Personalization is the next tactic in your marketing toolkit, giving you the keys to make one-to-one marketing a reality for higher education. Many marketers are intrigued by the possibility of personalization, but wary of the content demands. But, marketers shouldn’t be intimidated. If organizations have a good content strategy with solid content assets, personalization is all about leveraging and reusing these assets. Your higher ed website CAN apply techniques deemed successful by e-commerce and retail websites to engage prospects and alumni. Personalization can help by delivering relevant content and calls-to-action to your visitors based on their personal consumer journeys – even before they have identified who they are. And, personalization provides opportunity to enhance your user data, giving you more insight into their intent, behaviors, and motivations. From stealth inquiries to accepted applicants, learn strategies to develop effective, sustainable, and unobtrusive digital personalization experiences that provide relevance for your constituents and ROI for you. This presentation was originally shared at PSEWEB 2018 in London, Ontario.

1. PERSONALIZATION
CREATING A PERSONALIZED WEB EXPERIENCE TO
DRIVE ENROLLMENT AND GIVING

2. #PSEWEB
Hello from OHO Interactive!
Oberlin College Cornell University
The Boston Conservatory
▸ Digital strategy
▸ Full website redesign
▸ User research and customer
journey
▸ Digital marketing, analytics, and
lead conversion
▸ Content strategy
▸ CMS development
▸ Service and support
And hi from me!
Vanessa Theoharis @vmtheoharis
Director of Digital Marketing

3. Personalization
is all around.

4. PERSONALIZATION: A DEFINITION
▸ “An experience that
uses customer data and
understanding to frame, guide,
extend, and enhance
interactions based on that
person’s history, preferences,
context, and intent.”
(Forrester Research)
https://buy.shareacoke.com/personalized-bottle-six-pack

9. Personalization
generates revenue.

10. “35% of Amazon’s revenue is
generated by its
recommendation engine.”
Venture Beat
IMPACT OF PERSONALIZATION
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/how-retailers-can-keep-up-with-consumers

11. “75% of users select movies based
on Netflix’s recommendations.”
Gigaom
IMPACT OF PERSONALIZATION
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/how-retailers-can-keep-up-with-consumers

12. “We don’t have one product but over a 100
million different products with one for each
of our members with personalized
recommendations and personalized visuals.”
IMPACT OF PERSONALIZATION
https://medium.com/netflix-techblog/artwork-personalization-c589f074ad76
The Netflix Technology Blog

13. “52% of consumers will switch
brands if their communications
are not personalized.”
Salesforce 2017 State of Marketing
IMPACT OF PERSONALIZATION
https://www.salesforce.com/form/pdf/2017-state-of-marketing.jsp

14. “89% of U.S. marketers reported that
personalization on their websites or
apps resulted in an increase in revenue.”
eMarketer/Evergage Trends in Personalization
IMPACT OF PERSONALIZATION
eMarketer/Evergage, "2016 Trends in Personalization," conducted by Researchscape.

15. 86% of surveyed consumers said they
were concerned that their data was
being tracked.
85% realize data tracking makes it
possible for retailers to present them
with relevant and targeted content.
http://www.slideshare.net/fred.zimny/accenture-interactivesurveyresults-accenture-interactive-survey-shoppers-prefer-
personalization-over-privacy

16. Gen Z is 25% more likely than
other generations to provide
personal information to gain a
more predictive online
experience.
https://wpengine.com/gen-z-us/

17. 50% of Gen Z would stop
visiting a website if it didn’t
anticipate what they needed,
liked, or wanted.
https://wpengine.com/gen-z-us/

18. 37% of all generations believe
websites will recognize and
adapt to the user to create a
unique, personalization
experience.
https://wpengine.com/gen-z-us/

19. 62% of all generations
believe that websites will
know what you are looking
for before you tell them.
https://wpengine.com/gen-z-us/

20. https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/meetingconsumerexpectations/

21. https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/meetingconsumerexpectations/

22. Why does higher
education need
personalization?

23. Your website is at the center
of the prospective student
journey.
REASON 1

24. 85%
of prospective
students rate the
website as the
#1 research tool.

25. 73%
of prospective
students rate the
website as the
#1 research tool.

