Personalization is gaining traction with marketers today because it allows companies to better communicate and engage with their target audiences. However, implementing a content strategy for different audiences, without multiplying your content creation efforts is a huge challenge. So how do you personalize your messaging efficiently? Join our webinar as we address these challenges. We’ll also highlight a case study that demonstrates how personalized content helped a university communicate with both students & the broader public. You’ll learn how to: - Begin defining and prioritizing your audiences - Create a content strategy that speaks to your audiences - Identify what content to personalize & strategies needed to create, test, and improve your content over time

1. Improving the User Journey with
UX Research & Personalization
February 18, 2020

2. Speakers
Suzanne Dergacheva
Co Founder
Evolving Web
suzanne@evolvingweb.ca
@suzanne_kennedy on Twitter
Theresa Anderson
Digital Experience Strategist
Acquia
theresa.anderson@acquia.com

3. Evolving Web specializes in user-centric design and
development. We have extensive experience and recognized
expertise creating high-quality websites and apps with the
Drupal platform. We work with clients who share our passion
for designing and building engaging digital experiences.
WEB AGENCY
MEET EVOLVING WEB
YOUR OPEN SOURCE

4. TRAIN WITH EVOLVING WEB
Drupal is an open-source, community-developed
platform that adapts to the digital publishing needs
of growing businesses. We train content strategists,
project managers, site administrators, designers, and
developers to get the most out of Drupal.
Types of Training:
DRUPAL TEAM!
BUILD YOUR
Find the training that’s right for you
FREE
COURSES
IN-DEPTH
COURSES
CUSTOM
COURSES

5. 94%
Customer
Satisfaction
Rating
Leveraging
Drupal,
the Largest
Open Source
Community
3,500+
customers,
including
1,800
enterprises
30+
Fortune 100
customers
900+
Employees
Global
Partner
Program
GDPR
Ready
We provide the world’s most ambitious brands with technology that allows
them to embrace innovation and create customer moments that matter. At
Acquia, we believe in the power of community — giving our customers the
freedom to build tomorrow on their terms.
THE OPEN SOURCE DIGITAL
EXPERIENCE COMPANY
MEET ACQUIA

7. MAKING
PERSONALIZATION
EFFECTIVE

8. STATS
Marketers have noted a
760% increase in revenue
from segmented campaigns
(Campaign Monitor)
2.6%
Higher education
enrollment dropped for
the 8th consecutive year
Higher education has some of
the lowest average conversion
rates across industries (2.6%)
Most universities fail to meet
basic usability standards as
desired by students.
As a consequence, only 38% of colleges in
2018 reported meeting their admissions goals
38%
#1
85%
The website is the #1 most
influential information resource
for prospective students
85% of prospective students
rate the website as the #1
research tool
8th
760%

9. LOWEST LEAD-GENERATION CONVERSION RATES
AVERAGECONVERSIONRATE%
8%
0%
INDUSTRIES
Higher
Education
Real Estate Health Home
Improvement
Legal Business
Services
Business
Consulting
Travel Credit &
Lending
Vocational
Studies &
Job Training
2.6% 2.9% 2.9%
3.3% 3.3% 3.5%
5.0% 5.0%
5.6%
6.1%

10. WHAT
USERS WANT
BUSINESS
GOALS

11. WHAT USERS WANT
BUSINESS GOALS
WHAT USERS WANT
WHAT USERS WANT
WHAT USERS WANT

12. USER EXPERIENCE / CONTENT STRATEGY / PERSONALIZATION
Business Goals:
What, How, Why? driving the Organization
User Experience:
User Journeys to Support Top Personas
Content Strategy:
Messaging and Content to Support User Decisions
Personalization:
Adjusting the Content for Key Audiences

13. USER EXPERIENCE / CONTENT STRATEGY / PERSONALIZATION
Business Goals:
What, How, Why? driving the Organization

14. COMPETITIVE RESEARCH

15. CASE STUDY: WOODROW WILSON SCHOOL
What?
– Prepare students
– Engage the press, and policy makers
How?
– Curriculum that balances theory and
practice
– Translate and share research
Why?
– To enable graduates to become change
makers
– To better the world

16. CASE STUDY: MCGILL DESAUTELS

17. USER EXPERIENCE / CONTENT STRATEGY / PERSONALIZATION
Business Goals:
What, How, Why? driving the Organization
User Experience:
User Journeys to Support Top Personas

18. WHICH ELEMENTS INFLUENCE UX?
– Information architecture + navigation
– Emphasis and prioritization, visual weight
– Interface text, labels
– Layout
– Proximity
– Content

19. DEFINING PERSONAS

20. DEFINING PERSONAS - SURVEYS & INTERVIEWS

21. ELEMENT GATHERING

22. ELEMENT SORTING

23. ELEMENT SORTING

24. SITE MAP

25. USER EXPERIENCE / CONTENT STRATEGY / PERSONALIZATION
Business Goals:
What, How, Why? driving the Organization
User Experience:
User Journeys to Support Top Personas
Content Strategy:
Messaging and Content to Support User Decisions

26. HOW DO USERS ASSESS THEIR EXPERIENCE?
– Timing
– Predictability
– Simplicity
– Success/failure
– Tone of voice
– Empathy

27. HOW DO USERS ASSESS THEIR EXPERIENCE?
– Timing
– Predictability
– Simplicity
– Success/failure
– Tone of voice
– Empathy

