1. AUSTIN GOVELLA // AGUX.CO // @AUSTINGOVELLA
Everything you need:
› what it is
› how it works
› putting it into practice
Help customers change you
from a frog into a prince.
Personalizing the
user experience
2. AUSTIN GOVELLA // AGUX.CO // @AUSTINGOVELLA
Contents:
› what is personalization
› how does personalization
work?
› putting personalization into
practice
› open discussion
Personalizing the
user experience
Download the slides:
http://slideshare.net/austingovella/personalizing-the-user-experience
3. ...between 2002 — when [data mining began] — and 2010, Target’s revenues
grew from $44 billion to $67 billion.
“How Companies Learn Your Secrets” By Charles Duhigg, New York Times, Feb 16, 2012
Personalization
improves
conversions
20% How does personalization work?
Choices
Message relevance
Relationship over time
WHAT IS PERSONALIZATION?
PERSONALIZING THE USER EXPERIENCE // AUSTIN GOVELLA // AGUX.CO // @AUSTINGOVELLA
4. Innovation
Climb a different mountain
Optimization
Climb your current mountain
Personalization is a
tool for optimization
Optimization always compares the change against a baseline.
Optimization is always an a/b test.
WHAT IS PERSONALIZATION?
PERSONALIZING THE USER EXPERIENCE // AUSTIN GOVELLA // AGUX.CO // @AUSTINGOVELLA
5. Create a new phone
OPTIMIZATION VS INNOVATION
Create a new product
WHAT IS PERSONALIZATION?
PERSONALIZING THE USER EXPERIENCE // AUSTIN GOVELLA // AGUX.CO // @AUSTINGOVELLA
Personalization is a tactic for optimization. Optimization is a
strategy. Innovation is a different strategy.
6. HOW DOES PERSONALIZATION WORK?
PERSONALIZING THE USER EXPERIENCE // AUSTIN GOVELLA // AGUX.CO // @AUSTINGOVELLA
Personalization is
a 4-step process
Profile
visitor
Personalize
touchpoint
Visitors
engage
Collect
data
1. Visitors engage
with your touchpoint
2. Collect data
about the visitor
3. Profile visitor
(guess who they are)
using the data you
collected
4. Personalize touchpoint
the next time they
engage
7. HOW DOES PERSONALIZATION WORK?
PERSONALIZING THE USER EXPERIENCE // AUSTIN GOVELLA // AGUX.CO // @AUSTINGOVELLA
2. Collect personalization data
at touchpoints
Simple Complex
Collect data for...
A single session Multiple sessions
• Track user across sessions
• Track user across channels
• Merge duplicate user records
Store data on...
Client-side Server-side
• PCI data
• Medical data
• Country regulations
EVENT HORIZON
beyond which you
cannot see customer
behavior.
Expand horizon with
URL trackers and
cross-channel tools.
Key question: How can you collect data
at touchpoints you control?
8. HOW DOES PERSONALIZATION WORK?
PERSONALIZING THE USER EXPERIENCE // AUSTIN GOVELLA // AGUX.CO // @AUSTINGOVELLA
3. Use data to profile visitors
Match visitors to a
target persona based
on what you know
about them.
Key question:
How do you segment
your users?
Attributes
What attributes
do they have?
Tasks
Search, comparison, rating, download
Roles
Doctor, Nurse, Admin
Contexts
Home, mobile, field, daytime
Motivations
Drivers, outcomes, barriers, pain points
Interests
Industry, product category, style, features, brand
a
Behavior
Where are they
in their journey?
Funnel stage
Prospect, customer, advocate
Journey stage
Discover, evaluate, select
Lead score
Engagement value
Sitecore’s Engagement Value Score
b
9. HOW DOES PERSONALIZATION WORK?
PERSONALIZING THE USER EXPERIENCE // AUSTIN GOVELLA // AGUX.CO // @AUSTINGOVELLA
4. Four ways to personalize
touchpoints for next interaction
a. What appears
? 1
2
3
b. How it appears
?
c. Where it appears
1
2
d. When it appears
1 2 3
Key question: If you change when the content or functional-
ity appears, does it improve conversion for this profile?
Key question:
If you change what
content or function-
ality appears, does it
improve conversion
for this profile?
Key question:
If you change how
content or function-
ality appears, does it
improve conversion
for this profile?
Key question:
If you change the
prominence of content
or functionality, does
it improve conversion
for this profile?
10. PUTTING PERSONALIZATION INTO PRACTICE
PERSONALIZING THE USER EXPERIENCE // AUSTIN GOVELLA // AGUX.CO // @AUSTINGOVELLA
the easy way to
get started with personalization
A. What appearsa ONE significant conversion
What behavior can you change to improve a key
conversion on your site?
b ONE easy target profile
What profile can you clearly distinguish from other
profiles? What profile has significant enough numbers?
c ONE easy touchpoint
What touchpoint is easy to measure? What touchpoint
has a significant amount of interactions (traffic)?
d ONE easy change
What change is easy to implement? What content or
functionality is easy to produce?
complete purchase,
create account
prospective customer,
current customer
homepage,
email newsletter
carousel/hero,
related content
Checklist Examples
If you or your organization are new to personalization, start with something that is easy to optimize and easy to measure.
11. PUTTING PERSONALIZATION INTO PRACTICE
PERSONALIZING THE USER EXPERIENCE // AUSTIN GOVELLA // AGUX.CO // @AUSTINGOVELLA
Personalization is a learning process
Strategy
who, what, where, when, and
why
Production
content and assets
Implement
collect data,
profile visitor,
personalize
Measure
report analytics
versus baseline
Analysis
find insights
Optimization is about learning what works better. Personalization
requires strategy, content, and that you close the learning loop.
12. Austin Govella is an Experience Director with
Avanade Digital where he helps enterprises reinvent
how they connect with employees and customers.
Prior to Avanade, Austin worked for Comcast
Interactive Media where he worked on early
versions of Comcast Xfinity.
In 2009, he co-authored the second edition of
Information Architecture: Blueprints for the web
with Christina Wodtke for New Riders/Peachpit, and
he’s spent the last few years studying how agile
teams, lean companies, and user experience
designers can work better together.
Austin Govella has designed successful user
experiences for the web and mobile since 1998.
He is currently writing a book on collaborative
design for O’Reilly Media.
About Austin Govella
PERSONALIZING THE USER EXPERIENCE // AUSTIN GOVELLA // AGUX.CO // @AUSTINGOVELLA
Connect with me online
• On LinkedIn
• Twitter @austingovella
• On Facebook
Photo credits
Pacifier, “Pacifier for newborn” by Crisco 1942
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pacifier_for_
newborn,_2015-07-12.jpg
Easy button, “That was easy” by catharticflux
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cathartic-
flux/2484317019
“Origami frog prince” by Orestigami
http://orestigami.deviantart.com/art/The-Origami-
Frog-Prince-227184847