June 2012 Personalization Round-up: Must-Read Tips and Best Practices from Digital Marketing Experts

One of our core con­tent top­ics for June was “Per­son­al­iza­tion.” Adobe experts shared weekly “Quick Tips” to help you get started on your web­site per­son­al­iza­tion ini­tia­tives, we launched our Ready, Set, Per­son­al­ize! Sweep­stakes and shared great personalization-related arti­cles and opin­ion pieces that we curated for you and shared via our @adobedigmktg Twit­ter account and Face­book page. We’ve com­piled all of June’s great con­tent here in this blog post for easy reference.

ADOBE QUICK TIPS: PERSONALIZATION

Week One: Embark­ing on a per­son­al­iza­tion strat­egy? The first step is to ana­lyze your vis­i­tors’ dig­i­tal jour­neys, iden­ti­fy­ing the points on the path where they are con­vert­ing. Look at your ana­lyt­ics reports to iden­tify vis­i­tor inter­ac­tion points such as the home­page, search results page, land­ing page ban­ner, add to cart but­ton, cross-sell pro­mo­tions, etc. Then ask your­self: where do you have the most poten­tial to grow con­ver­sion or engage­ment by deliv­er­ing a per­son­al­ized expe­ri­ence? Deter­mine key met­rics related to those inter­ac­tion points that you have the abil­ity to influ­ence. The next step will be to dig deeper into the data that you use for mod­el­ing and/or segmentation…but more to come on that in future per­son­al­iza­tion Quick Tips!

Kevin Lind­say is the direc­tor of Con­ver­sion Prod­uct Mar­ket­ing for Adobe’s Dig­i­tal Mar­ket­ing Suite and helps busi­nesses opti­mize dig­i­tal expe­ri­ences for max­i­mum cus­tomer engage­ment and conversion.

Week Two: A robust per­son­al­iza­tion strat­egy should include offer­ing extremely tar­geted, rel­e­vant web­site search results. Best prac­tices to keep in mind:

1) The search box should be one of the most promi­nent ele­ments on your home­page, sec­ond only to your com­pany logo. Vis­i­tors who search on your site are 3x more likely to con­vert than those who only use nav­i­ga­tion and browse functionality!

2) Mer­chan­dise key con­tent and prod­ucts in your site search results. Push high-margin items or high­est con­vert­ers to the top of the search results to help drive more con­ver­sion and engagement.

3) Lastly, use your ana­lyt­ics data to do some detec­tive work. Are there spe­cific search terms that are ren­der­ing null results? Make adjust­ments to dis­play sim­i­lar prod­ucts or con­sider bulk­ing up your prod­uct inven­tory so that no search comes up empty.

Francesca Lohman is a senior prod­uct mar­ket­ing man­ager for Adobe’s Dig­i­tal Mar­ket­ing Suite. She spe­cial­izes in help­ing busi­nesses opti­mize site search and onsite nav­i­ga­tion, retail mer­chan­dis­ing strate­gies, and online cross-sell and upsell opportunities.

Week Three: Email remains a pre­ferred com­mu­ni­ca­tion chan­nel and has evolved into an amaz­ing chan­nel for brands to deliver mean­ing­ful per­son­al­iza­tion. The key is to move beyond “spray and pray” broad­cast mes­sag­ing prac­tices of the past by com­bin­ing the assets of sub­scriber data from the email ser­vice provider with deep dig­i­tal behav­ior, and dynamic con­tent. As you gain insights into your cus­tomers’ inter­ests and pref­er­ences, per­son­al­ize the cam­paign and speak to them as indi­vid­u­als. Con­sider rec­om­mend­ing prod­ucts and con­tent to increase aver­age order value. Inte­grate dynamic con­tent and immer­sive prod­uct views to increase engage­ment and drive sub­scribers fur­ther down the path to conversion.

Chris Parkin is the direc­tor of Strate­gic Alliances and Gen­e­sis Solu­tions for Adobe and works with part­ners and cus­tomers to improve dig­i­tal expe­ri­ences and ROI by bring­ing the Adobe Dig­i­tal Mar­ket­ing Suite together with third-party solutions.

Week Four: Auto­mated rec­om­men­da­tions, like “peo­ple who bought this also bought that,” should be in more places on your site than just the prod­uct page. Show rec­om­men­da­tions to return­ing vis­i­tors and return­ing pur­chasers right on the home­page so they can imme­di­ately dive into rel­e­vant prod­ucts. Show them what they bought last time, and sug­gest add-on items. Did they aban­don their cart? Show them the item they abandoned—and sim­i­lar ones—to get them right back on the pur­chase track. Rec­om­men­da­tions are also great for weekly emails—remind peo­ple what they like on your site and bring them back in to take a closer look.

