Content Strategy for the Customer Journey:
Personalization Done Right.

Introduction
Definitions of omnichannel and personalization
Personalization strategy
Content considerations
Content metrics to measure
Agenda

Kevin P Nichols
Director, Global Practice Lead, Content Strategy, SapientNitro
18 Years experience in the Digital and Interactive Industry and 15 years specific to Content
Dozens of Fortune 100 clients over the years
Key Clients: MIT OpenCourseware, Hewlett Packard, Sprint, Intel
@kpnichols

About SapientNitro

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Content Strategy is the systematic, thoughtful approach to surfacing the most relevant, effective,
and appropriate content at the most opportune time, to the appropriate user, for the purpose of
achieving a company’s strategic business objectives.
Content GovernanceContent DeliveryContent Experience
What is the content experience for the
end-user; what goes into a digital solution,
to which user(s) is it targeted?
What model is necessary to acquire,
create, maintain and optimize content?
What are the operational processes and
mechanisms required to ensure the
continued success of content?
Content Strategy @ SapientNitro - Definition

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Discover
Assessing & Auditing
• Content Brief
• Content Assessment
• Content Inventory
• Content Audit
• Competitive Assessment
Business Planning & Resources
• Staffing Recommendations for Content
Production and Management
Requirements
• Content Metrics & SEO Recommendations
• Content Requirements
Strategic Recommendations
• Content Recommendations and Content
Strategy framework
• Conceptual Content Model
Editorial
• Editorial Strategy (voice, tone, strategic
intent of content)
Content Production / Migration
• Content Matrix
• Content Migration Plan
• Content Production Plan
• Translation and Localization Strategy
• CMS Authoring Guide
Define Design Implement
Business Planning & Resources
• Governance Model
• Business Org Structure / Staffing Plan
Content Model and Workflow
• Content Types definition
• Recommendation for Content design, including
template-level strategic recommendations
• CMS Content Model
• Content Matrix
• Content Lifecycle definition
Taxonomy & Meta-tagging
• Taxonomy
• Metadata and Tagging Strategy
• Taxonomy Governance recommendations
Editorial
• Editorial Calendar
• Editorial Style Guide
• Editorial Workflow
• Voice and Tone Guidelines
• Copy Deck
Content Strategy @ SapientNitro – Phases of Work

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We‟ve pioneered a proven approach to a closed-loop content strategy that provides a flexible framework for achieving content success. Building from this approach, which
incorporates industry best practices, we have tailored a process to fit the unique needs, goals, and focus areas for any type of project involving content.
Content Strategy @ SapientNitro – Lifecycle

Definitions and Basics
Part 1 – Personalization and omnichannel

Without an omnichannel approach, you
aren’t creating fully realized personalized
experiences. And if you can’t deliver
personalized experiences, your content
solutions have a shorter shelf-life
and reach.

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To deliver fully-realized personalized experiences we must
first understand the concept of omnichannel.
Customer experience principles with
channel engagement
To understand how to create content for personalized experiences, we must first understand a few principles
about how a customer experiences content.
• To the customer, all content is brand content, whether it is content for supporting a product, content on a
package, content from an email that contains coupons or editorial stories about a product on a website.
• The customer requires specific content for each channel with which she interacts, and her ideal
experience is not isolated from one channel to the next.

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Mother of omni
Martha Stewart redefined content multi-channel
proliferation:
Self-referential when and where it needed to be:
• TV show referenced cookbooks, magazine
referenced both
• Exclusive content specific to each channel
Synergized content experiences:
• Stories told that appealed to lifestyle
• Connected one channel to the next
Courtesy Life with Cats. Karen Harrison Binette, 2011.
http://www.lifewithcats.tv/

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Omnichannel defined
Omnichannel provides content at every customer
channel and considers time, manner and place.
• It encapsulates analog, digital, in-store and
person to person interaction.
• It captures the entire end-to-end customer
experience.
This means that all content is brand content, and
that all content is an asset, which makes it an
investment with measurable return.
Customer
Omni-
Experience
Ad leads to
Web
Web yields
Profile
Profile leads
to store
Store leads
to purchase
product
Product
leads to
sharing on
social and
registration
Registration
leads to
email notices
Emails lead
to additional
purchases
Calls to
customer
support are
personalized

