2. We deliver on the new promise
of integration by uniting marketing cloud
technology expertise with brand and
demand generation to accelerate customer
engagement and action.
THERIGHTTEAM
R2INTEGRATED CHRIS HAYES
Director, UX Strategy
chayes@r2integrated.com
twitter.com/chayes77
linkedin.com/in/cbhayes
R2integrated.com
8. 8
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
Visitors often shift from one perceived segment to another.
• Many companies base personalization efforts off of historical data, such as transaction history,
which certainly can be relevant. However, behavioral data that indicates what a visitor is
interested now, or possibly in the future, is also valuable for personalization.
• Last month I was looking at valentine’s gifts, but I really don’t need to see them in April just
because it was the last thing I purchased.
THEY DON’T ADAPT
9. 9
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
Lower the barrier for entry
The more form fields you make a visitor fill out
to download your super-special white paper, the
less likely they are to fill them out.
THEY COLLECT TOO MUCH INFO
10. 10
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
1. Invest in platforms that can integrate multiple sources of customer data
2. Give it a rest with the spam already, we get it, you’re eager to convert them
3. Allow their profile to change via behavior - Good customer data has a shelf-life
4. Lower the barrier of entry – collect data, but only when it’s necessary and truly useful
5. Consider letting them download, view or interact with content 2-3 times before you ask them for
info. They’ve obviously shown interest and more willing to give it to you.
6. Use the data you already have (more on that in a minute)
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Do these things
13. 13
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
Using data visitors don’t expect you to have
If you land on a site and notice that
content being served up is related to
things you were doing on other websites
that would be unsettling at the very least
and feel intrusive. You’d start to question
“How’d they get that data? Why are they
following me around?” You don’t expect
that site to have that data or even worse,
act on it.
WHEN YOU’RE THE CREEP
16. 16
To enable thoughtful personalization that isn’t
creepy and drives users to action, brands need
to look past basic customer personas and build
more intuitive segmentation to deliver 1:1
personalized experiences
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
HOW DO YOU OVERCOME THIS?
17. WHAT IS PERSONALIZATION?
First, what it isn’t.
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
CUSTOMIZATION - The visitor
deliberately selects options designed
to make the user experience more
personal.
Source: nngroup.com
18. “Personalization: the automatic
tailoring of sites and messages to
the individuals viewing them so
that we can feel that somewhere
there’s a piece of software that
loves us for who we are.”
WHAT IS PERSONALIZATION?
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
David Weinberger
“The Cluetrain Manifesto” - 1999
19. “Anticipating the visitor’s needs and
wants based on behavioral patterns and
contextual information to create
meaningful, relevant and helpful
experiences.”
HOW WE DEFINE IT
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
Chris Hayes
Gilbane Digital Content Conference - 2016
22. 22
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
Should these users have the same experience on a sports apparel
company website?
• I’m a new user
• It’s winter
• It’s sunny out and 78
• My coordinates show me to be in Key West
• I’m near a store
• I’m a new user
• It’s winter
• It’s snowing and 31
• My coordinates show me to be in St. Louis
• No stores near me
RULE-BASED EXAMPLE
23. 23
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
Use the data you have to personalize experiences with minimal work or
intrusion
RULE-BASED EXAMPLE
USE TARGETING DATA SEGMENT CUSTOMERS DELIVER EXPERIENCES
24. 24
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
Commerce examples are easy, let’s try something harder
1. Leslie is a CFO at a large manufacturing company and is considering replacing her company’s
current accounting tools.
2. The company’s website she looks at shows that they make lots of software for several different
industry verticals
3. Leslie has been predominantly viewing pages that have to do with accounting software and viewed
a page specifically about solutions regarding manufacturing companies
4. She’s downloaded a case study that is about accounting tools and cost savings vs. a competitor’s
tools
JOURNEY-BASED EXAMPLE
25. 25
When Leslie goes back to the company’s homepage, should she see the same generic page that
everyone sees or should she see information targeted to accounting tools for the manufacturing
space?
• Understand the user’s journey
• Create taxonomy for tagging content
• Tag pages, content, media, and components
• Associate content to customer segmentation
• Weight content, if appropriate
• Map personalized content to proper segments
JOURNEY-BASED EXAMPLE
Understand and anticipate the user’s needs
26. 26
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
This one isn’t hypothetical
1. Karl and his colleagues at evergage weren’t happy with their web meeting software.
2. He went to another vendor’s site that he’d visited many times before.
3. This vendor had a real opportunity to pull him away from his existing vendor, but every time he
went to their site he got the exact same experience that he has with his current vendor. The same
experience, in fact, that everyone gets.
1:1 EXAMPLE
27. 27
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
What could they have done differently to win Karl’s business?
“They could engage me based on my high-level attributes. For instance, my IP address would show
that I’m from a high-tech company in Boston, so they could offer me relevant case studies from other
respected high-tech firms in Boston.
Or since they were actually in Boston exhibiting at a trade show the very day I was on their site, they
could have invited me to come meet with them and engage in person.
