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Eight Mistakes 
in Web Personalization
Overcoming the common barriers to success
A Baynote eBook for marketers.
Contents

           It’s all about you	                      2    Mistake #5	                              12
                                                         Looking backward instead of forward
           Personalization defined	                 4
                                                         Mistake #6	                              13
           The benefits of personalization	         5    Letting personas drive personalization

           The Eight Mistakes	                      6    Mistake #7	                              14
                                                         Limiting your personalization to the web
           Mistake #1	                              7
           Living and dying by profiles                  Mistake #8	15
                                                         Forgetting the power of search
           Mistake #2	                              8
           Building your personalization strategy        Let’s re-cap	                            16
           on rules alone
                                                         Get Adaptive	                            17
           Mistake #3	                              9
           Thinking like NASA                            Conclusion	19

           Mistake #4 	                             10   About Baynote	                           20
           Waiting for the ‘big signals’
                                                         Resources	21




                                                         Email this   Tweet this
It’s all
about you.
Your sister has had another baby.
Nice. Now you’ve got a dilemma.

If you go to your favorite ecommerce website
and buy her that little set of onesies,
you’ll never hear the end of it.

Because every time you come back to the site,
you’ll be besieged by ‘Little Me Layette Sets’,
bodysuits, blankets and tiny, reversible hoodies.

‘Honestly, folks, it was just a one-off.
I’m still into the Ramones.’
Only 23% of online shoppers rate their
experience as excellent.
                                              We’re into the second                            It’s based on our experience in helping
                                                                                               some of the world’s most successful
                                              decade of the 21st century.                      online brands deliver highly personalized
Baynote
‘Online Holiday Shopping Experience Survey’
                                              Why are so many websites’                        experiences without investing millions
                                                                                               in over-engineered ‘platforms’ or deploying
                                              attempts at personalization                      dozens of expensive analysts (a few clever
                                              still so clunky?                                 analysts go a long, long way if they’re
                                                                                               focused on the right things).
                                              It’s not like it’s a new idea. The vision
                                              of personalized web experiences has been         We call this new approach ‘Dynamic
                                              around for more than twenty years.               Personalization’ because it takes a
                                              But for most websites and other digital          Darwinian approach to the problem (sped up
                                              channels, the promise is far from the reality.   a bit). The idea is simple: the best content
                                                                                               for any specific interaction is that which
                                              Clearly, something is holding marketers          is most clearly aligned with the visitor’s
                                              back from delivering the relevant, timely,       intent, it’s that precise moment. It’s all part
                                              highly targeted web experiences that             of our Dynamic Personalization vision. But
                                              we can all picture.                              more on that later…

                                              This eBook is about these obstacles –
                                              and the things marketers like
                                              you can do to overcome them.
Personalization
defined.
                  Traditionally, personalization   Instead of treating everyone exactly
                                                   the same, personalization is about
                  has meant:                       leveraging important clues about
                                                   each visitor, including their profile
                                                   (if they’ve completed one), their past
                  Serving specific content         behaviors (such as recent purchases)
                  to a web visitor based           and things like their browser version
                                                   or ability to handle Flash.
                  on the things you know
                  about him or her.                Intent-driven Dynamic Personalization
                                                   adds an important dimension to the
                                                   traditional personalization vectors.
                                                   If a profile tells you about who is visiting,
                                                   intent clues can indicate why they’re there.

                                                   These intent-based indicators are driving
                                                   a new kind of personalization that’s
                                                   changing the way marketers think
                                                   about customer engagement.
The benefits of
personalization.
                                               Done correctly, personalizing   Increased conversion rates
                                                                               However you define conversions –
                                               your customers’ online          sales, downloads, sign-ups –
                                               experiences delivers massive    the right personalization can
                                                                               dramatically improve them.
                                               benefits that can be grouped
                                               into two big buckets:           Happier customers
                                                                               When they get what they came for, people
                                                                               stay loyal, tell their friends and return fewer
                                                                               products. So the big metrics that drive
                                                                               customer lifetime value go up. And the
                                                                               benefits go beyond e-commerce product
                                                                               recommendations, extending to content
                                                                               sites, too.




   In a few months, we’ve had a significant
   improvement in our conversion rates.
   It’s been trending towards a double-digit
   increase. And I don’t take that lightly.

   Joe Nashif
   US Appliance
The Eight Mistakes.

                      Here are eight of the top
                      personalization mistakes
                      and misconceptions we’ve
                      seen repeated over and
                      over again.

                      Some may seem obvious,
                      others might be new to you.
                      But they’re all much too
                      common for comfort…
Mistake #1

Living and dying
by profiles.
                                                                                        Most marketers think      Think about it: if you’re marketing
                                                                                                                  effectively, a large proportion of your
                                                                                        you just can’t do         web traffic will be new visitors; people
                                                                                        personalization without   you have no data on. But that doesn’t
                                                                                                                  mean you know nothing about them.
                                                                                        detailed profiles.
                                                                                        They’re wrong.            In fact, if you’re looking, you can pick
   Understand Intent                                                                                              up dozens of clues from each session.
   Think about the clues your web visitors are                                                                    We call these intent clues because they
   sending out as they click through your site –                                                                  tell you what the visitor is trying to do –
   things like scrolling, dwell time and on-site                                                                  and they’re available to you whether or
   search. Now think about how you can leverage                                                                   not you know the name, address and shoe
   these even if you don’t yet know the visitor.                                                                  size of the visitor.