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Omnichannel Framework
Omnichannel Strategic Framework
Desktop Mobile Tablet In Store Publications TV/Radio
Product
Packaging
Customer
Support
Ecommerce
Customer Profile
Product and Service Content
Social Media Opportunities
Advertising and media
Sales’ Support and Tools
Apps
Personalization
Customer Profile
Email

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Personalization defined
Personalization is delivering content to an end-user
based on a specific context. It considers one or
many of the following:
• Who that user is
• Her online behavior
• Where she is consuming content
• When she accesses content
• What she uses to access content or the channel
• Why she is accessing content or the task(s) she
is trying to accomplish Courtesy Clever Cupcakes
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clevercupcakes/

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Personalization
To enable personalization in the content experience,
logic is built into a content model to serve up content
based on a specific context.
Personalization can be active when a user:
• Responds to what she sees, such as ranking
content or her experience
• Answers a question
• Completes a profile
Or Passive when content is served to a user based
on her actions:
• Product recommendations are made based on
what she shows an interest in during her journey
• Tailored content based on clickstream
Courtesy Anders Sandberg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arenamontanus/

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Aspects of personalization
Targeted offers
Intelligent
Customer
segments
Business Rules
Contextual Ads
Ad Server
Relevant
Guided Selling
Recommendations
Personas
Targeted Messaging
Targeted Content
User Generated Content
Cross-Sell
Intent-Based search Up-Sell and
Cross-sell
User Profile
Counter Offer
Need Based Shopping
Social Marketing Behavioral Targeting

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Building blocks to personalization
The key building blocks are:
• Customer segments: Quantitative analysis of
customers based on trends and demographics.
• Customer personas: Clusters or groupings of
customers based on behaviors and how they act,
e.g., „Sarah the Surgical Shopper‟.
• Customer journeys: End-to-end journeys of a
customer based on specific needs that detail the
customer lifecycle in relation to the brand.
Courtesy watdoenwijmetnl
http://www.flickr.com/photos/technology/

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Building for one channel…
The customer does not experience the brand in one
channel:
• Build out personalization that considers entire
customer experience.
• Create a content model that considers the entire
customer lifecycle, even if it lives in one channel.
• Create a model that scales to future omnichannel
experiences
Courtesy Christian M Lau
http://www.flickr.com/photos/christianmlau/

It’s a means, not an end
Part 2: Personalization as strategy

Personalization is not an ‘end state’ or
event, it is a strategy that starts with a
foundation; it is iterated upon
continuously based on customer behavior
and evolves over time.

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Building a personalization strategy – Guiding Principles
Personalization requires the following:
• An organization to commit to resources to build content to support it and integrate and
implement the necessary technology capabilities to support it
• An understanding customers and their behaviors, thus these must be continually tested and
validated
• Changes with emerging technology
• A solid foundation; launch a foundational experience then test and validate it and determine
areas to optimize.

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Building a personalization strategy
STEP ONE: Get stakeholders to understand that personalization is strategic and iterative. It starts with a very
basic foundation and builds a richer experience over time.
STEP TWO: Set expectations – personalization requires specific content, so the more personalization means
more new content to support it.
STEP THREE: Create baseline personas, segments and customer journeys and develop the initial phase of
your personalization strategy to target each area. Phase one should also be to test and validate each
persona and journey.
STEP FOUR: Develop areas of personalization per channel. Identify which channels to target, which
customer journeys per channel are necessary and which content must be served up to support each.

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Building a personalization strategy
STEP FIVE: Identify which stories and content experiences to serve up per channel (for example, a person
who identifies that he is age 40 and has a great driving record could receive specific information around car
insurance that meets his needs).
STEP SIX: Identify success metrics and ensure that all areas have a testing strategy to validate.
STEP SEVEN: Build a taxonomy and metadata tagging strategy.
STEP EIGHT: Note that in the beginning the focus is on testing and validation of customer journey, user
behavior and the performance of content within each.
STEP NINE: Modify and enrich the content experience over time.

