVE YOU WITH A CHOICE

5.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
BUT FIRST, SOME
NUMBERS
Everyone loves numbers.

6.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
Average number of times the online activity of an
average internet user is tracked daily
Source: Acxiom Corp

7.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
Yearly value to Facebook of a female user who is
“very active” on the site (males are worth $22.09).
Facebook has 1.65 Billion Users as of Q2 2016.
Sources: Acxiom Corp; Facebook Newsroom.

8.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
What a “relatively inactive” female user is worth to
Facebook per year (inactive males are worth $9.09)
Source: Acxiom Corp

9.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
ALL OF THESE NUMBERS HAVE
SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE VALUE OF
USER TARGETING
Feeling small?

10.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
WHAT IS TARGETING?
AND WHY DO I CARE.
Glad you asked.

11.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Just as responsive design helps push a
personalized viewing experience to a user’s
screen, targeting helps push a personalized
experience to the user’s content itself.
Simply put, Targeted Content means it is
adaptive to some unique user trait -- be it
something as general as location, or specific
as a browsing history.
The Classic Example: Amazon has targeted users based on data for years.
Credit: Amazon.com
WHAT IS TARGETED CONTENT?
NOTHING NEW.

12.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
TARGETED = CUSTOMIZED BASED ON DATA

13.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Used properly, targeting can dramatically improve the user
experience, saving time and creating trust. Amazon.com has
been doing it effectively for years.
FOR GOOD…

14.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
An innocent search for a muffin recipe fills your browser
with ads from HP for printers. (Note, this is the actual
sales promo from an online advertising company).
Source: Flashtalking Online Advertising. http://www.flashtalking.com/us/targeted-ads/
FOR…GOOD?
WTF?

15.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
ALSO KNOWN AS
STALKER ADS
As in upon seeing one, you might feel a bit like this…

16.
Source:OverlyAttachedGirlfriend

17.
Source:OverlyAttachedBoyfriend

18.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
TARGETING THAT LEAVES A BAD TASTE
Adrants.com

19.
warcraftonline.files.wordpress.com

20.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
In November 2015, started collecting data on the apps
users have installed on their smartphones.
Not just apps they installed from app-install ads on
Twitter, but any app a user downloaded.
It recently started letting advertisers use that data to
target ads.
Facebook has been in the app-install ad market since
2012, part of it’s current $1.95 billion+ / quarter in
revenue from mobile ads
Source: Motley Fool, June 18, 2015
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/06/18/twitter-starts-
using-your-apps-to-target-ads.aspx
TWITTER USES YOUR APPS TO TARGET ADS
AS OF LATE…

21.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
LinkedIn’s “Add Connections” feature led users
to send hundreds of spammy, intrusive emails.
Now, the company will pay to settle a lawsuit.
The settlement documents, which state the
lawyers will receive up to $3,250,000 of the
$13 million, also call for LinkedIn to add
$750,000 to the fund if it appears individual
payments will be below $10.
Source: Fortune Magazine, October 5, 2015
http://fortune.com/2015/10/05/linkedin-class-action/
LINKEDIN TO PAY OUT $13M IN CLASS ACTION
SUIT FOR HIJACKING YOUR IDENTITY VIA EMAIL
EVEN MORE RECENT: ANYONE GETTING IN ON THIS?

22.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Source: AdThis.com
YAHOO’S HOMEPAGE IS JUST PRETY MUCH ALL TARGETING
(NOT THAT YOU GO THERE ANYWAY)

23.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
WHAT ABOUT FACEBOOK TARGETING?
DO YOU TRUST THEM?
Source: AdThis.com

24.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
At its worst, tracking invades privacy and
erodes user trust
The Belgian privacy commission is taking
Facebook to court for its alleged “trampling”
over Belgian and European privacy law.
The lawsuit will be heard in a Brussels after a
report and an opinion published by the
Belgian privacy watchdog that detailed
Facebook’s alleged breaches of European
privacy law, including the tracking of non-
users and logged out users for advertising
purposes.
-via The Guardian June 15, 2015
THE EUROPEAN UNION DOESN’T…