28. CORE CONTENT STRATEGY
1. Inclusive language - write for everyone
2. Focus on the most important audience
3. Focus on different audiences page-by-page

29. PAGE-BY-PAGE CONTENT STRATEGY
– Page Title: Graduate Programs
– Purpose: Provide information about and next steps for grad
programs, financial aid, and applications.
– Primary Goal: Guide users to the appropriate grad program
subpage.
– Secondary Goal: Guide users to calendars, student life, and career
paths.
– Next Steps: Masters, Ph.D. Programs
– Internal Links: Master, Ph.D., Student Life, Career Paths, Calendars,
Contact Us

30. USER EXPERIENCE / CONTENT STRATEGY / PERSONALIZATION
Business Goals:
What, How, Why? driving the Organization
User Experience:
User Journeys to Support Top Personas
Content Strategy:
Messaging and Content to Support User Decisions
Personalization:
Adjusting the Content for Key Audiences

31. Who to Target

32. 7 KEY DECISION SEGMENTS
1. Affordability
2. Availability of Desired Program
3. Reputation/Academic Quality
4. Career Outcomes/Job Opportunities
5. Value of Education for Cost
6. Feeling of Fit
7. Proximity to Home
Other factors include:
– “Hands-on” Learning
Experiences
– Sense of Community
– Flexible Schedules
– Easy Access for
Family Visits

33. POSSIBLE SEGMENTS OF POTENTIAL STUDENTS
– Affordability
– Scholarship Seekers
– In-State vs. Out-of-State
– Geography
– International Students
– National Students
– Local Students
– Level
– Undergraduate
– Graduate
– Continuing Studies
– Career Status
– Career Switchers
– Mature Students
– Motivations
– Academic Track
– Career Seeker
– Social Butterflies

34. PERSONALIZATION STRATEGY - WHO TO TARGET
– Which general audience do they belong to?
– Influencer, buyer or student?
– Insider or outsider?
– Which persona do they belong to?
– What’s the key action you want them to take?
– How important is this action to your business goals?
– Level of engagement, specificity, and investigation
– What defines the segment?
– Do we have the data to create the segment?

35. BEYOND PERSONAS

36. What to Personalize

37. WHAT TO PERSONALIZE
– Messaging & Call to Actions
– User Journeys
– Content Prioritization
– Supporting Content (videos, articles,
features, highlights)
– Interactive content (maps, quizzes)
– Chat with faculty or students online
– Consistent experience from referral
sites (email, social, paid media)

38. MESSAGING & TONE OF VOICE

39. MESSAGING & TONE OF VOICE

40. USER JOURNEYS & CLICK PATHS

41. USER JOURNEYS & CLICK PATHS

42. USER JOURNEYS & CLICK PATHS

43. SUPPORTING CONTENT

44. SUPPORTING CONTENT

45. SUPPORTING CONTENT

46. CONTENT PRIORITIZATION

47. CONTENT PRIORITIZATION

50. WHAT NOT TO PERSONALIZE

51. WHAT NOT TO PERSONALIZE

52. How to
Personalize

53. HOW TO PERSONALIZE
2.CreateRules
1. Define Segments
3.PersonalizewithSlots

54. HOW TO PERSONALIZE
– Relevance:
Demographics,
Campaigns
– Behavior: Events,
Pages Viewed and
Browsing Behavior
– Identified: CRM or
logged-in data

55. HOW TO PERSONALIZE

56. Results

57. CHALLENGE
Bryant University was experiencing a conversion issue.
The number of applications increased by 10% but the
percentage of enrolled students continued to fall.
The wanted to leverage personalization to target
accepted students and increase yearly enrollment
rates. They were particularly interested in boosting the
percentage of enrolled female applicants and Chinese
international students..
Bryant University is a private university in
Smithfield, Rhode Island consisting of 2
colleges, the College of Arts and Sciences
and the College of Business.
PROCESS
Bryant partnered with web design firm OHO Interactive
and leveraged both Drupal and Acquia Lift to launch
their new personalization strategy.
This was a complete redesign with a new strategy,
information architecture, content approach and
infrastructure on Drupal 8. The site was based on a
comprehensive discovery including user research

58. SOLUTION
1. Created an Undergraduate Admission site to
streamline all content for the prospective students
into one digital experience
2. Designed & developed the new site specifically
around the new personalization strategy
3. Created repository of student, faculty and alumni
stories that highlight the connected community that
helps graduates find jobs and get started in their
careers
RESULTS
● 46% of international prospects saw the
personalization campaign
● 6 deposits from international students who
interacted with the campaign
● 5% conversion rate

59. OTHER USE CASES
Charles Sturt University
● Used personalization to more than quadruple acceptance rates by personalizing the
admissions offer process
● Directed applicants to a custom landing page personalized with their name, a
personalized image, and information on the program they applied to
Lancaster University
● Optimized Alexa to act as a ‘digital friend’ to students, answering questions and
providing feedback and advice

60. USER EXPERIENCE / CONTENT STRATEGY / PERSONALIZATION
Business Goals:
What, How, Why? driving the Organization
User Experience:
User Journeys to Support Top Personas
Content Strategy:
Messaging and Content to Support User Decisions
Personalization:
Adjusting the Content for Key Audiences

61. Thank you for joining!
Questions?