Ecommerce portals can provide great customer experience using personalization. A presentation on ecommerce personalization using Acquia Lift and Drupal Commerce.

1. Personalized Customer Experience
using Ecommerce Portals

2. Contents
●
Introduction to a Customer Portal
●
Features of a Customer Portal
●
Detailed Solution
●
Use Cases

3. Customer Portal
Customer portals are platforms that are built by organizations for delivering
personalized experience to customers. They are also known as self service
portals, that allow users to view and retrieve their data as per their need.
Customer portal will facilitate organizations to:
●
Accept product orders online
●
Deliver personalized content to customers based on their preferences
●
Engage customers using loyalty points and offers
●
Establish a communication channel with customers

4. Business Advantages
The business advantages of having a customer portal are:
● It opens up a new sales channel - the ecommerce platform
● Establishes a direct communication channel
● Builds brand loyalty among customers
● Helps in quantifying marketing initiatives
● It will reduce workload or employees by implementing automation
● It helps in implementing process based execution at different levels using
custom workflows. Eg : Content authoring workflow helps to validate
content at different levels.
● Helps in quick resolution of customer grievances

5. Contents
●
Introduction to Customer Portals
●
Features of a Customer Portal
●
Detailed Solution
●
Use Cases

6. 1. Content management and delivery platform
2. Ecommerce engine
3. Personalization and targeting engine
4. Analytics engine
5. Intelligent customer interactions/engagement system
6. Digital marketing tools
Features of a Customer Portal

7. 1.Content Management and Delivery
Platform
Content management system act as the backbone of a customer portal. It is
where all the customer interactions happen. It also plays the role of an
integration hub through which communications happen between different
systems.
Content Management and delivery platform helps in
● Managing content in different sections of portal.
● Managing the users and their membership levels.
● Delivering content in a search engine friendly manner for better visibility.
● Automating the content approval process using workflows.

8. 2. Ecommerce Engine
Managing product portfolio and processing orders are one of the tedious
processes in any business. Ecommerce engine makes this easy by helping you in
managing your product portfolio and streamlining the order management
process.
Ecommerce engine helps in
● Managing an online product portfolio of product catalogs
● Accepting product orders online
● Streamlining the order management process
● Managing memberships and discounts
● Automating price calculation that depends on various parameters

9. 3. Personalization and Targeting Engine
Personalization has become the core of any e-business. Customers expect e-
commerce systems to provide them unique experiences based on their
preferences. Studies prove that personalization has increased customer
engagement and sales to a great extent. Personalization helps in building
customer loyalty too.
Personalization in customer portal can help in
● Delivering personalized content for customers
● Driving engagement with customers to make them feel special
● Predicting customer behavior based on their persona
● Making chat agents informed about the customer persona and behavior

10. 3. Analytics Engine
Customer interactions can be tracked at various touch points in the portal using
analytics. Based on these data, valuable insights regarding customer behavior
can be framed. Analytics engine also helps in visualizing these data in a
meaningful way.
The Analytics engine can help in
● Easy access of data for accelerated decision making
● Integration with business intelligence systems and personalization engines

11. 4. Intelligent Customer Interactions/
Engagement
Human or Artificial Intelligence (AI) based chat agents can act as a helping hand
for customers in their purchase journey. Agent assisted shopping is one of the
most important features that customers are expecting from a portal. Integration
of chat systems with personalization and marketing automation systems will
ensure an informed engagement with customers.
Chat agents can help users in
● Choosing the right products and placing orders on behalf of customers
● Delivering personalized service for customers through customer persona
information
● Addressing their complaints and ensuring its smooth resolution

12. 5. Digital Marketing
Digital marketing features ensure targeted content delivery among different
platforms. This include visibility in search engines, social media, third party
platforms etc. Another outcome of digital marketing activities are increased
customer engagement and conversions. To ensure that all activities are in track,
marketing automation systems can be used.
Digital marketing tools can help in
● Increasing visibility of customer portal which will result in increased
footfalls.
● Delivering marketing content to potential customers and thus drive in more
customer sign ups.
● Ensuring good ROI, by delivering rich insights about activities in different
platforms.