25.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
BACKLASH: COOKIES ARE CLOSELY REGULATED IN THE E.U.
European Union (EU)
regulations now require
sites to inform users if
cookies are active on the
site they are viewing
Source: UPS.com

26.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Cookies are small text files sent from a web
server and stored in a user's browser to track
“stateful” information, like shopping cart.
According to Pew Research, 64% of users
have cleared cookies. 41% disable cookies in
browser.
14% use an anonymous browsing service, like
Evidon's Ghostery and Mozilla's Lightbeam
These services (both free) let users see which
cookies are on their browser, delete them
one by one and block future ones from being
placed.
Source: Wall Street Journal.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304704504579432823496404570
BACKLASH: MORE AND MORE USERS ARE BLOCKING COOKIES

27.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Example of Mashable.com on my
Chrome browser session with
Ghostery enabled (notice the
missing content chunks).
Ghostery can block over 1900
trackers and counting (here one
is DoubleClick, Google’s internet
ad subsidiary).
BACKLASH: GHOSTERY CAN BLOCK OVER 1900 TRACKERS

28.
Source: Ghostery.com

29.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
BUT IT’S HARD TO RUN…
Facebook's "Year in Review" was
intended to highlight and herald your
best moments of 2014. But for some,
the feature only brought back bad
memories of the past 12 months.
This user’s boyfriend’s apartment had
caught fire earlier that year.
Via CBS News December 29, 2014, 12:09 PM
Source: CBS News

30.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
EVEN WORSE.
This user received a photo of
ashes of his dead father.
Source: CBS News

31.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
“INADVERTANT ALGORITHMIC CRUELTY”
In one of the most disturbing
examples, web designer and
speaker Eric Meyer was shown a
photo of his daughter who had
died earlier that year, surrounded
by images of people having a
party.
Meyer called it “inadvertent
algorithmic cruelty.” Facebook
later apologized.
Source: CBS News

32.
WITH POWER COMES
RESPONSIBILITY.

33.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
AND YET DESPITE ALL THAT…

34.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
IF YOU ASK TEN MARKETERS…

35.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Data based on a survey of 1,506 marketing and communications executives worldwide, representing all major
industries. The survey was conducted in the fall of 2014, and follows a similar survey conducted in 2013.
9/10 MARKETERS CAN AGREE!
9/10 Marketers agree “personalization is the way of the future.”
This is us
agreeing.

36.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
HOWEVER IF YOU LOOK AT SPEND…

37.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Before people
get to your site
After people
get to your site
MARKETING $$ IS HIGHLY SKEWED
For every 92 marketing dollars spent trying to lure users to their sites, companies
spent only one dollar trying to keep them there.
$92
$1
Source: AddThis: “Website Personalization: What It Is and How It Can
Help Increase Conversions on Your Site.” Published May 2015

38.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
MARKETING $$ IS HIGHLY SKEWED
$92
After people
get to your site
*TODAY WE
ARE TALKING
ABOUT THIS
EMPTY WHITE
SPACE HERE
For every 92 marketing dollars spent trying to lure users to their sites, companies
spent only one dollar trying to keep them there.

39.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
THIS TALK IS ABOUT
PERSONALIZED UX
ON YOUR OWN WEBSITE
INTELLIGENTLY DESIGNING

40.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
OK, GREAT.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN.

41.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Traditionally, the average UX
person didn’t have much of a role
in targeted ads (marketing) or e-
commerce (proprietary algorithms
like Amazons.)
Now the advent of robust, out-of-
the-box targeting platforms from
big names like Adobe and Sitecore
has democratized the landscape
WHAT’S CHANGED FOR IA PEROPLE:
ENTER THE “EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM”
$40k -- $300k + 20% annually
ASP.NET, C#
$40k -- $500k + 20% annually
ASP.NET, C#
$140k -- $1.2M + 20% annually
JAVA
*Pricing data from: Berndt, John. “Personalization Mechanics:
Targeted Content for Web Teams of All Sizes.” March 10, 2015.
NB: Colin has zero interest in
promoting any of these
products, other than making
you more knowledgeable
about them