                                                                                                                  Once you’re tuned in to intent clues,
                                                                                                                  adding in profile data can be quite valuable.
                                                                                                                  But without any insight about intent,
                                                                                                                  profile data alone has limited
                                                                                                                  personalization power.
                                      The shift to adaptive web technology
                                      is a reflection of the fact that your customers
                                      know themselves far better than you ever will.
                                      Eric T. Peterson
                                      Web Analytics Demystified
Mistake #2
Building your personalization
strategy on rules alone.
                                                                               Most personalization tools                       They multiply like rabbits.
                                                                                                                                Rule stacks start growing on day
                                                                               are essentially rules engines                    one and never stop. That creates
                                                                               with digital bells  whistles.                   a management headache that grows, too.

                                                                               The rules (“If they do this, give them that.”)   They clash.
                                                                               are created by expert analysts who, ideally,     As rules multiply, they start disagreeing
                                                                               understand both web dynamics and                 with each other. These rule conflicts
                                                                               the ins and outs of your business.               are an overhead in themselves.
                                                                               In other words, they’re rare and expensive
                                                                               people doing a laborious manual task.            Their uplift degrades.
                                                                                                                                Because of the above dynamics, the
                                                                               The problem is that, on their own,               benefits of rule-based personalization
                                                                               personalization rules don’t work.                always tend to get smaller and smaller
                                                                               Here’s why:                                      over time.

                                                                               They’re labor-intensive and                      Dynamic Personalization uses rules,
             Case notes                                        consumer        expert-intensive.                                but sparingly – to handle exceptions
                                           nt clues to spot a
             Urban O  utfitters used inte      Web content drivin
                                                                    g          Good rule sets are incredibly complex.           (like promotions) and to hard-wire key
             trend early , with Personalized       a specific cut of dr
                                                                        ess.                                                    business rules (like blocking licensed
                               crease in sales for                             Bad ones are, too.
             a triple-digit in                                                                                                  content from some territories). But rules
                                  dising in action.
              Dynamic merchan
                                                                               They go out of date quickly.                     can never handle the real-time heavy lifting
                                                                               As your business and your market                 that personalization demands.
                                                                               changes, your rules need constant
                                                                               tweaking and replacing. Out-of-date              Adaptive Web systems generate the best
                                                                               rules can inhibit conversion.                    content for each interaction automatically
                                                                                                                                based on intent clues – so the need
                                                                                                                                for manual rule creation and deployment
                                                                                                                                is minimal.
Mistake #3

Thinking like NASA.
                                                                                                      A lot of marketers think         If that’s your approach, it’s better
                                                                                                                                       not to do it at all.
                                                                                                      personalization is a massive
                                                                                                      exercise requiring an overhaul   To be effective, personalization needs
                                                                                                                                       to be deployed quickly, require little
                                                                                                      of people and processes          or no change in the way you work,
                                                       The ROI was immediate. After a few short       supported by expensive           and deliver measurable ROI wins within
                                                                                                                                       90 days (not nine months).
                                                       weeks we have already seen a 59 percent        technology and long,
                                                       lift in average order value and a 38 percent
                                                       lift in conversion rates.                      painful deployments.             First-generation personalization platforms
                                                                                                                                       were like first-generation CRM – they
                                                       Scott Blair, Sun  Ski Sports                                                   demanded wholesale organizational change
                                                       See Scott’s experience on video                                                 and they fell flat on their faces. Intent-
                                                       www.baynote.com/sunski                                                          based personalization is simple, automated
                                                                                                                                       and self-improving. Better still: it pays
                                                                                                                                       for itself with immediate and long-term
                                                                                                                                       revenue uplift.
The new expert: all of us.
The best guide for accurate personalization is the crowd:
the tens of thousands of users that have already visited
your site. Dynamic Personalization allows merchants to
understand, “What did like-minded people with similar intent
do?” and “What content helped them do it?” Of course, to be
useful, the system has to generate the answers in real time
instead of waiting weeks for the data collection, analysis and
rule deployment.
Mistake #4

Waiting for the
‘big signals’.
                  Most personalization                         Paying attention to engagement activities
                                                               like page views, dwell times, mouse
                  solutions are based                          movements, scrolls and video views
                  on watching the big,                         can give you priceless intent clues –
                                                               as long as you can detect and act on them
                  fat, obvious behaviors                       in real time.
                  like purchases. The problem
                                                               Responding to these micro-behaviors
                  is, these behaviors are                      while the session is still live is where
                  by definition far less                       the real uplift comes from web
                  frequent than all the things                 personalization. Waiting for a purchase
                                                               so you can adapt the next visit
                  people do on your site                       is too little, too late. Dynamic
                  before they purchase.                        Personalization acts on real engagement
                                                               patterns before the visitor clicks away.
                  You can learn an awful lot from what
                  happens between the big behaviors.