Or they could have paid more attention to my affinities – such as the fact that I was reading articles
about tech-focused businesses, and looking at web meeting software versus payment software or any
of the other types of software they offer – and provided me more focused content based on those
interests.”
1:1 EXAMPLE
- Karl Wirth via evergage
28. 28
PERSONALIZATION METHODOLOGY
PERSONALIZATION METHODOLOGY
1. CREATE A BELIEF STATEMENT
2. DEFINE YOUR AUDIENCE
3. UNDERSTAND THE USER JOURNEY
4. MAP CONTENT
5. DEFINE TARGETING
6. DEFINE PERSONALIZED AREAS
7. IMPLEMENT, TEST, ADAPT
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
30. 30
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
Science > Opinion
“We believe that by presenting favorite
seasonal recipes to all visitors, we will
increase social sharing of these recipes
by 5% because searches for seasonal
recipes spikes in accordance with major
holidays”
BELIEF STATEMENT
31. 31
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
Personas are a great place to start but often too broad to create 1:1 personalized
experiences. Combining personas with targeting data will help you fine tune
exactly who experiences this information.
DEFINE YOUR AUDIENCE
+
TARGETING DATA
33. 33
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
What users are doing or have done on your site
• Site visit frequency
• Types of products or content viewed
• New or returning customer
• Purchase history & frequency
• Call-to-action usage
• Search and filtering patterns
• Recent average order size
• Previous campaign exposure
• Previous campaign interactivity
• Time on site
• Pages viewed
BEHAVIORAL
38. 38
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
All of that stuff that people are tracking that you didn’t know about
• Browsing info:
• Sites visited
• Referring site
• Site visited after leaving
• Ad info:
• Which you’ve seen
• Which you’ve interacted with
• Cookie info
• IP address
• MAC address
• Unique IDs
AD NETWORKS
39. 39
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
To determine where this personalized content should live.
• Where do users come from?
• What do analytics tell us about usage patterns?
• Where are my most common drops in the conversion
funnel?
• What questions do they have at each step in the journey?
• What CONTENT do they expect at each step in the
journey?
• Remember that journeys aren’t necessarily linear – don’t
assume they are starting from the home page. Organic
search, paid search, social sharing, bookmarks, landing
pages are a few entry points you need to consider.
UNDERSTAND THE USER JOURNEY
40. 40
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
Do you actually have the content users are expecting?
• Open that journey map and review the ”content users
expect” section.
• Walk through the journey yourself online.
• Review content with this lens:
• Is it in the right spot?
• Is it appropriate (age, language, format, etc)?
• Does it align to user’s needs?
• Does it contain appropriate CTAs?
• Do we have the content we need for personalization?
• Identify gaps.
MAP CONTENT
42. 42
WEBPERSONALIZATIONSTRATEGIES
Always Be Testing (ABT)
• Ensure key metrics are benchmarked
• Consider A/B testing
• Launch
• Observe test results
• If doing A/B testing, implement winning strategy
• Adapt if necessary by identifying potential issues such as:
• Usability
• Language
• Placement
• Color
IMPLEMENT, TEST AND ADAPT
45. 45
We deliver on the new promise
of integration by uniting marketing
cloud technology expertise with brand
and demand generation to accelerate
customer engagement and action.
WHATWEDO
This track talk will show a hands-on approach to personalization and discuss the steps you need to make in order to be successful.
1. First, define what personalization is. Many companies struggle to get started because they have a misperception of what personalization can and should accomplish:
What it isn’t” have a list
Our definition:
2. Next, understand that a contradiction exists between customers wanting personalized experiences and customers not wanting to give up personal info
o 71% of consumers prefer personalized ads
* Decreases irrelevant advertising
* Discover new products that users are interested in
* Faster and more efficient online experiences
o However, 72% of Americans are reluctant to share information
This is for a variety of different reasons, but the most common is the preference to maintain privacy
In turn, this contradiction creates a cognitive dissonance among consumers.
They covet personalization, but only when it’s done well. When it’s not, well, your brand looks creepy.
3. To overcome this, brands must analyze customer’s digital behavior to build valuable audience personas
- List digital behaviors that can inform your personas
- Show an example of what a robust persona looks like
4. Once you have personas developed, integrate that as part of your current content strategy
- Customer Journey Mapping
- Personalization Paths
5. Walk through an client example of the personalization tactics to employ for a specific customer journey
- Bluetooth example?
Click to link to sizzle reel
Before we begin, it’s important to ask ourselves why so many brands struggle with personalization in the first place.
- While there are a number of reasons, maybe the most common is that they have a misperception of what personalization can and should accomplish:
Brands typically have a multitude of disconnected customer data sources, including:
Multiple social accounts
Email lists
POS systems
eCommerce platforms
Website analytics
Mobile apps
And more
Personalization platforms must allow for negative and positive experiences to affect algorithmic segmentation.
If a user doesn’t respond to personalized calls-to-action (CTAs), ensure it impacts the system’s perception of what kind of customer it thinks it is dealing with.