42.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
LET YOU CREATE TARGETED VERSIONS OF YOUR OWN SITE
Entire experiences can be targeted, from the images and copy to background colors.
FOR
“HER”
FOR
“HIM”

43.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
JUST A FEW GLOBAL BRANDS USING SOME KIND OF “EMS” TODAY

44.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
LESS EXPENSIVE (SORTA):
THIRD PARTY “OPTIMIZATION SYSTEMS”
$20k -- $250k / year
(a “Drupal Hybrid”)
$20k -- $100k / year
$100k+ / yearly (custom pricing)
$100k+ / yearly (custom pricing)
Can be “plugged in” to any existing site by
inserting some JavaScript in the header of
pages (similar to analytics tagging).
Segmentation and content management is
handled in external tool, not your CMS
“All-inclusive” pricing w/ hosting can be
better for higher-traffic sites
*Pricing data from: Berndt, John. “Personalization Mechanics:
Targeted Content for Web Teams of All Sizes.” March 10, 2015.

45.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
IF YOU’RE NOT USING
TARGETING YET, OR YOUR
CLIENTS AREN’T YET,
CHANCES ARE THAT WILL
CHANGE QUICKLY. AND YOU
NEED TO BE PREPARED.

46.
YOU WILL HAVE
A CHOICE.

47.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Next we will look at the essentials for putting together a targeted information
design using a standard experience management platform, including…
1. Goals & Objectives The Why
2. Audiences & Segments The Who
3. Rules & Campaign The What
4. Testing & Analytics The So What
5. Learn from Others The Whatcha Done
WHAT WE’LL LOOK AT NEXT

48.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
TARGETING STRATEGY
STEP 1 | DO WE EVEN NEED TARGETING?
Does the pool have water in it?

49.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
GOOD REASONS TO TARGET
• Your audience can be segmented in ways that are meaningful
• Narrowing your message provides incremental value
• Targeting is tied to specific business KPIs or objectives
• Because we can.
• Some variation there of.
WHAT TO ASK YOURSELF BEFORE YOU START
BAD REASONS TO TARGET

50.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
1. Like any other content project, begin with intent
2. You still need to determine your core principles and goals
3. The question now is how (or if) targeted content can further
those goals
REMEMBER!
TARGETING ITSELF IS NOT A GOAL. IT’S JUST
ANOTHER TOOL IN THE IA TOOL BOX.

51.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
EXAMPLE: CONTENT GUIDING PRINCIPLES

52.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
AUDIENCE SEGMENTS
STEP 2 | WHO ARE WE TALKING TO?
Once you have your mission, you can
begin segmenting your audience.

53.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
WHAT’S A SEGMENT?
Segments are similar to personas that UX
teams have used for years – a group of users
with some distinguishing trait, like age,
interest, or location.
Generally speaking, targeting can be either:
1. Segment Based (all males 50+)
2. Algorithm Based (previous purchases,
clickstream, etc)
For our purposes, we’ll look at how to set up
Segment-Based targeting, since this is how
many EMSs are set up.

54.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
SEGMENTS ARE DETERMINED BY DATA
BEHAVIORAL TRAITS
 Pages Visited
 Duration of Visit
 Frequency of Visit
 Search Terms Used
 Site Referred From
 Interest on other sites
(determined using tools
like Spyjax.)
DEMOGRAPHIC TRAITS
 Age
 Income
 Family size
 Marital status
 Gender
 Location
Examples:
 Site User Profile
 Google Ad Planner
 FaceBook Connect
DemandBase (B2B)
This is how we know who is who. Typically these will be fed through some type of
targeting data exchange to be accessed by the CMS.

55.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Logged in;
My Profile
USER DATA: TWO TYPES TO KNOW ABOUT
“Explicit Data” “Implicit Data”
Explicit data is based on something the user tells us directly, such as via profile
information. Implicit data if something we infer, such as via geo-location.