                  At the other extreme, monitoring clicks
                  can mislead by being too ‘noisy’ – they’re
                  distorted by mistaken attempts to satisfy
                  a need (after all, the most popular click
                  on the web is the back button).

                  The sweet spot for understanding
                  intent is to focus in on what people
                  are engaging with.
The signals...




                 Engagement

      Clicks                  Purchases or Conversions
      Noisy                          Infrequent
Mistake #5

Looking backward
instead of forward.
                                                            Expert analysts                                   It’s time to get over the ‘insight lag’
                                                                                                              that plagues so many digital
                                                            and merchandisers                                 marketing initiatives.
                                                            who understand the web
             The adaptive web process creates a continual                                                     The Dynamic Web is automated.
             feedback mechanism that responds quickly       and your business are worth                       Instead of getting experts to analyze
             to changes in visitor behavior that would      their weight in gold.                             spreadsheets and look for patterns,
             otherwise be difficult to discover.                                                              the system itself should be harvesting
                                                            They also tend to cost their                      what we call micro-behaviors to determine
             Eric T. Peterson                               weight in gold – and for                          intent and deliver the best content
             Web Analytics Demystified                                                                        for the moment.
                                                            good reason.
                                                            If you’re using your experts to analyze           Just as importantly, your Dynamic
                                                            thousands of web sessions, slice and dice         Personalization solution should monitor
                                                            the data, generate insight and create rules       the results of each interaction to
                                                            to capture that insight, you’ll never             automatically improve over time.
                                                            be as responsive or as profitable                 Soon, the expertise is in the system instead
                                                            as you need to be.                                of in the heads of your rock star analysts –
                                                                                                              so you can focus them on adding strategic
                                                            Because analytics are essentially looking         value at a much higher level.
                                                            in the rear-view mirror – and customers tend
                                                            to be out in front of you, not trailing behind.
Mistake #6

Letting personas
drive personalization.
                         Personas – portraits                            Like-minded peers
                                                                         The concept of like-minded peers is central
                         of representatives                              to the Dynamic Web vision. Again, the idea
                         of a typical consumer                           is simple: it’s not about grouping visitors
                                                                         according to their demographics; it’s about
                         segment – are an important                      grouping people who shared a similar
                         way of adding depth                             intent, and using this insight to guide
                                                                         personalization, in real-time.
                         and granularity to your
                         understanding of your                           Personas are static. Like-minded
                         web visitors.                                   peer behavior is always being updated
                                                                         by real-world engagements.
                         But no person is a persona. As a customer,      And because it’s specifically intent-driven,
                         your persona changes with every visit           the like-minded peer model addresses
                         to a website – or even within a visit –         the reason each visitor is engaging with
                         as your intent changes. Today, you’re looking    you at this moment.
                         for a gift for your newborn niece. Tomorrow,
                         you’re into tennis rackets.

                         Treating a visitor like a persona
                         is segmentation not personalization.
                         And visitors can feel the difference.
Mistake #7

Limiting your
personalization
to the web.                                                                   Your website is probably      An effective personalization strategy
                                                                                                            is one that lets you take your learning
                                                                              your most important           from web interactions and apply it across
                                                                              engagement channel            all digital touchpoints, including the mobile
                                                                                                            web, email, mobile apps and social media.
             We’re continually improving what we’re                           but it’s not the only place
             showing,” says Marty Keane, Senior VP                            you interact with people.     The goal: consistently relevant
             of ecommerce at Bluefly, Inc. “It’s a                                                          engagements across all channels that
             quantitative way to ensure that the customer                                                   deliver the content each visitor is most
             is seeing more of what she wants to see.”                                                      likely to respond to.

                                                                                                            Your customers and prospects
                                Case notes                                                                  see you as a single brand. Why raise your
                               Turkcell used visito                                                         responsiveness in one channel and leave
                                                    rb
                               intelligence to gen ehavior and crowd                                        the others in the dark ages?
                                                  erate dynamic navi
                               menus within a m                      gation
                                                  obile application.
Mistake #8

Forgetting the
power of search.
                                                                                                Search is one of the most                       On-site search is just as powerful
                                                                                                                                                an intent indicator and you can combine it
                                                                                                powerful intent signals                         with the micro-behaviors that led up to the
                                                                                                any user can transmit.                          search to further hone your response.
                                     Valuable Insight                                           But most websites (and many                     Of course, on-site search is more than
                                     Analyzing your on-site search activity can be a powerful
                                     guide for SEO and search marketing. Understanding          personalization platforms)                      an intent indicator, it’s also a primary
                                                                                                                                                user experience dynamic – and that means
                                     how people search on your site can help you discover
                                     new keywords improve paid search reach and boost natural   ignore it completely.                           it deserves the benefits of personalization.
                                     search performance. (Shameless Plug: our Search Insights
                                     module does exactly this.)                                 It’s a simple concept: the search key phrase
                                                                                                that brings a visitor to your site should
                                                                                                be a primary driver of the content they see.
                                                                                                Whether it’s natural search or pay-per-click,
                                                                                                the search term is a big, bright, neon
  Case Notes
                                                                                                sign that says, “I’m looking for X.”
  Baynote customer Intuit TurboTax use
                                        d the                                                   To ignore it and serve up generic content
  wisdom of crowds to achieve:                                                                  is simply malpractice.
                                             e
  •	   Four times better search performanc
                                           t savings
  •	   More than $300,000 in support cos
  •	   $300,000 in additional revenue
                                       ax Uses
  Forrester Research, Inc Intuit TurboT
                                       t Less Taxing
   Crowd Wisdom To Make Site Suppor
Let’s re-cap.
So where have we been?