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Personalization roadmap - Example
Foundation EnrichmentEvolution
1. Full integration of personalization in all channels.
2. Continue to create immersive content around
personalization
3. Leverage new or emerging personalization
technologies and techniques
1. Identify initial personas and segments to target per
channel.
2. Establish which areas of content are necessary to
support each of the groups (what do we want to
serve up to each segment and persona and to which
degree? )
3. Establish the rules for serving up the content (if User
X indicates he is Y in user profile, then serve up this
content…)
4. Ensure taxonomy and controlled vocabularies are
accounted for and supported to enable experience.
5. Develop all necessary content to support each
unique „flavor‟ of proposed personalization.
6. Rollout personalization based on foundational
criteria.
7. Ensure proper metrics to track user interaction and
behavior to it can be examined for future
optimization.
Launch 9 – 12 months post-launch 18+ months post-launch
1. Test existing personalization, running ongoing
metrics and audits to see how users are interacting
with the experience
2. Identify additional personalization areas, such as
enhanced cross-sell, upsell.
3. Test assumed customer journeys across channels
to ensure accuracy and optimize content
performance.
4. Roll-out enhanced personalization per channel.

The power-horse to personalization
Part 3: Customer journeys

Customer journeys are the power-horse
behind personalization. They provide
opportunities to personalize and clarify
which types of content are most effective.

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Customer journey – sample
WWW.COMPANY.COM IN-STORE
She clicks the
module to view more
details. Michelle
saves product to her
“favorites” and
continues to browse
the product catalog.
As she approaches
her local store, she
receives a push
notification on her phone,
letting her know about
new accessories.
Entering the store,
Michelle is greeted by
Ken, a sales associate.
He has Michelle‟s
“favorites” ready for her to
view, which he pulled up
on his tablet.
Michelle has saved 6
products to her
“favorites.” Michelle
updates her customer
sends her “favorites” to
the nearest retail
location.
Using the sales
associate tablet, Ken
is able to pull up
Michelle‟s profile,
where he accesses
her store loyalty
coupons.
Michelle, an
existing
customer, receives
a text message
from retailer.
SMS
Mobile
Web
Desktop
Smartph
one
Tablet
Web
Tablet
App
TRIGGER POST - PURCHASEE
Michele has a question
regarding her product,
after she calls support,
they know her product
purchased and are able to
customize her experience.
Michele shares her
experience from an inset
in the product package
with others on FaceBook
about her superior
experience
Using her iPad, Michelle
visits .com to
look for new products.
She notices a module on
the homepage for a
featured product that is
her favorite brand.
As she adds to her
“favorites”,
recommended
products become
even more
relevant.

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Customer journeys
Let‟s review another customer journey to understand the complexity…
• Anisha sees an organic herbicide product on America's Most Desperate Landscape on DYI TV Network.
• During the TV program, she grabs her iPad, does a search on Bing to find a home and garden shop in her area that sells the
product.
• On the top search result, she sees that the manufacturer has a page for the products. Curious, she clicks on the link.
• She finds a whole product suite on the Website, and sees „locate a store in your area‟ module on the page that displays a store
near her.
• She verifies on the Yelp link provided on the site that the store is reputable and notices extremely favorable reviews of the
specialty store and the product.
• She goes to the store, and when she tells the store about her Online experience, they offer her an immediate 10% discount on
all products within the organic line she seeks.
• Once home, she notices a coupon affixed to the herbicide which also contains information about participating in the company‟s
„help the earth‟ community.
• She signs up for a profile, which asks for FB, Twitter and phone number.
• She opts in for all three.
• She sees widget on FB to „click a photo of her yard‟ to track the improvement over time with product. She snaps her initial
photo, posts to widget, which allows her to post a yelp rating, that then proliferates her FB and Twitter account, as well as the
„help the earth‟ page.

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Customer journeys
• While on the „help the earth‟ page, she sees an ad for birdseed and pet products. Her dog, Sparky, likes to chew
rawhide bones and she notices that one of the products uses free-range rawhide.
• She clicks the link that takes her back to the site and orders it online.
• Once she receives it in the mail, she gets another coupon for online for the store near her. She is so impressed she
shares the product with her friends on Facebook/Twitter (using the embedded share functionality) as she knows that
many of her friends have pets.
• She gets an email notice from the specialty store that sold her the initial product four weeks later for a coupon on
related products.
• She also notices a syndicated article about ticks and flees next time she goes to the Website.
• When she goes back to the store, she receives a text notice for an additional 20% off of purchases in the product line
with a personalized thank note for her loyalty.

