Content Personalization: Automating the Performance: Targeting Real Web Content in Real Time

1. BY COLIN EAGAN, M.S.
Content Marketing Conference | April 13, 2017
AUTOMATING THE PERFORMANCE
PERSONALIZATION
OUR STORY CONTINUES // CONTENT
TARGETING REAL WEB CONTENT IN REAL TIME

2. HI, I’M COLIN EAGAN
Principal, User Experience Design at
ICF Olson in Washington, D.C.
“PROFESSOR U-X”

3. WHAT’S ICF OLSON?
—
A hybrid consulting firm / ad agency
purpose-built to help brands through
digital transformation
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4. WHEN WE LEFT YOU,
DEAR READER
—
Things Byron covered in part one…
Customer Journey Maps
Buyer Personas
Keyword Map
Personalized Content Strategies
Free Book!
1
2
3
4
5
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5. Jargon Alert!
What is “Personalized
Content”?
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6. NOTHING NEW!
Your Facebook feed.
Amazon recommendations.
Netflix.
Sources Clockwise: Techive.com, webdesignerdepot.com, AdThis.com
$$$
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7. Used properly, targeting can dramatically improve the user
experience, saving time and creating trust.Amazon and
Netflix have been doing it effectively for years.
FOR GOOD…
“Match users to
highly-specific,
multi-compound
genres.”
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8. An innocent search for a muffin recipe fills your
browser with ads from HP for printers. (Note: actual sales
promo from online advertising company)
Source: Flashtalking Online Advertising. http://www.flashtalking.com/us/targeted-ads/
FOR…GOOD?
WTF?
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9. ALSO KNOWN AS
STALKER ADSAs in upon seeing one, you might feel a bit like this…
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10. Source:OverlyAttachedGirlfriend
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11. Source:OverlyAttachedBoyfriend
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12. TARGETING THAT LEAVES A BAD TASTE
Adrants.com
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13. warcraftonline.files.wordpress.com
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14. • In November 2015, started collecting
data on any app downloaded
(not just from within Twitter)
• Recently started letting advertisers
use that data to target ads
• Facebook has done this since 2012
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…
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15. WHAT ABOUT FACEBOOK TARGETING?
DO YOU TRUST THEM?
Source: AdThis.com
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16. • At its worst, tracking invades
privacy and erodes user trust
• Belgian privacy commission taking
Facebook to court for alleged
“trampling” over Belgian
and European privacy law
• Tracking of non-users and logged
out users for advertising purposes
• Additional countries in EU have
since followed suit
THE EUROPEAN UNION DOESN’T…
Credit:TheGuardianJune15,2015
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17. • Courts in Canada and the EU have
ruled that Facebook's “Moments”
auto photo-tagging product
violates privacy law
• Certain laws forbid the “collection
of biometric data without
explicit user consent”
• Instead users must manually tag
themselves
DOES FACEBOOK OWN…
YOUR FACE?
Source: The Verge, May 10, 2016
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18. Targeting is UX Customization Based on Data
Experience A
User A
Experience B
User B
Facebook
User A Data Profile User B Data Profile
Facebook
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19. What’s changed for Marketing people?
You can now do this on your own website or clients’ websites.
That mean’s you can “talk” to a persona in realtime.
You can extend the personalized ad onto a personalized site.
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20. The EMS is the new CMS
The “experience management system” let’s you target content
on your own site. Don’t have one?Third party plugins are
alternative
New data sources on your users
A big rise in easily assessable APIs from data providers, covering
IP lookup, geolocation, segmentation of users, etc.
Big Change #1 Big Change #2
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21. A few global brands using some kind of “EMS” today
(note: intentionally non-tech brands!)
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22. Document Shredder Iron
Mountain +123% engagement
Different industries had different needs
Partnered with Demandbase and Optimizely to
target users based on IP
Created personalized ads for Healthcare
businesses, Banking, etc.
+219% increase in Healthcare conversions
+78% lift in page views
GENERIC VERSION HEALTHCARE VERSION
“Iron Mountain Boosts Target Account Engagement and Conversions with Demandbase” © 2014
The upside? A “boring” example…
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23. Trust
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24. Data ValuePermission
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25. @COLINEAGS #CMC17
Technology. What’s Changed?