                         We’ve seen that web              We’ve also seen that eight common
                                                          mistakes are holding marketers back
                         personalization can strap        from harnessing the power of web
                         a rocket to your conversion      personalization:
                         rates; keep web visitors         Over-relying on profiles – instead
                         coming back for more;            of actual intent.
                                                          Depending only on rules – instead
                         and drive improvements           of being guided by like-minded peers.
                         in all other digital channels.   Thinking like NASA – instead of deploying
                         But only if you do it right.     fast and driving ROI in weeks.
                                                          Mis-using your experts – instead
                                                          of automating the task and freeing
                                                          them to add real value.
                                                          Waiting for the big signals – instead
                                                          of responding to micro-behaviors.
                                                          Letting personas blind you – instead
                                                          of guide you.
                                                          Forgetting about other channels –
                                                          and limiting yourself to the web.
                                                          Under-valuing search behavior –
                                                          and all you can learn from it.

                                                          Some of these may sound obvious,
                                                          but in our experience with over 200
                                                          website deployments, they’re still
                                                          incredibly common.

                                                          If you’re eager to put personalization
                                                          to work, there’s a much better way.
Get personal.                                                                                         Use our stuff
                                                                                                      Skip ahead a couple of pages for a bunch
So how can you start to apply the
                                                                                                      of resource suggestions. Dive in to learn more
principles of Dynamic Personalization on                                                              about the wide world of web personalization,
your website and other digital channels?                                                              digital marketing optimization and (pardon
Here are some action points.                                                                          the commercial) how Baynote can make it all
                                                                                                      work for you.



                              Figure out how you’re personalizing now
                              If you aren’t sure, find out if you’re doing
                              any personalization today and how it’s being done.
                              Is it rule based? Who is creating and maintaining
                              the rules? How often are they being updated?
                              Then build on what’s being done already (if anything).          Rally the troops
                                                                                              Get people excited. The potential of dynamic
                                                                                              personalization is huge and even though you don’t
                                                                                              have to run a NASA project (see mistake # 3 ),
                                                                                              you will need help and support. Plus, it’s more fun.

  Get engaged
  You know there’s more to life than clicks and purchases.
  There’s engagement (remember mistake 4 ). But are
  you doing anything with engagement to improve
  your marketing now? Is it enough? Answering these                                                                                         Talk to Baynote!
  questions can expose opportunities for both quick wins                                                                                    We’ve got lots more to show you than we
  and big improvements.                                                Play mistake bingo
                                                                       Have some fun with these eight mistakes                              could ever cram into one eBook. Go on, give
                                                                       (and gather some serious info in the process).                       us a call at (408) 973-1889 or send
                                                                       Ask around your organization about                                   us an email at personalization@baynote.com.
                                                                       personalization - what’s been done, what’s                           We won’t give you the hard sell, we’ll just
                                                                       worked (or not) and why. See how many of the                         share our enthusiasm for the Personalized
                                                                       mistakes get mentioned. You’ll learn a lot about                     Web and show you how you can harness it
                                                                       who’s thinking what and how you might have to                        within a few weeks.
                                                                       position any initiatives with them.
Conclusion

             You’re ready to improve                  It’s all part of the new paradigm that’s
                                                      completely changing the way companies
             your web personalization.                market themselves online.
             Whatever you do, don’t repeat
             the mistakes of the past.                If we only leave you with one thought,
                                                      it should be this: serving customers’
                                                      immediate needs always pays dividends.
             Think automation.                        With Dynamic Personalization, you detect
             Think real-time.                         customer intent faster and respond
             Think responsiveness.                    more effectively.
             Think fast, light deployment.
             Think crowd intelligence.



             Shoppers cite e-commerce website
             navigation and site search as features
             that most need improving.

             Baynote ‘Online Holiday Shopping
             Experience Survey’
             See the results of the survey here
             www.baynote.com/shoppingsurvey
About Baynote

                                                      Baynote is a world leader in the               Baynote’s Personalization Platform
                                                                                                     is a completely new approach to optimizing
                                                      Dynamic Web. Heck, we helped                   digital engagement.
                                                      pioneer the concept.
                                                                                                     Find out more from our website
                                                      We’ve helped over 200 top websites –           www.baynote.com
                                                      including sites for ATT, Dell, Expedia,
                                                      Intuit, Fox, Urban Outfitters and many         Book a live web demo
                                                      more –to improve their online engagement       www.baynote.com/resource/
                                                      by listening to the intent of their visitors   request-a-demo
                                                      and responding in real time.
                                                                                                     Email a Baynote expert directly
                                                                                                     www.baynote.com/about/advisors