The customer they were last month isn’t necessarily the customer they are today
Don’t assume they are looking for the same old thing if the behavior patterns tell you otherwise.
Consider letting them download, view or interact with content 2-3 times before you ask them for info.
While they covet personalization, they only want it if it’s done well
If it’s not done well, it can cause mistrust, annoyance, and most of all just make your brand look creepy.
Creepy example
Stop following me around, facebook.
Who here thinks that facebook’s ads, based on your search history from browsers is creepy?
"How about some brain food?" the account tweeted at a woman who mentioned she was studying.
Eat some pizza while you wait!" it replied to a woman who'd tagged Netflix in the hopes of more Gilmore Girls episodes. ”
After nap time, get some pizza!" it offered to a man who said he was tired.
I fly Southwest almost exclusively. I’ve earned my Companion Pass for the third year in a row and I have a Southwest Rapid Rewards card. I have to log in to the app to use it. This means they know who I am and they even show me account details like how many points I’ve earned and my status. Why in the WORLD are they serving me up offers to enroll in Rapid Rewards or enticing me to open a Southwest credit card? They know I have these things. Furthermore, I’ve indicated online through their website, where I’d like to travel and put it on a “wish list” of sorts. They know where I have traveled frequently and which trips are for fun or business. They know where I begin my flights from…and I fly multiple times per month. Why can’t they populate the “from” field for me? That’s just scratching the surface. They have a ton of data and use only a fraction of it, leaving me with a stale experience that falls short of my expectations.
Let’s take a look at why personalization is not.
List of common misconceptions about personalization.
Customization: The visitor deliberately chooses between options designed to make the user experience more personal.
Personalization: The visitor is automatically shown personalized pages based on anticipated needs / wants.
-While there will be slight differences in how organizations define personalization, in order to be successful it’s really important to have a shared understanding of what personalization is in order to set expectations and measure success.
Here we are, nearly 20 years later and companies are embracing more sophisticated technologies to make the online experience more personal.
At R2i, we define personalization as…
-While there will be slight differences in how organizations define personalization, in order to be successful it’s really important to have a shared understanding of what personalization is in order to set expectations and measure success.
Here we are, nearly 20 years later and companies are embracing more sophisticated technologies to make the online experience more personal.
Let’s take a look at why personalization is not.
- List of common misconceptions about personalization.
Rule-based means that because you’ve done something, such as download a whitepaper or visited the site from an IP address in key west, we can serve you personalized content that is relatable. For example, showing appropriate images or products to customers in different climates
There is little reason a person visiting from key west should see offers for for down-filled parkas. At least not by default. If we later find out that they are, in fact, looking for down-filled parkas, then the experience needs to adapt. Look at targeting data to uncover basic information like where they are from, what the weather’s like, etc. to help inform you on the best way segment customers.
You can do all of this without any intrusion on the user to ask for information
By weighting the content on your site and tagging it with the appropriate values
Don’t go all willy-nilly and just start personalizing stuff on your site until you have a clear thought of what it is you’re going to do, why you’re going to do it, what metric it will affect, and why.
If you know the who, then add it. If not, we will define WHO gets the messages and WHERE they get them later, but at this stage we might not know enough about the audience best suited to receive this experience or where this personalized content will appear on the site.
To get to the anticipated lift (usually a percentage or static number) you will probably need to dive into your analytics tools to get better insight.
This is all about finding out who should receive this personalized experience. Is it all users? A specific segment? Users only in a geographic region?
Data from your other channels should be made available so that you can form a complete view of who your customers really are. This is the biggest challenge today – combining data from multiple sources.
Cited from wikipedia
Advertising networks use behavioral targeting in a different way than individual sites. Since they serve many advertisements across many different sites, they are able to build up a picture of the likely demographic makeup of internet users.[6] Data from a visit to one website can be sent to many different companies, including Microsoft and Google subsidiaries, Facebook, Yahoo, many traffic-logging sites, and smaller ad firms.[7] This data can sometimes be sent to more than 100 websites, and shared with business partners, advertisers, and other third parties for business purposes. The data is collected using cookies, web beacons and similar technologies, and/or a third-party ad serving software, to automatically collect information about site users and site activity. Some servers even record the page that referred you to them, websites you visit after them, which ads you see and which ads you click on. [8]
This data is collected without attaching the people's names, address, email address or telephone number, but it may include device identifying information such as the IP address, MAC address, cookie or other device-specific unique alphanumerical ID of your computer, but some stores may create guest IDs to go along with the data. Cookies are used to control displayed ads and to track browsing activity and usage patterns on sites. This data is used by companies to infer people's age, gender, and possible purchase interests so that they could make customized ads that you would be more likely to click on.[9]
An example would be a user seen on football sites, business sites and male fashion sites. A reasonable guess would be to assume the user is male. Demographic analyses of individual sites provided either internally (user surveys) or externally (Comscore \ netratings) allow the networks to sell audiences rather than sites.[10] Although advertising networks were used to sell this product, this was based on picking the sites where the audiences were. Behavioral targeting allows them to be slightly more specific about this.