13. Contents
●
Introduction to Customer Portals
●
Features of a Customer Portal
●
Detailed Solution
●
Use Cases

14. Overview of the system

15. D
R
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P
A
L
C
M
S
Ecommerce platform - Drupal
Commerce
A
C
Q
U
I
A
L
I
F
T
Product catalog listing, order
placement, loyalty and
memberships
Digital Marketing Tool Automating content marketing
activities
Real time shopping assistants Helping customers to clear
queries and proceed to purchase
Content Delivery
Customer Support
ERP / CRM Tracking tool
Existing Integrations
End User
Helpdesk System Helps in managing customer
complaints and support requests
PersonalizationPlatform
Detailed Solution

16. Systems in the Customer Portal
The customer portal consists of following systems
●
Web content management framework which act as the front end layer where all
customer interactions happens. This will also handle the profile of each user
including loyalty points and membership levels.
●
Ecommerce system for product, price, order management and purchase
process.
●
Personalization platform that will capture data from various touch points and
has the ability to segment the customers and provide personalized content
targeting specific customers.
●
Digital marketing tool set includes landing page builder, email automation tools,
social media integration tools etc.
●
Real time shopping assistant with artificial Intelligence based automation
support.
●
Ability to interface with various third party systems like ERP, CRM, Tracking
tools etc.

17. Content Management Framework
Drupal, an open source content management system that offer extensive content
marketing support will be used to manage content in the ecommerce system.
How content management system ease up the process.
●
Drupal CMS provides structured data entry interfaces that allows seamless
update of content.
●
Work flow based content authoring will help in implementing an approval
mechanism for content updates.
●
It unifies information from multiple systems and display it in a personalized
dashboard.
●
Custom landing pages can be built in the system without any technical
knowledge.
●

18. Drupal commerce can be the ecommerce system used. It provides a stable
environment and allows deep customizations in the order management process.
How ecommerce system helps in order processing
●
Drupal commerce facilitates effortless order creation and management.
●
Product attributes can be defined for single as well as batch product uploads.
●
Features like product bundling, discounts, manual order generation are
available.
●
Customer memberships and discounts can be managed within this system.
●
Advanced pricing and tax rules can be set within the system.
●
Pricing and order related documents can be generated from the system itself.
Ecommerce System

19. Acquia Lift can be used as the personalization platform. It acts like a hub to
collect user persona related information from different touch points and distribute
it to different systems to tailor the user experience.
● It facilitates profiling of both known and unknown users.
● User persona developed using personalization system will be used to deliver
personalized content for customers.
● Personalization rules can be set to tailor various customer communications.
● Customer profile data can be shared with different communication systems
to facilitate personalized communication.
Personalization Platform

20. Digital Marketing features facilitate coordination of various digital marketing
activities through online platforms.
They are also equipped with
● Descriptive dashboards and advanced data visualizations.
● AB testing tools to define the best conversion optimized content .
● Workflows that facilitate content coordination between different teams.
● Communication rules can be set to automate the process.
● Integration with personalization tools that help in driving targeted
communication based on user persona.
Digital Marketing Tools

21. Chat systems facilitate real time interaction with customers. Artificial intelligence
powered chatbots can also be used.
● Chat agents can initiate communication with users.
● Chat agents can be grouped based on their departments / function.
● Chats can be routed to subject experts, if needed.
● Chat systems also come with support desk features. This help agents to
register complaints instantaneously.
● Integration with personalization systems helps in retrieving user persona
related information.
Real Time Shopping Assistants

22. Contents
● Introduction to Customer Portals
● Features of a customer portal
● Detailed Solution
● Use Cases

23. Use Case - Buyers Journey
Abc.com is a prominent ecommerce merchant based in Mumbai, India.
They sell electronic gadgets. Abc.com has provided a customer portal
for users who buy products from them. It is equipped with features like
chat support, data personalization, marketing automation etc. This
helps them serve their clients better.
John has been purchasing products from Abc.com for about a year. He
is looking for a trimmer now. He visited Abc.com twice for that. But he
did not purchase it as he was not particularly sure he wanted that
design of the model.