                                                                                                     Check out the Baynote Adaptive Web Blog
                                                                                                     blog.baynote.com




         Case notes
         One marketing team saw a 400% uplift
         in conversion by targeting emails to known
         users based on the intent clues from their
         recent web visits.
Resources

Liked the eBook?                                  Top bloggers on digital                      Getelastic.com – What Linda Bustos dosen’t
                                                                                               know about e-commerce isn’t worth knowing.
Time to dig deeper                                marketing.
The Strategic Value of Dynamic
                                                  We get a lot of inspiration from             Which Test Won? – Anne Holland’s excellent
                                                                                               blog on A/B and multivariate testing.
Personalization                                   these top thinkers, bloggers and
A new white paper by Eric T Peterson
of Web Analytics Demystified, on the role of
                                                  online resources:                            Greg Verdino – Greg is a futurist, marketer and
                                                                                               author with keen insights into the rise of the
a dynamic approach in improving the online                                                     empowered consumer.
customer experience.                              Econsultancy – the online community
                                                  of digital marketers and publishers          Steve Rubel – Steve is an insightful, engaging
Download it now                                  of best-practice digital marketing advice.   trend-watcher on digital marketing
Personalization Best Practices Webcast            The Forrester Blog – a must-read for
In a presentation to the American Marketing                                                    The Content Marketing Institute – An excellent
                                                  interactive marketing professionals.         resource for content marketers.
Association, Carlos Carvajal, Baynote CMO,
shares his personalization best practices based   ReadWriteWeb – one of the best and most
on over ten years of experience working with                                                   Marketing Interactions blog – Ardath Albee is a
                                                  popular technology blogs in the world.       hugely influential blogger and author on issues
hundreds of global brands.
                                                                                               relating to complex sales.
Watch it now                                     Ann Handley – Ann  the gang at Marketing
                                                  Profs share insight with wit. Nice.          Retail Online Integration – including excellent
Dynamic Web Success Stories                                                                    bloggers on online retailing.
Real-world experiences from the likes             The Innovative Marketer – Steve Gershik
of Expedia, TurboTax and Netshoes.                on all things demand gen.
Read them now
See you soon...
Contact StoneBridge              Contact Baynote       Sales
Asia-Pacific Headquarters        US Headquarters       sales@baynote.com
info@stonebridgesystems.com.au   Baynote, Inc.
                                                       Partners
Phone: 1300.854.116              5300 Stevens Creek
                                                       partners@baynote.com
                                 Blvd, #200
                                 San Jose, CA 95129    Press
                                 USA                   press@baynote.com
                                 Phone: 408.973.1889

