Principles for Personalisation

Maria Wasing, VP of Marketing Europe, EPiServer

Web Personalisation

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Real-world principles for delivering Engaged Web experiences

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Wikipedia

”Using technology to accommodate the differences between individuals”

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This is not about

being tracked and

harassed.

This is about being

served

JIM STERNE ON ECONSULTANCY.COM

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Ads on Facebook targeted to age (44), gender (male) and

location (Stockholm)?

Well, eye laser surgery, winter tires (to be used in Stockholm!) and health related ads must mean

something…

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FromTwitter (user in USA)

”I looked at Episerver that you recommended but it was all about e-commerce, I’m looking for a CMS!”

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» Simple idea:

instead of delivering the same web experience to every visitor, why not give each visitor the most relevant, targeted experience possible?

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Sources of insight:

» Their profile and preference

» Their history with you

» The way they found you

» Their immediate behaviors

» The context

» The dynamic environment

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Segmenting interest into

groups based on

information gathered from

activity and search data...

can increase conversion

rates by up to 500%.

ANDY BETTS ON ECONSULTANCY.COM

Web Personalisation 13

Ads on Danish DSB (National railways) based on location and

profile information increase conversions.

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» A visitor coming through a Google search for “Overlook Hotel conference” is presented with conference options.

» …while a returning golf guest is greeted with golf content.

Overlook Hotel – an EPiServer demo site

Web Personalisation The Challenge

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» Lack of experience

» Unclear ownership

» No clear metrics

» IT bottlenecks

» Multiple systems

» Limited data

…and it takes a Champion – like you!

Web Personalisation The Principles

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Start with clear goals and metrics

» Establish these, write them down and get buy-in and involvement from everyone that matters

» Things like:

- Boost conversion rate by 40%

- Return on investment (ROI) of 50% within six months

- Increase monthly new lead supply by 30%

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Assemble the right team

» Web personalisation should be owned by the overall website owner – often marketing – but you’ll also need the involvement of the people who own each important section of the site.

» People like:

- The web editors, Community owners, Product management, Sales, Customer service, Technical support, Human resources…

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Use as few software systems as possible

» The Content management System is the logical place for driving personalisation (at least for us and for a growing number of web-heads)

» Since:

- It’s where content lives.

- It’s where the day-to-day web editors work.

- It controls where your content meets your customers.

- It’s already delivering dynamic pages.

- It integrates easily with CRM and other data sources.

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Make the workflow simple» The whole idea behind personalisation is to be

responsive to your market. So start simple, learn and refine over time.

» Like this:

- Think about your segments

- Identify opportunities to personalize

- Create a rule

- Test it

- Go live

- Analyse the results, Tweak and repeat

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Web Personalisation Start Small

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Pick one or two of your low-hanging fruit

» The guiding principles are speed and iteration. Don’t even try to get it perfect first time. Just learn and improve every day.

» How about this for a start?

- ”First time visitors should always be treated like first time customers”

- ”Geography can be a simple start to targeting.”

- ”What did they search for on Google before coming to our site”

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Develop Personalisation Personas

» Think about the unique needs of different users – existing customers, different demographics, prospects, partners, job-seekers, the press

» and think about how you can use your knowledge about them to serve them up targeted content.

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Use what you know» You probably know more than you think:

•Gender•Age•Birthday....

Profile

•Pages they viewed•E-mails opened•Links they’ve clicked

History

•Interests•Level of engagement and sentiment

Community activities

•Gives a good idea of their intentClickstream

•Geography•Company•Industry

IP

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Map content to the purchase journey» People need different things at different stages of

their purchase journey

- The ‘Who We Are’ video may be perfect for early-stage tire-kickers.

- The case studies might be just right to move people along.

- The detailed white paper might be perfect for people about to make a decision.

» The point is: a person’s stage in their relationship to you can be a fruitful way to personalize and serve content.

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Let’s Build!

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Goal» First time visitors shall get a good understanding of our

offering, and fast!

- Metrics: 25% of all first time visitors shall look at the product introduction video.

» First time visitor shall easily find reference clients

- Metrics: 25% of all first time visitors shall read about a reference client case.

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Personas

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Marie Communications manager

Looking for an alternative product to replace their old CMS

Quick overview of the product offering and reference cases

Again, simple product overview and reference cases

Long technical descriptions without mentioning the true business value

Look at our intro video, read at least one customer case

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For “First time visitors” only!

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Next Step

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The tactics» Search

» Look for intent indicators

- Clickstreams

- Onsite search

- Basket or form abandonment

- Social sharing

- Reviews and ratings

- E-mail clickthroughs

» Personalize before you have a profile

» Test everything....

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The Goal?

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Use Search» If anything – the search term a visitor uses to find

your site tells you a lot about their intent – use it to personalise