The document is a primer on digital personalization, introducing key concepts, best practices, and examples based on the author's experiences. It emphasizes understanding data, audience segmentation, and the importance of validating personalized approaches to enhance user engagement. The document also outlines practical frameworks for implementing personalization strategies and encourages ongoing testing and refinement.

1. Digital
Personalization 101
Simon Herron | Senior Solutions Engineer
The building blocks for a powerful strategy

2. 2
Today
→ is a primer, a start point
→ a guide, not a rulebook
→ is purely summary of my experiences
→ a source of examples to get you started

3. Welcome.
● Simon Herron
● 28
● Lives in London
● Sung in punk bands since I was 16
● Trained as a Body Piercer

4. Hello.
● 34
● Technical Program Manager
● Married for a year
● Foodie
● Good Sense of Humour
● Terrible Dress sense.

5. Thank you for joining today.
● Simon Herron
● Senior Solutions Engineer
● Practitioner of 12 years
I speak with, run workshops for, and
support the Experimentation programs
of 100’s of Optimizely prospects and
customers every year.

6. Define ‘Personalization’
Do you know your data?
Do you have the resources?
Can you validate...
The breadth of use cases available.

7. Define ‘Personalization’
Do you know your data?
Do you have the resources?
Can you validate...
The breadth of use cases available.

8. A live data-point incorporated into some creative
Segmentation
Recommendations
Account-based Marketing / Symmetric messaging
Highly Customised Content
Contextual / Adaptive Content
What do we mean by personalization?

9. “Personalized” is “Relevant”

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Q: If I’ve previously added a £1,500 sofa to a
list of items on a website, is it in my
‘Bag’, ‘Basket’ or ‘Cart’?

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Q: I’ve just downloaded and opened your
iPhone app, why would I give you
permission to send me notifications
straight away?

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Q: If I’ve just bought a car yesterday,
why are you sending me offers for a
new car today?

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Acknowledgment and Validation
are important and often overlooked.

14. Define ‘Personalization’
Do you know your data?
Do you have the resources?
Can you validate...
The breadth of use cases available.

15. Behavioral
What is their intent?
• Past Browser Behavior
○ Viewed category of content
○ Sequence of pages visited across
multiple sessions
○ Visited help center or other areas of
the site
○ Viewed video (+ percentage viewed
• Uploaded to photo album
• Scrolled 50% down the page, but didn’t
engage.
Contextual
What can we infer from the context of
the users browser?
• Marketing Campaign
• Referral Source (including engagement
campaigns via a specific UTM URL)
• Device - mobile vs desktop
• New/Returning
• Time of Day
• Browser
Demographic
Who are they?
(1st or 3rd party data)
• Geography
• Demographic
• Industry Vertical (Clearbit Reveal API)
• Company (Clearbit Reveal API)
• Data Warehouse
○ Team Data: Team ID, Industry, Team
Size, Creation Date, Plan (Free,
Standard, Plus, Enterprise),
Acquisition Score
○ User Data: Team ID, Role (Admin,
Developer), Invite Status
(Pending/Accepted), Feature Usage
(created channels, shared channels,
file uploads etc)
Audience Discovery
The types of data to help identify your audience

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Start with important audience definitions
that have a broad reach and refine.

21. Define ‘Personalization’
Do you know your data?
Do you have the resources?
Can you validate...
The breadth of use cases available.

22. “Personalization requires the same inputs and workflow as testing; sound
technical implementation, research-driven ideation, a clear methodology for
translating concepts into test hypotheses, and tight technical execution. ”

23. ...there is some benefit to throwing spaghetti at a wall. It’s short term, but it will get you started.
...execution doesn’t have to be fancy, great personalization is barely noticeable.
...focus on the “WHAT” → the most effective personalization informs a customer need.
Use a framework that’s actionable

24. Who, What, Why, Where, When, How.
Knowing your “what” helps to focus your messaging to the target audience
Who are they? What is important to them?
What are they looking for?
What can you do?
New Visitor
● Looking for info/education
● Someone who can empathise or relate to their
individual problem or need
● Acknowledge their “newness” to brand,
● Aim to get their contact information
● Educate her on offering & encourage return visit
Return Visitors
● Ability to continue their shopping session from
where they last left off
● Incorporate their past site behaviour to shape
offering
● Acquire their contact information
A Known Visitor Who is Not Engaged Yet
● Understand how the product/service can benefit
them
● Look to engage them through interactivity
● Communicate the benefits of your
offering/product
Customer Who is Losing Interest
● A need or benefit that is not ‘perceived’ as
being satisfied by your product/offering
● Communicate quality of the product/offering
and why it’s important to hear from us.
● Think about ways to re-engage: promotions,
news, etc.
Customer Who is Gaining Interest ● Advice to narrow down the product/offering
● Offer advice on which product is best for them
● Provide ‘white glove’ service (think: they’re in
your office)
A Repeat/Loyal Customer (Highly Engaged) ● Recognition and benefits as a repeat customer
● Use rewards or awards to encourage him/her for
being a good customer
● Surface your ‘premier’ loyalty programs
● Encourage them to share or promote the brand

29. Create and manage
campaigns
Set up Audiences
Analyse results
Validate - Iterate - Refine

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Follow a simple framework to get you started.
Take those broad, customer audiences and
clearly articulate their needs.

31. Define ‘Personalization’
Do you know your data?
Do you have the resources?
Can you validate...
The breadth of use cases available.
A B

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Keep testing and analysing how
audience relevance changes.

34. Define ‘Personalization’
Do you know your data?
Do you have the resources?
Can you validate...
The breadth of use cases available.

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Key Personalization Use Cases
Category Affinity
Create relevant offers and product placements
across key points of your experience based on
affinity shown for product or content types from
prior browsing behavior
Customer Experience as a
Competitive Advantage
Tailor your experiences to target your customers
and test how each experience resonates
Symmetric Messaging &
Session Cohorting
Ensure that customers receive messaging that
is consistent and applicable based on search
terms, creating a cohesive customer journey
Localizations
Localize web experiences based on
customer location
Behaviorally Triggered Campaigns
Based on previous behavior, target specific customers
with personalized experiences in real time
ABM
Create relationships with your most important
customers across your experience through 1-to-1
messaging and value propositions based on which
company or industry they are in
Loyalty Tiers
Push your loyal customers to the most important
groups by offering unique benefits based on current
tier of loyalty as well as ensure consistent messaging
for a seamless experience
Abandoned Cart &
Purchase History
Personalize based on individuals purchase
history and cart abandonment

36. Symmetric messaging helps them get more
from AdWords spend.
Personalized campaign
Matched landing page copy and imagery
to AdWords campaigns.
Results
• 32% increase in new sign-ups
• No added cost for AdWords spend,
yet more value from converted traffic

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1. Acknowledgment and Validation are important.
2. Start with broad audience definitions and refine.
3. Use a simple framework to get you started.
4. Don’t stop testing and analyzing.
5. As with anything, start simple and build.
Key Personalization Use Cases

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Next Steps: Continue Your Learning!
www.optimizely.com/optimindset-personalization/
Search Optimindset Personalization
to access other resources in the series

39. Q&A

40. Thank you