This time it's personal Wednesday, September 7, 2016 By Paul Thomas Over the past year you may have noticed how the marketing world has been bombarded by an avalanche of information about the merits of contextual marketing and personalisation. No-one is doubting that to be successful in today's market, your online experience has to mimic a traditional physical experience. But experience is deeply subjective and unique to each individual, so it is very difficult to define precisely. One thing is clear though. A mass approach to marketing won't do any longer, we are living in the age of the consumer, and there is an expectation to deliver. To get the attention of the consumer we have to provide a relevant experience and to do that you need to see a single view of each customer, because without understanding what a customer wants, you cannot begin to provide a personal experience. What is Website Personalisation? Website Personalisation is the next generation of experience marketing. It allows you to shape the customer experience in real time, based on all of the information you've ever collected on that single, individual customer. Let me explain using a couple of examples… Head over to google and search for “what's the weather like?”. At the top of the search results did you get a tile detailing the weather in your exact town?... ...That's personalisation based on your location! Now head over to your favourite e-commerce site. Do any of the images on the homescreen resemble the types of products you might be interested in? Is the content they serve exactly what you are interested in. Kind of weird considering there are thousands of items in their catalogue though, right?... ...Well, that’s personalisation based on your previous browsing and buying habits. What information can be used to Personalise the Customer Journey? With Sitecore, almost every page component can be personalised, and there are a number of different personalisation rule-sets available to you to choose from. You might choose to show different information depending on the location of the website visitor or the pages that they've visited recently, or you might choose to go a little deeper and personalise based on information like job title, gender and age if you know it. How will you use Personalisation? Start with the customer experience and work backwards. 80% of someone's preferences come out in the first few interactions. You need to define all customer touch points. Map out key stages in the buyer's journey - give direction to the buyer and make sure every piece of content is connected. Only once you have the above defined can you truly get the most impact out of your technology platform. Why use personalisation? Over the past 10 years we’ve worked with many technology platforms. At 3chillies our focus is to help build your brand and help you own your customers for life. Collecting, shaping, analysing, optimising and owning the experience is imperative. We live in an increasingly impersonal world. Customers want to be recognized as individuals, Automation needs to be blended with personal intervention, so understand your customers and optimise their experience. Talk to us to find out how we can help you with your digital experience.
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