24. Use Case - Buyers Journey
On a fine Friday, John received an email from Abc.com about offers available for
that weekend. They had given great offers for 7 products. The trimmer was one
of them and he was excited to see that there was a 10% discount for TX-100,
the trimmer he was looking for. This made him reconsider his options.
How it is achieved
● Digital marketing tools used by Abc.com delivered the custom designed email in
John’s Inbox. Integration of digital marketing tool with personalization system
facilitated delivering custom message, ie adding TX-100 to the list.
● Personalization system identified user persona of John as a long standing customer
who had expressed interest towards the trimmer and browsed the website twice for
the TX-100 trimmer. It also identified that John had purchased products priced at
this range before.
● Personalization system passed the persona information to e-commerce system. The
ecommerce system assigned the 10% discount to this user. 1

25. Buyers Journey
2
John’s interest towards the trimmer made him click the corresponding ‘Buy
Now’ link. It took him to an attractive landing page that displayed details
about the new trimmer TX-01. Along with product specifications, there was a
personalized advertisement that displayed an offer on a cleaning kit, if
purchased along with the trimmer.
How it is achieved
● Content management system helped marketing team of Abc.com create custom
landing pages without developer’s involvement.
● Personalization system identified John used ‘Product Care’ accessories, this made
the personalization system display an advertisement about the cleaning kit.
● Product bundling feature in ecommerce system helped bundle the cleaning kit
with the trimmer.
● Loyalty feature in ecommerce system helped in creating discounts for
the cleaning kit.

26. Buyers Journey
3
John had a query about product bundling. So he contacted Eliza, the chat
agent. Eliza cleared his queries and created a custom order for him. John was
surprised to see that Eliza knew about his interest in the trimmer and she also
mentioned an article about trimmer he had read before. By the end of
conversation, John received the order link in the chat box itself.
How it is achieved
● Real time shopping assistants available 24x7 helped John answer his queries.
● The manual order creation feature provided by the ecommerce system helped
Eliza create a custom order for John.
● Integration of chat system with the personalization system helped Eliza to be
informed about John’s activities and interests. Personalization system passed this
information about John to Eliza in real time. Eliza received persona tags related to
his previous activity, probability of purchase, purchase history, purchase journey
etc.

27. Buyers Journey
4
Clicking the order link took John to the cart. He entered the delivery address
to calculate shipping cost and entered the payment details to confirm the
order. He got redirected to the payment gateway for making payment. On
making payment, he received the order confirmation mail along with
payment receipt. Estimated time for delivery was also mentioned in that
mail.
How it is achieved
● Integration of ecommerce system with drop-shipping providers helped in real
time calculation of shipping rates and retrieving the estimated time of delivery.
● Payment gateway integration facilitated accepting payments online.
● Ecommerce system also facilitate automated generation of invoices and
receipts.

28. Buyers Journey
5
After purchase, John can access his personalized dashboard. He can see his
new order details there. He can also track the order status from there.
Dashboard also facilitates accessing details related to previous orders. If
he had any further queries, he can consult chat agent Eliza.
How it is achieved
● Personalized dashboard offered by content management system facilitated easy
access of customer details.
● Tracking tool integration with CMS helped in displaying the product tracking
details in user dashboard.
● Chat agent support in dashboard helped John answer his queries.

29. Use Case - Sellers Journey
Abc.com is a prominent ecommerce merchant based in Mumbai, India.
They sell electronic gadgets. Abc.com has provided a customer portal
for users who buy products from them. It is equipped with features like
chat support, data personalization, marketing automation etc. This
helps them serve their clients better.
Tim joined Abc.com just 2 weeks back. His manager Kelvin decides to
give Tim a demo of the features available in Abc.com, so that Tim can
start managing the portal from the next day.