26. The website is the only
place to engage stealth
applicants.
REASON 2

27. 33%
of prospects for
4-year schools
failed to identify
themselves
before applying
https://www.higher-education-marketing.com/blog/rise-fall-stealth-applicant
REASON 2

28. 50%
of applicants at
Clark University
did not provide
contact info
before applying
http://smartcollegevisit.com/2013/02/the-secret-life-of-a-stealth-applicant.html
REASON 2

29. 62%
of transfer
applicants are
stealth
http://smartcollegevisit.com/2013/02/the-secret-life-of-a-stealth-applicant.html
REASON 2

30. “What scares me the most?
The 80 stealth admits that
can make or break our year.”
– University President
REASON 2

31. Website personalization is the
natural extension of your
existing marketing and content
strategy.
REASON 3

32. What does
personalization look like
in higher education?

33. STRATEGY
3 Types of Personalization for Higher Ed
▸ Relevance: Relevance tactics include the personalization of content based on how and
from where the visitor interacts with the website, and what basic behaviors he or she has
taken on the site.
▸ Customer Journey: These tactics aim to provide the most applicable content that can
move a prospect to the next step in the customer journey, leading them closer to
conversion.
▸ CRM-Driven: Once your CRM is connected to the website personalization engine, and a
visitor moves from anonymous to identified, you can not only identify what type of
constituent they are, but you can use the data you have on these visitors and offline
interactions to personalize the website and drive a prospect towards a conversion.

34. Foot prints
Prospects leave
digital footprints
everywhere.

35. Goal: Recruit students
Real-Time
Personalization
Anonymous User
Admissions
“Hot List”
“Named User”

36. Plus, you get mounds of
data to improve lead
scoring.

37. SEE EVERY PAGE
CONNECT TO SALESFORCE
SEE ALL VISITS
AFFINITIES FOR AREA OF INTEREST
ADD TO A SEGMENT

38. Simple segments
to consider.

39. SCENARIO 1: INCREASE NUMBER OF INTERNATIONAL INQUIRIES
Identify visitors from locations outside of the U.S.,
then deliver international student stories on the homepage.

40. SCENARIO 2: INCREASE DEPOSITS DURING YIELD
DELIVER THIS BUTTON ONLY TO ADMITTED STUDENTS
IDENTIFY WHO IS AN
ADMITTED STUDENT
CUSTOMIZE CTA BASED ON WHICH
SCHOOL THEY’VE BEEN ACCEPTED TO
UNKNOWN WEBSITE VISITORS RECEIVE VISIT CAMPUS OR INQUIRE

41. SCENARIO 3: SPECIFY HOMEPAGE FEATURES BASED ON PROGRAM OF INTEREST
STEP 1 Visit Homepage STEP 4 Display Graduate Hero Image and CTAsSTEP 3 Return to HomepageSTEP 2 Visit 3 pages in graduate section
for at least 4 total minutes
CUSTOMIZE FOR
GRADUATE PROSPECTS

42. SCENARIO 4: ON-CAMPUS MOBILE VISITORS
Identify location - near or on campus?
Identify device - mobile?
Replace hero and main CTA with
campus information, directions, and events.
Identify network - not logged into campus network?

43. SCENARIO 5: ENGAGE ALUMNI BASED ON THEIR CONTENT PREFERENCES
Children
Sociology
Sociology
Middle East Politics
Send custom event invitations and giving
opportunities based on content engagement.
Add behavior to database

53. CRM Hobsons
Improve phone
and email
outreach
Organic
Paid Search

70. Marketo
Salesforce
Inform drip
campaigns
Phone outreach
Organic

71. Getting Started

72. PERSONALIZATION
Why personalization?
▸ Gain visibility into interest, intent, and engagement –
especially to find new prospects.
▸ Deepen your prospect profile data, and validate existing data.
▸ Ensure that your constituents see the content that is most
relevant for them.
▸ Deeply personalize any one-to-one outreach.
▸ Conversions.

73. PERSONALIZATION
Getting Started
▸Select a platform and install tracking code on your CMS
▸Begin tracking users and looking for patterns and
opportunities to engage
▸Set up campaigns and test
▸Integrate with CRM systems
▸Build out new campaigns

74. MORE RESOURCES
FROM OHO
WANT TO LEARN MORE?
▸ Pick up a copy of our guide to
personalization.
▸ Visit our blog: www.oho.com/insights
▸ Follow @ohointeractive