56.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
SOME DATA IS BETTER THAN OTHERS
Segments are identified by user data, either implicit or explicit
User Profile Data
• Authenticated
• Based on info in
your own database
Third Party Data, e.g.
• DemandBase
(IP, business type)
• Maxmind
(geo-location)
Cookie-based, e.g.
• Session preferences
• Cart or guest account
• Session history

57.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
DARK ARTS
Less transparent
Available—for a price
Highly unpredictable
HAPPY PLACE
Users provide data openly
Hard to buy or fake
Reliable, if you can get it
SOME DATA IS BETTER THAN OTHERS
Segments are identified by user data, either implicit or explicit

58.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
BIG BROKER IS WATCHING YOU.
• In 2014 the Federal Trade
Commission released a very
interesting report on lack of
transparency among data brokers
• Axciom, one of the largest in the US,
claims to have more than 3,000 data
points on nearly every citizen in the
US
• Some are what you might expect,
such as race, gender, age
• Other’s get very specific very quickly
Source: https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/data-brokers-call-transparency-
accountability-report-federal-trade-commission-may-2014/140527databrokerreport.pdf

59.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
BIG BROKER IS WATCHING YOU.
•
•

60.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
RACE
GENDER
AGE
OCCUPATION
MARITAL STATUS
POLITICAL AFFILIATION
HOME OWNERSHIP
VEHICLE OWNERSHIP

61.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
GAMBLER
SMOKER
GUN PURCHASER
“BIBLE LIFESTYLE”
SPORTY LIVING
BIKER / HELL’S ANGELS
ALLERGY SUFFERER
“LEANS LEFT”
FINANCIALLY CHALLENGED
PLUS-SIZE APPAREL
“DIABETES INTEREST”

62.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
• There is a fine line between providing helpful personalization and
betraying user trust.
• No form of targeting is inherently good or evil, but it’s how you deploy it
• Users will tend to invite personalized content provided it’s helpful and
you are transparent in your methods
• A good place to start would be to invite users to “self-identify” by giving
you information, like profile data
• If you want to dabble in implicit data, make sure you’re being as up-front
as possible
• Give users a way to “opt out” if they are uncomfortable
LESSONS!

63.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
LET’S PRETEND…
THIS IS ALL GETTING A BIT ABSTRACT, SO

64.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
We want to target busy creative professionals who travel regularly
What online content
should we create to
give us an edge?

65.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Research suggests that $1 spent on business
travel can generate $9.50 in revenue and $2.90 in
profits.*
That’s good!
But there are also hidden costs: Travel is stressful.
(That’s bad.)
*Source: HEC, Carlson Wagonlit
SO WE DO SOME RESEARCH…

66.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
So our first idea is to start a content campaign
that takes the stress out of travel. The
traditional method would be “one size fits all.”
But that makes a lot of assumptions – what
does “stressful” even mean? Is it the same for
everyone?
What if we look at it by audience…
WHAT CONTENT SHOULD WE CREATE?

67.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Survey of 7,400 global managers accustomed to travel.
Source: Harvard Business Review. Data from HEC, Carlson Wagonlit

68.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Survey of 7,400 global managers accustomed to travel.
Source: Harvard Business Review. Data from HEC, Carlson Wagonlit

69.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
• Support Staff Male
• Associate Staff Male
• Manager Male
• Director Male
• VP Male
• Senior Exec Male
• Support Staff Female
• Associate Staff Female
• Manager Female
• Director Female
• VP Female
• Senior Exec Female
So we could potentially set up 12 segments in our
system. For our pilot campaign, let’s limit our
focus to Senior Execs, male and female.
IDENTIFYING SEGMENTS FOR PILOT

70.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
EXAMPLE: SETTING UP A SEGMENT IN ADOBE
Client Context: Male Sr Exec from US
Gender = male is a basic business rule. Can get more
complex. Advanced segmentation is more like JavaScript
Credit: Adobe

71.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
EXAMPLE: SEGMENTS & CAMPAIGN WORKSHEET
Credit: ICF Interactive
Helps you to organize your segments and which content campaigns to show them

72.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Credit: ICF Interactive
EXAMPLE: TARGETING USE CASE
Helps to illustrate how targeted content will improve the experience of a user segment

73.
IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
RULES & CAMPAIGNS
STEP 3 | WHAT ARE WE GOING TO SAY?
We know who we want to talk to.
Now how and when do we say it?