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Building out a customer journey
STEP ONE: List all user states and channels,
remembering „offline.‟
STEP TWO: If building one channel experience, consider
other channels as these influence single-channel content
STEP THREE: Create a list of customer needs: e.g.: buy a
product, research a topic, etc.
STEP FOUR: Complete end-to-end journey that captures
fulfilling a need.
STEP FIVE: Create an end-to-end customer scenario
around what customer would do to achieve needs and then
factor in post-purchase or post-conversion behavior
STEP SIX: Identify which types of content are necessary to
support each experience.
Courtesy gfpeck. Wes Peck.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wespeck/

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Best practices
1. For user states, create a list of different journeys for each persona:
• Anonymous: We know nothing about you
• Recognized: We recognize you but don‟t know you
• Known: We know who you are
• Influencer: We know you and you share your experience with others
• Repeat: You are an existing customer who continues to engage with us
2. Look at additional opportunities the customer would not see, and pepper them into the journey:
• Which cross-sell opportunities exist?
• Can personalized flyers or be provided product packaging?
• Are there opportunities for social media interaction?
• What types of events (sale, holiday, birthday) can trigger a personalized email?
3. Identify what happens within each channel and when a customer jumps from one channel to the next:
• What happens when Sheila goes from a TV ad to a desktop website to a mobile device app to a brick-and-mortar store to after
she purchases a product?
• Look at how her needs changes from each and what content she needs and expects within each.

Content determines the success or failure of personalization
Part 4: Content

Without effective, relevant, timely and
GOOD contextual content,
personalization is useless.

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Determining which content to serve up
1. As noted previously, first identify the personas, user-states and channels you want to consider.
2. Create a customer journey for each instance.
3. Map out scenarios based on needs and triggers (what do users need to accomplish and
why?).
4. Develop content based on the above.
5. For the foundational experience (the first phase), make assumptions based on the data you
have, considering segmentation models, persona development, CRM data, customer support
logs, etc.
6. For all of the following, you should be prepared to ensure that content and technology can
support each.

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Determining which content to serve up
Persona User State Channel Use Case/Journey Content
Surgical Shopper Anonymous Website (Desktop)
Mobile (App)
Buy a Product – Step one
searches for product in
Google
Serve up product image that
she searches on in
homepage carousel once
she lands on site
Surgical Shopper Anonymous Website (Desktop)
Mobile (App)
Buy a Product – Step two
clicks on product in carousel
goes to product detail
Serve up cross-sell to
product, serve up exclusive
content to new buyer (e.g.,
coupon)
Surgical Shopper Anonymous Website (Desktop)
Mobile (App)
But a Product –Add to cart Recommend related item
Prompt for profile sign-up

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Channel considerations
Website (desktop) areas of focus:
• How does a user enter the site?
• If by search, are there ways to personalize her experience based on that keyword?
• If banner lead-in, can the same logic be utilized? For example, she searched for a cat toy, so surface up content where she
enters and follow her around the site specific to „cat toy,‟
• What is her behavior on the site – her end-to-end clickstream? For the journey, can specific areas be recommended on each page or
template to personalize content? Can content relevant to her needs and her persona be served up?
• Which editorial, lifestyle or non-product (but relevant) content might she want to see? What would lead her to engagement?
• Where should she convert and what happens after she converts?
• If she can create a profile, what does she need to tell you about herself to create opportunities for content creation?
• Ensure the profile captures all relevant information to deliver a personalized experience.
• Go through an exercise that determines everything necessary to determine who she is and what would be valuable to know
about her (for example, for a major food services company, what are her dietary needs and what is her age, food preferences,
and health history?)
• Also ensure to capture future-state personalization areas that may not be part of the initial release to build a scalable user profile
template.

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Channel considerations
Social media
• Which content is she likely to share? Think about life-style trends such as „road warrior‟ or „foodie.‟
• What is important to her friends or social groups?
• What is important to life-style communities that would appeal to her?
• How many people are sharing that content and where are they sharing it?
• What social opportunities could you create for her to opt in?

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Channel considerations
Mobile
• Are there geo-locational opportunities, such as sending text because she is in front of a store? Can you create an opportunity for her opt-
in to such offers?
• How would she use a smart-phone in a store?
• What does she or others like her do with apps?
• How would she use social on apps and what opportunities exist?
• Differentiate between tablet and smartphone with content, as each is its on unique entity.
A few mobile (smartphone) considerations*…
• 68 percent of mobile searches result in a map look up
• 61 percent of local mobile searches result in a phone call
• 59 percent of mobile users interact with businesses via social media regularly.
*Source for each point:
Wells, Jason R. “4 myths of mobile metrics.”(Mobile Commerce Daily: January 10, 2013.) Accessed 1 May
2013. <http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/4-myths-of-mobile-metrics>

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Channel considerations
Email / SMS
• What types of event-oriented email can be triggered?
• Which types of confirmations can be offered?
• Which types of email should be created for absentee customers?
• Which types of appreciation emails should be granted?
• Which content within event-triggered emails should be personalized?
• Which types of texts could be opted in and what are the types of triggers for them that we should consider? What types of content would
be
most useful for the user and her needs via sms?