30. Use Case - Sellers Journey
1
Kelvin started with the dashboard feature. Tim was able to see details
regarding sales, order processing, inventory detail etc. in Kelvin’s dashboard.
Kevin also demonstrated how to generate reports like product sales, order
management, user behavior, visitor analytics, marketing campaign
effectiveness etc. Later, Tim was introduced to the user management section
of Abc.com. Tim was able to see himself listed under the marketing group.
How it is achieved
● Descriptive dashboard and report generation feature in content management
system helped Kelvin in easy extraction of data.
● Group based user roles helped Abc.com to have better control over the access of
specific information.
● Google Analytics integration helped Abc.com gain insights on customer
engagement within the website.

31. Sellers Journey
2
Tim has to upload products to the portal on next day. So, Kelvin introduced
the product management sections to him. Kelvin explained about the fields to
be added for each product and approval mechanism for the same. In Abc.com,
the product management was done by marketing team and the pricing was
finalized by Sales team. So, after adding product, it will be send to sales team
for approval. Once it's done, it will be published in the website.
Kelvin also explained how automation has helped Abc.com save on human
efforts. He cited the example of UPS integration that helped customers
calculate shipping rates and delivery time instantaneously.
How it is achieved
● Structured data entry interfaces provided by Drupal CMS facilitates hassle free
content authoring and the workflow mechanism helped them to automate the
approval process.
● Integration with tracking tools made it possible to automate the
shipping rate calculation.

32. Sellers Journey
3
Kelvin then explained about the efforts taken by Abc.com to enhance user
experience and bring in more sales. Tim was excited to see how chat agents
help users clear queries and address their complaints. He noticed that as the
chat agents know the user persona, they can carry out more meaningful
conversations. He finds that the chats are diverted to subject experts in some
cases. Kelvin informed Tim that Abc.com will be automating the chat process
with Chat bots in the near future.
How it is achieved
● Real Time shopping assistance being in more interactions from customers. Abc.com
can assign chat agents based on their group/department.
● Chat systems are also equipped to divert chats to subject experts if needed.

33. Sellers Journey
3
● Chat systems are also equipped with help desk facility that help organizations to
address customer complaints through a ticketing mechanism.
● Chat systems are also integrated to personalization systems to pass on user
persona related information to chat agents in real time. This helps chat agents drive
meaningful communication.
● Usage of Artificial intelligence based chat bots automates the process. This reduces
the number of work force to be deployed for chat process. Intelligent Chat bots can
guide customers in the purchase process.

34. Sellers Journey
4
Kelvin next explained how personalization of content based on user persona
enhanced customer experience and increased their sales by 15%. The idea of
personalization was new to Tim. Kelvin also explained how personalization
systems can help in converting anonymous users to known users and deliver
content that matches user persona.
How it is achieved
● Personalization systems collect data from different touch points and builds a user
persona for every user. They study the user behavior and activities to find a
user's purchase indent. This persona is then used to deliver personalized content.
In websites, personalization can be implemented in product listing,
advertisements, notifications etc. Personalization can also be used in
communication channels like emailers.

35. Sellers Journey
5
Tim then asked about the marketing efforts that Abc.com has put on for
customer acquisition. On the online front, Tim explained that the system
itself is built on Drupal content management system, which has extensive
content marketing capabilities. He also explained its ability to create
custom landing pages for campaigns without technical knowledge. Kelvin
also informed that a marketing automation tool is integrated to this system
to ensure timely and targeted communication with customers.
How it is achieved
● Drupal by default has extensive content management capabilities. This is the
reason why it is suitable for development of customer portals.
● Integration with marketing automation systems helps in delivering content to
target audience. Other than promotional content distribution, marketing
automation tools also help in reducing cart abandonment.

36. Contact Zyxware
http://www.zyxware.com
drupal@zyxware.com
+91-8606011184

37. Thank You