74.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
OUR PILOT CAMPAIGN: IDEAS TO SHOW SR EXECS
Ad for
Business Class
Service
List of Flight
Cancelations
Links to
priority web
content
Travel tips to
reduce stress
If we knew they were visiting
our site, what would we say?
Art Credit: ICF Interactive

75.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Let’s say we have our
homepage with typical zones.
Using our CMS, we can
configure each zone to show
different targeted content
depending on who is visiting.
Rules are “if then” statements,
typically applied at the
component level.
A campaign is a set of rules
that work together to create
an experience.
OUR SITE: DETERMINING TARGETABLE ZONES

76.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Understanding these types will help you determine what type of targeting rule to
create and where you would like to show it on your site.
Show this user time-sensitive information
E.g. A delay or cancelation impacting this user
Credit:ICFInteractive
TARGETED CONTENT MODEL: FOUR KEY TYPES
Promote site functions useful to this user
E.g. Navigation options helpful to this user
Task at Hand
Big Picture
Notify this user of relevant products or services
E.g. Ad for a product or service we think user will like
Notify this user of relevant (non-sales) content
E.g. Blog content, articles, social content, etc.

77.
@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
A list of flight cancelations in real time.
Some shortcuts to Priority web content.
An ad for new Business Class Service.
Tips on Trip Prep (male)
Tips on Destination (female)
Understanding these types will help you determine what type of targeting rule to
create and where you would like to show it on your site.
APPLYING THE MODEL: WHAT TO SHOW SR EXECS
If Sr Exec, Then Show:
Credit:ICFInteractive

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@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
DEFAULT STATE: WE DON’T KNOW WHO USER IS

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@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
IF SR. EXEC FEMALE: TARGETING CAMPAIGN SHOWS THIS:
Note, we’re NOT even
using the main banner zone
here. Targeting can be
more than just ads!

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@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
IF SR. EXEC MALE: TARGETING CAMPAIGN SHOWS THIS:
Neat.

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@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Credit: ICF Interactive
EXAMPLE: TARGETING ZONE CHART

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IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
CONTENT MODELING
AND NOW LET’S PAUSE FOR A BRIEF WORD ON
How does the system “know” what
content to show someone?

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@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
TAGGING & TAXONOMIES:
CREATING SEMANTICALLY RICH CONTENT
Tags help the system knows what
content to fetch to show. Tags can
be organized into taxonomies
For example, we might tag content
for audience “Sr Exec” or by type
“Priority Content.”
Clickstream Cloud
As the user navigates, you can capture tags related to pages
they look at. For example, Basic products vs Expert. You can tag
content with this. Video could be more expert vs basic. Credit: Adobe

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@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Credit: Sara Wachter Boettcher
• Helps define relationships
between content
• Informs how you set up
content types in your CMS
• Helps you create your
taxonomy and metadata
schema
• Can also help with things
like search results
EXAMPLE: BASIC HIGH-LEVEL CONTENT MODEL

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@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
A BIT MORE COMPLEX…
Credit: ICF Interactive

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IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
TESTING & ANALYTICS
STEP 4 | HOW DO WE KNOW IT WORKS?
The “so what.”