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Channel considerations
In Store
• Is there a Kiosk for which she can interact, if so, can she sign-up for a profile? Are there built-in social sharing opportunities?
• Are there QR scanning opportunities? If so, and if it is product-specific, can you prompt user profile creation or login or tracking?
• If it is a specialty store or a store that delivers a specific service, does she have a profile, and if so, which opportunities exist to provide
her a personalized experience? Can the sales‟ associate create a profile for her?
• Can the sales‟ associate know what she wants, her previous purchase behavior and/or her existing services as soon as she gives him
her name?
• Are there offers or coupons that require in-store validation?

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Channel considerations
Post-purchase support
• Do you provide the necessary channels for support? For example, if her power goes out, do you provide mobile support services via a
mobile app that has her data?
• If she calls support, can you customize the experience to meet her needs? E.g. We know you have this product, we know you called
before, etc.
• Do you have content that is specific to her if she goes online via desktop that captures her profile information and delivers her a
personalized experience?
Considerations for in-store and post-purchase experience
• Customer satisfaction comes mostly after a product is purchased
• Considering that 80% customers couldn't care less if brands go away tomorrow, a strong focus on customer happiness after they have
purchased a product, is a powerful differentiator.

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Channel Considerations
Packaging
• If package is sent via mail, are there insets to deliver a personalized message?
• If package is in-store, are there opt-ins to social sharing possibilities?
• Can packaging be personalized for on-line delivery?

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Content Considerations
Personalization is an investment in content, time, resources and technology.
• Personalization is 100% dependent on the content to deliver the experience. Whether you launch a single channel or complete
omnichannel experience, you must have specific content for: each channel, personalized module within it, for each customer need and
persona.
• Determine baselines and develop a realistic content editorial calendar to support the content necessary to support personalization, noting
resources, time and cost.
• Although not covered in this presentation, metadata and controlled vocabularies require content to be created for tags and terms. These
tools are the „fuel‟ for personalization and are required components. They must factor into editorial calendar and length of time for content
to go-live for personalization
• Create a nimble content lifecycle that can react to changes in customer behavior and serve up content accordingly
• Be careful to avoid „big-brother syndrome,‟ and test your solutions with user surveys to ensure they are not „creepy.‟ [WHAT DO YOU
MEAN BY CREEPY]
• Don‟t boil the ocean, start small and create a comprehensive content experience over time.

Content metrics – the critical component for personalization success.
Part 5: Personalization content metrics

Content metrics measure customer
behavior, how well content is performing,
and which areas of the content to evolve.
They close the loop for evolving
personalization.

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• Most important metric is the clickstream (the customer journey through site)
For example: Clearance Page > Men‟s Coats > Shearling Coat > Add to Cart > Purchase
Completion
Other metrics:
– Conversion rates
– Length of visit per page
– Depth of visit
– Exit and bounce rates
– Content usage (which content is viewed, shared, downloaded, etc)
Metrics to measure

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• Customer behavior via customer interaction history (profile or cookie-based)
• Accessories for previously purchased item: bracelet charm
• Similar products (artist, genre): music, books
Other metrics:
– Top Keyword Searches
• “Clearance”
• “Earphones for iPod”
Photo from
Pandora
Metrics to measure

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• Customer choices
– Purchased product, such as a product as part of series: Game of
Thrones Season 1, Season 2 to be released, etc.
– Cart abandonment
– Conversion points (where and when did the customer convert)
– Number of times visiting channel before conversion
Other metrics:
– Site registration
• Register for special content: Whitepaper
– Viewed Product Information
• Product/Brand Blitz: Car Promotion Microsite
Find a copy of many more metrics from Rebecca Schneider and
Kevin Nichols: http://ideaengineers.sapient.com/events/idea-
engineer-exchange-webinar-series-2/
Metrics to measure

Part 5: Questions and comments

Was there anything you wanted to get out
of this session that you did not?
Do you have any questions?

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Kevin P Nichols
knichols@sapient.com
– kevinpnichols.com
– Twitter: #kpnichols
– LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinpnichols
Keep the conversation going…

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Thank you