26. 9/10 Marketers agree
“personalization is
the way of the
future.”
Data based on a survey of 1,506 marketing /communications executives worldwide,
representing all major industries. The survey was conducted in the fall of 2014, and follows a
similar survey conducted in 2013.
NO
DOUBT
ABOUT IT
AGREED
YEP
DUH
OF COURSE FOR SURE
IT’S TRUE
EXACTLY!
OH YEAH
GEE, I DON”T
KNOW GUYS…
AGREE?
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27. However, Marketing
Spending 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
Before people get to your site
$1
After people get to your site
*We will talk about this half*
Source: AddThis: “Website Personalization: What It Is and How It
Can Help Increase Conversions on Your Site.” Published May 2015
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28. Enter the “Experience
Management System”
Puts targeting power in the hands of CMS
people, not just marketers buying ads.
All of the major CMS players are now
touting some form of personalization
capability (or promising one coming soon!)
Adobe Experience
Manager
$140k – $1.2m + 20% annually
JAVA based
Sitecore Experience Platform
$40k – $500k + 20% annually
ASP.NET, C#
Episerver
$40k – $300k + 20% annually
ASP.NET, C#
*Pricing data from: Berndt, John. “Personalization Mechanics:
Targeted Content for Web Teams of All Sizes.” March 10, 2015.
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29. Experience
Management System
Benefits
• Processing occurs in your CMS
• Gives you better control; seamless
integration with your content
• Can be helpful if you have lots of on-site
customer data
Drawbacks
• Can be expensive
• Can take longer to standup
• Need many onsite people to support
CMS
PERSONALIZED
CONTENTTHIRD PARTY DATA
Processing Occurs in CMS
THE “EMS” MODEL
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30. “His and Hers”
Personalization
(Example from Adobe of
what you can do OOTB)

31. Options for Every
Budget
Can be “plugged in” to any existing site
by inserting some JavaScript
Segmentation and content management
handled in external tool, not your CMS
“All-inclusive” pricing w/ hosting can be
better for higher-traffic sites
$895/mo to +$3k/mo
*Pricing data from: Berndt, John. “Personalization Mechanics:
Targeted Content for Web Teams of All Sizes.” March 10,
2015. Marketo data from “Marketing Automation Insider.”
Third Party Plugins
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32. Third-Party Plugins
Benefits
• Can be quicker to standup
• Can be cheaper to get into
Drawbacks
• Can give you less overall control
• You have to “outsource” some
content blocks on your site
CMS
PERSONALIZED
CONTENT
PLUGIN WITH DATA
SOURCES
THE THIRD PARTY PLUGIN MODEL
API
Processing Occurs Offsite
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33. 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.
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34. The Essentials
—
Five steps to assembling a targeted design using an
experience management platform
Goals & Objectives
The why?
Audiences & Segments
The who?
Rules & Campaigns
The what?
Content Modeling
The how?
Testing & Analytics
The watcha' done?
1
2
3
4
5
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35. 1. Goals & Objectives
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36. @COLINEAGS #CMC17
The Hard Questions…
Do We Even Need Targeting?

37. Good reasons to target
Your audience can be segmented in
ways that are meaningful
Narrowing your message provides
incremental value
You have differentiated content (or
capacity to make some)
Targeting is tied to specific business
KPIs or objectives
Bad reasons to target
Just bought a fancy new CMS
Marketing team really wants to
CEO keeps casually mentioning it
Everyone else is doing it
Because we can
(Some variation there of)
What to ask yourself before you start
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38. Targeting is not a goal.
It’s just another tool in the
content tool box.
Like any other content project, begin
with intent
You still need to determine your core
principles and goals
The question is how (or if) targeted
content can further those goals
Remember,
People
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39. Credit:ICFOlson
Create a set of content guiding principles
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40. Credit:ICFOlson
Perform a content inventory to get a lay of the land
Hint: An
experienced
content
strategist can
help with this!
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41. 2.Audiences & Segments
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42. Who are we talking to?
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43. What’s a Segment?
Similar to personas: a group of users with
some distinguishing trait, like age, interest,
location
Generally speaking, targeting can be either
segment based or behavior (algorithm)
based.
For our purposes, we’ll look at how to set
up segment-based targeting, since this is
how many EMSs are set up.
Segment Based
_
(all males 50+)
Behavior Based
_
(previous purchases, clickstream, etc)
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44. Segments are Determined by Data
Behavioral traits
PagesVisited
Duration ofVisit
Frequency ofVisit
SearchTerms Used
Site Referred From
Interest on other sites
Demographic traits
Age
Income
Family size
Marital status
Gender
Location
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45. How Do We Get 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 IP lookup
“Explicit Data”
_
Logged in; My Profile
“Implicit Data”
_
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46. Implicit Data Explicit Data
“Technology Advertising company
with 500-1,000 employees.”
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47. Getting too Abstract?
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48. Let’s Pretend We are
Starting our own Airline
Our new company, CMC Airlines, wants to
target busy professionals who travel
regularly
AiRLiNES
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49. That’s a lot of people!
How do we know where to start?
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50. Tip: Begin with your
high-potential segments
Let’s limit our focus to Male and Female
Senior Execs who have a profile on our
HireWire Airlines site.
MANAGER
FEMALE
SENIOR EXEC
MALE
VP MALE
DIRECTOR
MALE
MANAGER
MALE
SENIOR EXEC
FEMALE
DIRECTOR
FEMALE
VP FEMALE
ASSOCIATE
STAFF MALE
ASSOCIATE
STAFF FEMALE
SUPPORT
STAFF MALE
SUPPORT
STAFF FEMALE
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51. Example: Setting up Segments in Adobe
Credit: Adobe
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52. Example: Segments & campaign worksheet
Credit: ICF Olson
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53. Example:Targeting Use Case
Credit: ICF Olson
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54. 3. Rules & Campaigns
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55. What are we going to say?
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56. Pilot Campaign Ideas
If we knew senior execs were visiting our
site, what would we say?
Alerts for this
user in real time
Ad for Business
Class Service
Links to priority
web content
Travel tips to
reduce stress
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57. Targeting can happen at
the component level!
EMS can configure each zone differently
depending on who is visiting
Rules are “if then” statements, typically
applied at the component level
Campaign is set of rules that work
together to create an experience
MESSAGE BAR
BANNER
ARTICLEPROMOSHORTCUTS
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AiRLiNES

