Content personalization: How can your business realize its value?

Customers today expect the content they receive to be highly relevant to their needs, preferences and context. However achieving this level of personalization is not without its challenges.

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To help you take the direct route to personalization ROI, I’ve created a series of blogs covering personalization for content, customer journey, engagement and segmentation.

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This first blog in the series looks at personalizing content based on location, device, referral source and browsing history. I’ve described use cases to highlight how Sitecore CDP and Personalize can drive customization in these areas. While the company names and challenges in these use cases are fictitious, the technical applications are real and transferable to your organization.

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Location

Localized offers

In a global business, what’s relevant to your customers at the local level can vary considerably. That’s why you need to be able to tailor your offerings and communicate to customers based on their location.

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Consider the example of HomeThings – a US company selling unique home décor. Its store in Frisco, TX is moving to another location, so the team want to clear 40% of their stock to save on moving costs. Using geo-location and integrating a CRM, HomeThings sends a targeted email announcing a sale to customers in the Frisco area to help clear stock.

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Language and cultural contextualization

Tailoring messaging and content to the specific language and cultural preferences of your local markets can make your marketing strategy more engaging and therefore more effective. Combining customer insight with location can further increase the relevance of content to an individual.

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Style Center is an Indian e-commerce website selling traditional Indian and trending clothing. The retailer plans to expand into the US, but it needs to adapt its imagery to suit the new market, without incurring too much additional cost.

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One way to solve this is to tag images for specific markets. Based on location trends, customers in India would see an 80:20 split between traditional and trending outfits, while customers in the US see the opposite, with 80% of the images being trending outfits. This is known as decisioning – it’s a more simplistic process than personalization.

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Alternatively, the company could combine customer data with geolocation to further adapt content to customer preferences. For example, if a customer is in India, but only wears trending outfits, showing them 80% trending outfits is more likely to result in a sale. This is true personalization and means the correct experience is delivered based on the individual’s preferences, not just their geographical location.

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Localized terms and conditions

Localized terms and conditions are essential for businesses that operate in multiple regions or countries. Not only does T&C localization ensure compliance, but it also helps to build customer trust.

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The European Union’s Package Travel Directive (PTD) provides protection for customers who book package holidays in the EU. The website design team at GlobeTrot, a travel subscription company, is asked to add a link to the PTD on all relevant pages.

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They use Sitecore CDP and Personalize to change the website view at specific geo-locations, meaning the PTD link is only shown on package holidays to people browsing the site in the EU.

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Device

Content optimization and consistent messaging

Optimizing content to suit different device types such as desktop, tablet or mobile can help to improve overall user experience and satisfaction. Ensuring consistent messaging across device type and across channels further enhances experience and can help to increase conversions.

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Let’s imagine a student, Shirin, is taking an online course in Nursing Psychology. On her first day using the student portal she sees a pop-up for a 20% discount on the next nursing course on her training path. Later that day she receives an email with the same offer. SmartHub CDP creates this experience, enabling the online school to send consistent messaging though all its channels.

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Referral source

Contextual search and outbound email campaigns

Personalizing search results based on a customer’s previous searches and purchases can increase conversions. While personalizing email content can make your proactive contact with customers more effective.

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For example, a customer, Alex, visits RunnersFeet – an online store that sells footwear, apparel and accessories. On his first visit, he buys a pair of sneakers for his pre-teen. When the order is delivered, Alex is very pleased with the shoes and decides to order a pair for himself. He also searches for socks.

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The search results show a split of 80% socks for running shoes and 20% socks for pre-teens – based on his previous purchase and searches. Alex adds two pairs of socks in his size to his basket and two pairs for his pre-teen. He is thankful for the results reminding him to buy socks for his child. As a result of contextual search powered by Sitecore CPD, RunnersFeet sells four pairs of socks instead of two.

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A few weeks later, Alex is committed to his new running regime and decides to browse the apparel range at RunnersFeet. He adds a few items to his “save for later” list and then leaves the site. Later that day, he receives a personalized email from RunnersFeet complimenting him on his selected items and offering him a discount on apparel. Alex returns to the RunnersFeet website to purchase his saved items, converting him into a repeat customer.

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Browsing history

Related product sales

Selling related products is a great way to boost margins. Leveraging customer insights to personalize product recommendations can help you sell even more.

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Bean – a coffee machine manufacturer – used SmartHub CDP to send emails to customers who live in hardwater areas and had recently bought a coffee machine. The email reminded customers to descale their machines and linked to Bean’s decalcifying product, deCalci.

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After customers had bought the deCalci product, Bean sent them a customer feedback survey to collect insights. They also sent customers a 70% discount on their two-year deCalci subscription – taking advantage of their engaged audience to sell more related products.

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Feeling inspired?

If these use-cases have inspired you to try a new approach to your content personalization, visit the home of Sitecore at Avanade to explore Sitecore CDP and Personalize: https://www.avanade.com/en/technologies/sitecore.?