Four points for a personalization strategy on the web

Today's customers - whether in the B2C or B2B environment - are becoming increasingly demanding. They no longer want to receive generic information for the mass market. Before buying products and services, they prefer to seek advice from colleagues, friends and acquaintances or inform themselves online and on social media platforms. The pure marketing messages on companies' websites are no longer effective. Instead, customers and prospective customers want attractive digital experiences and offers that are specifically tailored to their needs in the current context. Acquia, the Digital Experience Company, has summarized the most important activities in establishing and developing a personalization strategy in a four-point plan.1. create a standardized customer profileThe starting point for any personalization strategy is the creation of uniform, comprehensive customer profiles. A variety of data points for a basic database are already created when users visit a website: It is possible to determine which search term led the visitor to the website, there is data on the IP address as well as how long they stayed on the website and what content was clicked on. Ideally, the user agrees to receive a newsletter from the company with immediate effect. At the same time, the information about the user can be enriched with existing company data from CRM and customer support systems and email communications. This gradually creates a 360-degree customer profile.2. start the personalization processThe available data should be used by websites and online stores to develop specific measures for the delivery of personalized information in real time, for example in the form of marketing campaigns, special offers or loyalty campaigns. Quantifiable targets must be formulated for each activity. The aim is to test the effectiveness of the campaigns on the one hand and to further refine customer profiles with the new data on customer behavior generated in the process on the other.3. evaluate the first results of the activitiesFor all personalized marketing activities, measurements should be taken at the various customer contact points, such as how users navigate the website during product research, select products, configure products and how they use chat functions. Analyzing the results can lead to best practices for future campaigns, for example. The insights gained from the analysis should also be incorporated into the further development of the personalization strategy.4. continuously optimize personalizationIn many cases, the establishment of personalized marketing will start on a company's website. This enables companies to expand and optimize their activities, increase the number of visitors to their website, generate leads and increase the conversion rate from prospects to customers. Companies are often not only represented online, but also in brick-and-mortar stores. Extensive customer data is also generated there. One of the challenges is to find out when a customer informs themselves in the store and then buys online or vice versa. Linking offline and online data offers important help here and is also a starting point for continuously improving and perfecting personalization.