More Related Content

Eight Mistakes in personalisation on the web

  • 1. Eight Mistakes in Web Personalization Overcoming the common barriers to success A Baynote eBook for marketers.
  • 2. Contents It’s all about you 2 Mistake #5 12 Looking backward instead of forward Personalization defined 4 Mistake #6 13 The benefits of personalization 5 Letting personas drive personalization The Eight Mistakes 6 Mistake #7 14 Limiting your personalization to the web Mistake #1 7 Living and dying by profiles Mistake #8 15 Forgetting the power of search Mistake #2 8 Building your personalization strategy Let’s re-cap 16 on rules alone Get Adaptive 17 Mistake #3 9 Thinking like NASA Conclusion 19 Mistake #4 10 About Baynote 20 Waiting for the ‘big signals’ Resources 21 Email this Tweet this
  • 3. It’s all about you. Your sister has had another baby. Nice. Now you’ve got a dilemma. If you go to your favorite ecommerce website and buy her that little set of onesies, you’ll never hear the end of it. Because every time you come back to the site, you’ll be besieged by ‘Little Me Layette Sets’, bodysuits, blankets and tiny, reversible hoodies. ‘Honestly, folks, it was just a one-off. I’m still into the Ramones.’
  • 4. Only 23% of online shoppers rate their experience as excellent. We’re into the second It’s based on our experience in helping some of the world’s most successful decade of the 21st century. online brands deliver highly personalized Baynote ‘Online Holiday Shopping Experience Survey’ Why are so many websites’ experiences without investing millions in over-engineered ‘platforms’ or deploying attempts at personalization dozens of expensive analysts (a few clever still so clunky? analysts go a long, long way if they’re focused on the right things). It’s not like it’s a new idea. The vision of personalized web experiences has been We call this new approach ‘Dynamic around for more than twenty years. Personalization’ because it takes a But for most websites and other digital Darwinian approach to the problem (sped up channels, the promise is far from the reality. a bit). The idea is simple: the best content for any specific interaction is that which Clearly, something is holding marketers is most clearly aligned with the visitor’s back from delivering the relevant, timely, intent, it’s that precise moment. It’s all part highly targeted web experiences that of our Dynamic Personalization vision. But we can all picture. more on that later… This eBook is about these obstacles – and the things marketers like you can do to overcome them.
  • 5. Personalization defined. Traditionally, personalization Instead of treating everyone exactly the same, personalization is about has meant: leveraging important clues about each visitor, including their profile (if they’ve completed one), their past Serving specific content behaviors (such as recent purchases) to a web visitor based and things like their browser version or ability to handle Flash. on the things you know about him or her. Intent-driven Dynamic Personalization adds an important dimension to the traditional personalization vectors. If a profile tells you about who is visiting, intent clues can indicate why they’re there. These intent-based indicators are driving a new kind of personalization that’s changing the way marketers think about customer engagement.
  • 6. The benefits of personalization. Done correctly, personalizing Increased conversion rates However you define conversions – your customers’ online sales, downloads, sign-ups – experiences delivers massive the right personalization can dramatically improve them. benefits that can be grouped into two big buckets: Happier customers When they get what they came for, people stay loyal, tell their friends and return fewer products. So the big metrics that drive customer lifetime value go up. And the benefits go beyond e-commerce product recommendations, extending to content sites, too. In a few months, we’ve had a significant improvement in our conversion rates. It’s been trending towards a double-digit increase. And I don’t take that lightly. Joe Nashif US Appliance
  • 7. The Eight Mistakes. Here are eight of the top personalization mistakes and misconceptions we’ve seen repeated over and over again. Some may seem obvious, others might be new to you. But they’re all much too common for comfort…
  • 8. Mistake #1 Living and dying by profiles. Most marketers think Think about it: if you’re marketing effectively, a large proportion of your you just can’t do web traffic will be new visitors; people personalization without you have no data on. But that doesn’t mean you know nothing about them. detailed profiles. They’re wrong. In fact, if you’re looking, you can pick Understand Intent up dozens of clues from each session. Think about the clues your web visitors are We call these intent clues because they sending out as they click through your site – tell you what the visitor is trying to do – things like scrolling, dwell time and on-site and they’re available to you whether or search. Now think about how you can leverage not you know the name, address and shoe these even if you don’t yet know the visitor. size of the visitor. Once you’re tuned in to intent clues, adding in profile data can be quite valuable. But without any insight about intent, profile data alone has limited personalization power. The shift to adaptive web technology is a reflection of the fact that your customers know themselves far better than you ever will. Eric T. Peterson Web Analytics Demystified
  • 9. Mistake #2 Building your personalization strategy on rules alone. Most personalization tools They multiply like rabbits. Rule stacks start growing on day are essentially rules engines one and never stop. That creates with digital bells whistles. a management headache that grows, too. The rules (“If they do this, give them that.”) They clash. are created by expert analysts who, ideally, As rules multiply, they start disagreeing understand both web dynamics and with each other. These rule conflicts the ins and outs of your business. are an overhead in themselves. In other words, they’re rare and expensive people doing a laborious manual task. Their uplift degrades. Because of the above dynamics, the The problem is that, on their own, benefits of rule-based personalization personalization rules don’t work. always tend to get smaller and smaller Here’s why: over time. They’re labor-intensive and Dynamic Personalization uses rules, Case notes consumer expert-intensive. but sparingly – to handle exceptions nt clues to spot a Urban O utfitters used inte Web content drivin g Good rule sets are incredibly complex. (like promotions) and to hard-wire key trend early , with Personalized a specific cut of dr ess. business rules (like blocking licensed crease in sales for Bad ones are, too. a triple-digit in content from some territories). But rules dising in action. Dynamic merchan They go out of date quickly. can never handle the real-time heavy lifting As your business and your market that personalization demands. changes, your rules need constant tweaking and replacing. Out-of-date Adaptive Web systems generate the best rules can inhibit conversion. content for each interaction automatically based on intent clues – so the need for manual rule creation and deployment is minimal.