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@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
DOES IT WORK?
Personalization ability is only as good as your ability to measure it. KPIs are key to
proving that targeting is improving your business goals. Examples:
Agency TBG now estimates that their clients who implement personalized
content can see a 10-20% lift in key performance indicators, such as sales.1
By adding personalized recommendations to it’s online store, shoemaker Rockport
reported an increase in average order value by 32% and conversion rate by 10%.
2
On the B2B side, the data backup firm Iron Mountain was able to increase their
referrals for health care clients by an impressive 123% when they showed a
personalized message on their homepage, according to partner Demandbase.3
1 Berndt, John. “Personalization Mechanics: Targeted Content for Web Teams of All Sizes.” March 10, 2015.
2 “Predictions 2015: Invest in Customer Insights To Activate Contextual Marketing.” Forrester Research. November 10, 2014.
3 Demandbase also reported a 115% increase in the small to medium business segment using a similar approach. Source:
Strohmeyer, Robert. “Driving Conversion Through B2B Personalization.” March 5, 2015.

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@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
EXAMPLE: CHILDREN’S NATIONAL REDESIGN BY TBG
Built on the Sitecore CMS.
Can target content based on what a
user has viewed, such as showing a
neurology patient story to a user who
viewed neurology content.
Using a Maxmind IP geolocation
service, is able to do some very precise
things—like target high-value customers
from parts of the Middle East with
content for the Sheikh Zayed Institute.
According to data from TBG, the new
personalized design resulted in an
improvement in all major site metrics
measured, including a 161.45%
increase in session duration.1
Personalized content is proving to be
an important ingredient in this overall
picture.
1 TBG reported 15% increase in page views, and a 161.45% increase in session duration. The
new site also increased site-based donations by 54%. You can read the complete case study at
http://www.berndtgroup.net/projects/portfolio/childrens-national-website-redesign-and-cms-
implementation

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@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
Chase Bank recently shifted its
focus from being the low-cost
provider of credit cards to
ramping up customer
experience.
Ford Motor and its agency Team
Detroit plan, execute, and measure
based on whether customers are
researching or buying a car
By adding personalized
recommendations to its online
store, the shoemaker increased
its average order value by 32%
and conversion rate by 10%.
BUT WILL IT WORK FOR ME?
JUST A FEW NON-TECH BRANDS THAT TARGET
Wells Fargo’s Latest ATM UI
Reshapes Its Functionality Based
On Your Transaction History
McCormick uses
the customer’s
flavor profile to
surface relevant
recipe and
product
recommendations
.
Source: Forrester Research. November 10, 2014. Predictions 2015: Invest In Customer Insights To Activate Contextual Marketing

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IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
READY TO START?
WHAT’S THAT? YOU’RE CONVINCED AND TOTALLY
Just a few things to consider
before you hurt yourself…

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@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
YOU MAY STILL NEED SOME WORK IF…
• You don’t have enough content to make targeting useful
• You don’t have enough staff to maintain targeted content
• Your content is not semantically rich – you need a taxonomy, metadata, etc.
• You don’t have a CMS that supports it
• You don’t have analytics and tracking in place to gain insights and adjust
BEST PRACTICES FOR WHEN YOU’RE READY
• Start segmenting traffic on your CURRENT site. Third party providers like
DemandBase can start showing you IP based user data asap.
• Role out campaigns iteratively. Avoid “big bang” approaches. This allows you to
tune both your business approach and your technical infrastructure
• Never stop testing. Audiences change over time as consumers learn more about
your products, make purchases, read reviews, and are influenced by other
products and information in the outside world.

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@colineags #ias16IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016
REMEMBER: IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE COMPLEX.
Even if your organization doesn’t have a fancy targeting platform, you can start thinking in that mindset.
Source: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/articles/one-to-one-personalisation-will-boost-conversion-rates/646
In a survey of digital marketing managers, 92% of respondents claimed to
offer a level of personalization in their email communications.
QUESTION
What’s the number one method
of customer personalization used today?
ANSWER
Email.

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AND YOU TOO
CAN TAKE BACK
TARGETED
CONTENT
FOR GOOD.

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IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
THANK YOU
@colineags
#ias16

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IA for Personalization: Five Steps Toward Building Thoughtful Targeted Experiences | by Colin Eagan | IA Summit | May 7, 2016 @colineags #ias16
*BONUS READING!
Approaching Content Strategy for Personalized Websites
IllustrationbyJoeAlterio
http://alistapart.com/article/approaching-content-strategy-for-personalized-websites