Kimen Field leads the prod­uct devel­op­ment strat­egy for Adobe Test&Target and Adobe Rec­om­men­da­tions. She is a sub­ject mat­ter expert in web­site test­ing, con­tent tar­get­ing, behav­ioral tar­get­ing, per­son­al­iza­tion, opti­miza­tion and Stan­ford Foot­ball trivia.

Week Five: Cre­at­ing rel­e­vant mar­ket­ing cam­paigns for numer­ous cus­tomer seg­ments is hard; doing so for each indi­vid­ual is even harder…actually, nearly impos­si­ble. You’ve invested in great cre­ative con­tent to engage the vis­i­tor, and great data to under­stand and know his or her moti­va­tions and inter­ests. So why not let the data do the hard work and decide what the most rel­e­vant con­tent and offers are to serve to the cus­tomer at the detailed level?

Use mar­ket­ing con­tent that uses one ban­ner, ad or email cam­paign tem­plate, and dynam­i­cally assem­bles the per­fect cre­ative asset com­bi­na­tion and per­mu­ta­tion – images, copy, video, and even lay­out – in real-time based on observed on– and off-site behav­iors. This will ensure you get the right con­tent, to the right per­son, at the right time—increasing user engage­ment and ulti­mately conversion.

Natalie Lacuesta Byrum is prod­uct mar­ket­ing man­ager for Scene7 dynamic media solu­tions at Adobe and helps cus­tomers dynam­i­cally deliver rich, per­son­al­ized expe­ri­ences across channels.

ARTICLES AND BLOG POSTS

Dig­i­tal Mar­ket­ing Blog: Ready, Set, Personalize!

http://​blogs​.adobe​.com/​d​i​g​i​t​a​l​m​a​r​k​e​t​i​n​g​/​p​e​r​s​o​n​a​l​i​z​a​t​i​o​n​/​r​e​a​d​y​-​s​e​t​-​p​e​r​s​o​n​a​l​i​ze/

Dig­i­tal Mar­ket­ing Blog: Let’s Get Personal

http://​blogs​.adobe​.com/​d​i​g​i​t​a​l​m​a​r​k​e​t​i​n​g​/​p​e​r​s​o​n​a​l​i​z​a​t​i​o​n​/​i​n​t​r​o​d​u​c​i​n​g​-​a​-​n​e​w​-​p​e​r​s​o​n​a​l​i​z​a​t​i​o​n​-​s​o​l​u​t​i​o​n​-​f​r​o​m​-​a​d​o​be/

AllTh­ingsD: E-Commerce Accel­er­at­ing Due to Per­son­al­iza­tion, Pin­ter­est, and iPad

http://​allth​ingsd​.com/​2​0​1​2​0​6​0​4​/​e​-​c​o​m​m​e​r​c​e​-​a​c​c​e​l​e​r​a​t​i​n​g​-​d​u​e​-​t​o​-​p​e​r​s​o​n​a​l​i​z​a​t​i​o​n​-​p​i​n​t​e​r​e​s​t​-​a​n​d​-​i​p​ad/

Inter­net Retailer: Top e-retailers have site search and per­for­mance down pat…

http://​www​.inter​ne​tre​tailer​.com/​2​0​1​2​/​0​5​/​0​1​/​t​o​p​-​e​-​r​e​t​a​i​l​e​r​s​-​h​a​v​e​-​s​i​t​e​-​s​e​a​r​c​h​-​a​n​d​-​p​e​r​f​o​r​m​a​n​c​e​-​d​o​w​n​-​pat

Econ­sul­tancy: House of Fraser: dig­i­tal is key to per­son­al­is­ing in-store experience

http://​econ​sul​tancy​.com/​u​s​/​b​l​o​g​/​1​0​1​0​5​-​h​o​u​s​e​-​o​f​-​f​r​a​s​e​r​-​d​i​g​i​t​a​l​-​i​s​-​k​e​y​-​t​o​-​p​e​r​s​o​n​a​l​i​s​i​n​g​-​i​n​-​s​t​o​r​e​-​e​x​p​e​r​i​e​nce

CRM​.com: 10 Require­ments for Rich Con­tent Opti­miza­tion and Personalization

http://​www​.des​ti​na​tion​crm​.com/​A​r​t​i​c​l​e​s​/​W​e​b​-​E​x​c​l​u​s​i​v​e​s​/​V​i​e​w​p​o​i​n​t​s​/​1​0​-​R​e​q​u​i​r​e​m​e​n​t​s​-​f​o​r​-​R​i​c​h​-​C​o​n​t​e​n​t​-​O​p​t​i​m​i​z​a​t​i​o​n​-​a​n​d​-​P​e​r​s​o​n​a​l​i​z​a​t​i​o​n​-​8​2​7​7​9​.​a​spx

Econ­sul­tancy: The Future of Dig­i­tal Mar­ket­ing [Infographic]

http://​econ​sul​tancy​.com/​u​s​/​b​l​o​g​/​1​0​1​3​3​-​t​h​e​-​f​u​t​u​r​e​-​o​f​-​d​i​g​i​t​a​l​-​m​a​r​k​e​t​i​n​g​-​i​n​f​o​g​r​a​p​hic?