  • 10. Mistake #3 Thinking like NASA. A lot of marketers think If that’s your approach, it’s better not to do it at all. personalization is a massive exercise requiring an overhaul To be effective, personalization needs to be deployed quickly, require little of people and processes or no change in the way you work, The ROI was immediate. After a few short supported by expensive and deliver measurable ROI wins within 90 days (not nine months). weeks we have already seen a 59 percent technology and long, lift in average order value and a 38 percent lift in conversion rates. painful deployments. First-generation personalization platforms were like first-generation CRM – they Scott Blair, Sun Ski Sports demanded wholesale organizational change See Scott’s experience on video and they fell flat on their faces. Intent- www.baynote.com/sunski based personalization is simple, automated and self-improving. Better still: it pays for itself with immediate and long-term revenue uplift. The new expert: all of us. The best guide for accurate personalization is the crowd: the tens of thousands of users that have already visited your site. Dynamic Personalization allows merchants to understand, “What did like-minded people with similar intent do?” and “What content helped them do it?” Of course, to be useful, the system has to generate the answers in real time instead of waiting weeks for the data collection, analysis and rule deployment.
  • 11. Mistake #4 Waiting for the ‘big signals’. Most personalization Paying attention to engagement activities like page views, dwell times, mouse solutions are based movements, scrolls and video views on watching the big, can give you priceless intent clues – as long as you can detect and act on them fat, obvious behaviors in real time. like purchases. The problem Responding to these micro-behaviors is, these behaviors are while the session is still live is where by definition far less the real uplift comes from web frequent than all the things personalization. Waiting for a purchase so you can adapt the next visit people do on your site is too little, too late. Dynamic before they purchase. Personalization acts on real engagement patterns before the visitor clicks away. You can learn an awful lot from what happens between the big behaviors. At the other extreme, monitoring clicks can mislead by being too ‘noisy’ – they’re distorted by mistaken attempts to satisfy a need (after all, the most popular click on the web is the back button). The sweet spot for understanding intent is to focus in on what people are engaging with.
  • 12. The signals... Engagement Clicks Purchases or Conversions Noisy Infrequent
  • 13. Mistake #5 Looking backward instead of forward. Expert analysts It’s time to get over the ‘insight lag’ that plagues so many digital and merchandisers marketing initiatives. who understand the web The adaptive web process creates a continual The Dynamic Web is automated. feedback mechanism that responds quickly and your business are worth Instead of getting experts to analyze to changes in visitor behavior that would their weight in gold. spreadsheets and look for patterns, otherwise be difficult to discover. the system itself should be harvesting They also tend to cost their what we call micro-behaviors to determine Eric T. Peterson weight in gold – and for intent and deliver the best content Web Analytics Demystified for the moment. good reason. If you’re using your experts to analyze Just as importantly, your Dynamic thousands of web sessions, slice and dice Personalization solution should monitor the data, generate insight and create rules the results of each interaction to to capture that insight, you’ll never automatically improve over time. be as responsive or as profitable Soon, the expertise is in the system instead as you need to be. of in the heads of your rock star analysts – so you can focus them on adding strategic Because analytics are essentially looking value at a much higher level. in the rear-view mirror – and customers tend to be out in front of you, not trailing behind.
  • 14. Mistake #6 Letting personas drive personalization. Personas – portraits Like-minded peers The concept of like-minded peers is central of representatives to the Dynamic Web vision. Again, the idea of a typical consumer is simple: it’s not about grouping visitors according to their demographics; it’s about segment – are an important grouping people who shared a similar way of adding depth intent, and using this insight to guide personalization, in real-time. and granularity to your understanding of your Personas are static. Like-minded web visitors. peer behavior is always being updated by real-world engagements. But no person is a persona. As a customer, And because it’s specifically intent-driven, your persona changes with every visit the like-minded peer model addresses to a website – or even within a visit – the reason each visitor is engaging with as your intent changes. Today, you’re looking you at this moment. for a gift for your newborn niece. Tomorrow, you’re into tennis rackets. Treating a visitor like a persona is segmentation not personalization. And visitors can feel the difference.
  • 15. Mistake #7 Limiting your personalization to the web. Your website is probably An effective personalization strategy is one that lets you take your learning your most important from web interactions and apply it across engagement channel all digital touchpoints, including the mobile web, email, mobile apps and social media. We’re continually improving what we’re but it’s not the only place showing,” says Marty Keane, Senior VP you interact with people. The goal: consistently relevant of ecommerce at Bluefly, Inc. “It’s a engagements across all channels that quantitative way to ensure that the customer deliver the content each visitor is most is seeing more of what she wants to see.” likely to respond to. Your customers and prospects Case notes see you as a single brand. Why raise your Turkcell used visito responsiveness in one channel and leave rb intelligence to gen ehavior and crowd the others in the dark ages? erate dynamic navi menus within a m gation obile application.
  • 16. Mistake #8 Forgetting the power of search. Search is one of the most On-site search is just as powerful an intent indicator and you can combine it powerful intent signals with the micro-behaviors that led up to the any user can transmit. search to further hone your response. Valuable Insight But most websites (and many Of course, on-site search is more than Analyzing your on-site search activity can be a powerful guide for SEO and search marketing. Understanding personalization platforms) an intent indicator, it’s also a primary user experience dynamic – and that means how people search on your site can help you discover new keywords improve paid search reach and boost natural ignore it completely. it deserves the benefits of personalization. search performance. (Shameless Plug: our Search Insights module does exactly this.) It’s a simple concept: the search key phrase that brings a visitor to your site should be a primary driver of the content they see. Whether it’s natural search or pay-per-click, the search term is a big, bright, neon Case Notes sign that says, “I’m looking for X.” Baynote customer Intuit TurboTax use d the To ignore it and serve up generic content wisdom of crowds to achieve: is simply malpractice. e • Four times better search performanc t savings • More than $300,000 in support cos • $300,000 in additional revenue ax Uses Forrester Research, Inc Intuit TurboT t Less Taxing Crowd Wisdom To Make Site Suppor