58. Introducing theTargeted
Content Model
Four flavors of personalizing content by
“Thinking Like People.”
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59. Targeted Content Model: Four WaysTo AddValue
Show this user
time-sensitive
information
E.g.A delay or
cancelation impacting
this user
Promote site
functions that would
be useful to this user
E.g. Navigation options
helpful to this user
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
related interesting
content
E.g.A helpful blog,
article or video
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60. ApplyingThe Model:What to Show Execs
A list of flight
cancelations in real
time
Some shortcuts to
Priority web content
An ad for new
Business Class
Service
Article on how a
busy CEO reduced
travel stress
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61. Non-TargetedVersion Personalized for Execs
MESSAGE BAR
BANNER
GENERIC
ARTICLE
GENERIC AD
GENERIC
LINKS
MESSAGE BAR
BANNER
BUSY CEO
ARTICLE
BUSINESS
CLASS AD
PRIORITY
SHORTCUTS
AiRLiNES AiRLiNES

62. Targeting Zone Chart
Credit: ICF Olson
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63. 4. Content Modeling
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64. How does the system “know” what
content to show someone?
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65. Creating Semantically
Rich Content
Tags help the system know what content
to show which audience
Tags can be organized into taxonomies
For example, you could have a taxonomy
for “audiences” that has a tag for “senior
executives.”
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66. Example of a Component
Level Query:
“If the current user is a Priority Business
user, then go get content tagged with
‘Priority Business’AND ‘Advertisement.’”
MESSAGE BAR
BANNER
TIPS FOR
POST-TRIP
BUSINESS
CLASS AD
PRIORITY
SHORTCUTS
HiGH
AiRLiNES
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67. Example
Basic High-level Content Model
Helps define relationships
between content
Informs how you set up
content types in CMS
Helps create your taxonomy
and metadata schema
Can also help with things like
search results
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68. High Level More Complex
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69. 5.Testing & Analytics
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70. How do we know it works?
Be intentional about what you measure.
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71. Setting KPIs
—
Personalization only as good as ability to
measure it, and KPIs are key to proving
that targeting works
Rockport
_
+32% order value, +10% conversion
with personalized recs
Iron Mountain
_
+123% referral rates for targeting
healthcare-specific message
Source: “Predictions 2015: Invest in Customer Insights To Activate Contextual Marketing.”
Forrester Research. November 10, 2014; Strohmeyer, Robert. “Driving Conversion Through B2B
Personalization.” March 5, 2015.
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72. Fortune 50 Home
Improvement Brand
Personalized E-Commerce
Homepage information dynamically
changed to present interest areas based
on products users previously viewed.
Data: Session Cookies + Commerce
“Increase
conversion by
tracking user
interests.”
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73. Large Food Services Brand
Targeting Menus, Messaging to
Employee Intranet Users
Driving personalization through segments
built from data from logged in users at
the page and component level
Data: PeopleSoft
“Improve
employee
experience via
targeted
Intranet.”
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74. You’re convinced and totally ready to start?
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75. 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.
Role out campaigns iteratively.Avoid “big bang” approaches.Tune
your business approach and technical infrastructure over time
Never stop testing.Audiences change over time as consumers
learn more about your products, make purchases, read reviews,
etc.
Before you jump into the deep end…
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76. 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
Question
_
What’s the number one method
of customer personalization used today?
In a survey of digital marketing managers, 92% of respondents claimed to offer a level of
personalization in their email communications.
Answer
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77. THANK YOU
@colineags
#CMC17

78. *BONUS READING!
Approaching Content Strategy for Personalized Websites
IllustrationbyJoeAlterio
http://alistapart.com/article/approaching-content-strategy-for-personalized-websites