Search CRM: Adobe stresses per­son­al­iza­tion at dig­i­tal mar­ket­ing conference

http://​searchcrm​.techtar​get​.com/​n​e​w​s​/​2​2​4​0​1​5​8​4​7​4​/​A​d​o​b​e​-​s​t​r​e​s​s​e​s​-​p​e​r​s​o​n​a​l​i​z​a​t​i​o​n​-​a​t​-​d​i​g​i​t​a​l​-​m​a​r​k​e​t​i​n​g​-​c​o​n​f​e​r​e​nce

Philips – Sum­mit EMEA video

http://​youtu​.be/​7​J​K​J​H​J​D​r​yMw

Tar­get Readi­ness Study

http://​www​.razor​fish5​.com/​a​r​t​i​c​l​e​s​/​o​w​n​e​d​t​a​r​g​e​t​i​n​g​.​a​s​p​x​#01

Dig­i­tal Mar­ket­ing Blog: Adobe & Exact­Tar­get = Per­son­al­ized Engage­ment; 350% Increase in Rev­enue Per Email for F+W Media

http://​blogs​.adobe​.com/​d​i​g​i​t​a​l​m​a​r​k​e​t​i​n​g​/​a​n​a​l​y​t​i​c​s​/​a​d​o​b​e​-​e​x​a​c​t​t​a​r​g​e​t​-​p​e​r​s​o​n​a​l​i​z​e​d​-​e​n​g​a​g​e​m​e​n​t​-​3​5​0​-​i​n​c​r​e​a​s​e​-​i​n​-​r​e​v​e​n​u​e​-​p​e​r​-​e​m​a​i​l​-​f​o​r​-​f​w​-​m​e​d​ia/

ClickZ: 8 B2B Email Mar­ket­ing Tricks of the Trade

http://​www​.clickz​.com/​c​l​i​c​k​z​/​c​o​l​u​m​n​/​2​1​8​7​5​3​9​/​b​2​b​-​e​m​a​i​l​-​m​a​r​k​e​t​i​n​g​-​t​r​i​c​k​s​-​t​r​ade

CMO​.com: Tar­get­ing Readi­ness Study Shows CMOs Miss­ing Their Mark

http://​www​.cmo​.com/​t​a​r​g​e​t​i​n​g​/​t​a​r​g​e​t​i​n​g​-​r​e​a​d​i​n​e​s​s​-​s​t​u​d​y​-​s​h​o​w​s​-​c​m​o​s​-​m​i​s​s​i​n​g​-​t​h​e​i​r​-​m​ark

Brooks­Bell Inc Blog: Using Per­sonas More Effec­tively to Tar­get Your Online Segments

http://​brooks​bell​.com/​b​l​o​g​/​2​0​1​2​/​0​6​/​u​s​i​n​g​-​p​e​r​s​o​n​a​s​-​t​o​-​m​o​r​e​-​e​f​f​e​c​t​i​v​e​l​y​-​t​a​r​g​e​t​-​y​o​u​r​-​o​n​l​i​n​e​-​s​e​g​m​e​nts

The Next Web: Online Publisher’s Asso­ci­a­tion sur­vey paints a por­trait of the US tablet user

http://​thenex​tweb​.com/​i​n​s​i​d​e​r​/​2​0​1​2​/​0​6​/​1​8​/​o​n​l​i​n​e​-​p​u​b​l​i​s​h​e​r​s​-​a​s​s​o​c​i​a​t​i​o​n​-​s​u​r​v​e​y​-​p​a​i​n​t​s​-​a​-​p​o​r​t​r​a​i​t​-​o​f​-​t​h​e​-​u​s​-​t​a​b​l​e​t​-​u​s​er/

Let us know what you thought about the per­son­al­iza­tion con­tent last month. In July we’ll focus on tips and advice to help you build and main­tain a cul­ture of opti­miza­tion at your orga­ni­za­tion. Keep an eye here on our blog, our Adobe Dig­i­tal Mar­ket­ing Face­book page and @adobedigmktg Twit­ter account. Let us know what you think and how we can pro­vide more help­ful infor­ma­tion next month.