  • 17. Let’s re-cap. So where have we been? We’ve seen that web We’ve also seen that eight common mistakes are holding marketers back personalization can strap from harnessing the power of web a rocket to your conversion personalization: rates; keep web visitors Over-relying on profiles – instead coming back for more; of actual intent. Depending only on rules – instead and drive improvements of being guided by like-minded peers. in all other digital channels. Thinking like NASA – instead of deploying But only if you do it right. fast and driving ROI in weeks. Mis-using your experts – instead of automating the task and freeing them to add real value. Waiting for the big signals – instead of responding to micro-behaviors. Letting personas blind you – instead of guide you. Forgetting about other channels – and limiting yourself to the web. Under-valuing search behavior – and all you can learn from it. Some of these may sound obvious, but in our experience with over 200 website deployments, they’re still incredibly common. If you’re eager to put personalization to work, there’s a much better way.
  • 18. Get personal. Use our stuff Skip ahead a couple of pages for a bunch So how can you start to apply the of resource suggestions. Dive in to learn more principles of Dynamic Personalization on about the wide world of web personalization, your website and other digital channels? digital marketing optimization and (pardon Here are some action points. the commercial) how Baynote can make it all work for you. Figure out how you’re personalizing now If you aren’t sure, find out if you’re doing any personalization today and how it’s being done. Is it rule based? Who is creating and maintaining the rules? How often are they being updated? Then build on what’s being done already (if anything). Rally the troops Get people excited. The potential of dynamic personalization is huge and even though you don’t have to run a NASA project (see mistake # 3 ), you will need help and support. Plus, it’s more fun. Get engaged You know there’s more to life than clicks and purchases. There’s engagement (remember mistake 4 ). But are you doing anything with engagement to improve your marketing now? Is it enough? Answering these Talk to Baynote! questions can expose opportunities for both quick wins We’ve got lots more to show you than we and big improvements. Play mistake bingo Have some fun with these eight mistakes could ever cram into one eBook. Go on, give (and gather some serious info in the process). us a call at (408) 973-1889 or send Ask around your organization about us an email at personalization@baynote.com. personalization - what’s been done, what’s We won’t give you the hard sell, we’ll just worked (or not) and why. See how many of the share our enthusiasm for the Personalized mistakes get mentioned. You’ll learn a lot about Web and show you how you can harness it who’s thinking what and how you might have to within a few weeks. position any initiatives with them.
  • 19. Conclusion You’re ready to improve It’s all part of the new paradigm that’s completely changing the way companies your web personalization. market themselves online. Whatever you do, don’t repeat the mistakes of the past. If we only leave you with one thought, it should be this: serving customers’ immediate needs always pays dividends. Think automation. With Dynamic Personalization, you detect Think real-time. customer intent faster and respond Think responsiveness. more effectively. Think fast, light deployment. Think crowd intelligence. Shoppers cite e-commerce website navigation and site search as features that most need improving. Baynote ‘Online Holiday Shopping Experience Survey’ See the results of the survey here www.baynote.com/shoppingsurvey
  • 20. About Baynote Baynote is a world leader in the Baynote’s Personalization Platform is a completely new approach to optimizing Dynamic Web. Heck, we helped digital engagement. pioneer the concept. Find out more from our website We’ve helped over 200 top websites – www.baynote.com including sites for ATT, Dell, Expedia, Intuit, Fox, Urban Outfitters and many Book a live web demo more –to improve their online engagement www.baynote.com/resource/ by listening to the intent of their visitors request-a-demo and responding in real time. Email a Baynote expert directly www.baynote.com/about/advisors Check out the Baynote Adaptive Web Blog blog.baynote.com Case notes One marketing team saw a 400% uplift in conversion by targeting emails to known users based on the intent clues from their recent web visits.
  • 21. Resources Liked the eBook? Top bloggers on digital Getelastic.com – What Linda Bustos dosen’t know about e-commerce isn’t worth knowing. Time to dig deeper marketing. The Strategic Value of Dynamic We get a lot of inspiration from Which Test Won? – Anne Holland’s excellent blog on A/B and multivariate testing. Personalization these top thinkers, bloggers and A new white paper by Eric T Peterson of Web Analytics Demystified, on the role of online resources: Greg Verdino – Greg is a futurist, marketer and author with keen insights into the rise of the a dynamic approach in improving the online empowered consumer. customer experience. Econsultancy – the online community of digital marketers and publishers Steve Rubel – Steve is an insightful, engaging Download it now of best-practice digital marketing advice. trend-watcher on digital marketing Personalization Best Practices Webcast The Forrester Blog – a must-read for In a presentation to the American Marketing The Content Marketing Institute – An excellent interactive marketing professionals. resource for content marketers. Association, Carlos Carvajal, Baynote CMO, shares his personalization best practices based ReadWriteWeb – one of the best and most on over ten years of experience working with Marketing Interactions blog – Ardath Albee is a popular technology blogs in the world. hugely influential blogger and author on issues hundreds of global brands. relating to complex sales. Watch it now Ann Handley – Ann the gang at Marketing Profs share insight with wit. Nice. Retail Online Integration – including excellent Dynamic Web Success Stories bloggers on online retailing. Real-world experiences from the likes The Innovative Marketer – Steve Gershik of Expedia, TurboTax and Netshoes. on all things demand gen. Read them now
  • 22. See you soon... Contact StoneBridge Contact Baynote Sales Asia-Pacific Headquarters US Headquarters sales@baynote.com info@stonebridgesystems.com.au Baynote, Inc. Partners Phone: 1300.854.116 5300 Stevens Creek partners@baynote.com Blvd, #200 San Jose, CA 95129 Press USA press@baynote.com Phone: 408.973.1889