Colin Eagan Content Strategy for Personalization Confab 2016

Content Strategy for Personalization | by Colin Eagan | Confab Central | May 20, 2016 @colineags #ConfabMN
TARGETED EXPERIENCES
BY COLIN EAGAN, M.S.
Confab Central | May 20, 2016
PERSONALIZATIONFIVE STEPS TOWARD BUILDING THOUGHTFUL
CONTENT STRATEGY FOR

COLIN EAGAN
PLEASED TO MEET YOU.
PRINCIPAL, USER EXPERIENCE | ICF OLSON
@colineags
Hello.
#ConfabMN

TODAY WE WILL:
EXPLORE AN EXCITING NEW UX POWER:
TARGETED USER CONTENT
LEARN HOW TO USE IT
FOR GOOD OR FOR EVIL
LEAVE YOU WITH A CHOICE

BUT FIRST, SOME
NUMBERS
Everyone loves numbers.

Average number of times the online activity of an
average internet user is tracked daily
Source: Acxiom Corp

Yearly value to Facebook of a female user who is
“very active” on the site (males are worth $22.09).
Facebook has 1.65 Billion Users as of Q2 2016.
Sources: Acxiom Corp; Facebook Newsroom.

What a “relatively inactive” female user is worth to
Facebook per year (inactive males are worth $9.09)
Source: Acxiom Corp

ALL OF THESE NUMBERS HAVE
SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE VALUE OF
USER TARGETING
Feeling small?

WHAT IS TARGETING?
AND WHY DO I CARE.
Glad you asked.

• Responsive design personalizes layout;
targeting personalizes content!
• Facebook has done it for years
• Targeted content is adaptive to some
unique user trait
• Can be as general as the zip code you’re
in, or specific as browsing history
WHAT IS TARGETED CONTENT?
NOTHING NEW.
Source: AdThis.com
$$$

TARGETED = CUSTOMIZED BASED ON DATA

Used properly, targeting can dramatically improve the
user experience, saving time and creating trust. Amazon
and Netflix have been doing it effectively for years.
FOR GOOD…
“Highly-specific,
multi-compound
genres.”

An innocent search for a muffin recipe fills your
browser with ads from HP for printers. (Note: actual
sales promo from online advertising company)
Source: Flashtalking Online Advertising. http://www.flashtalking.com/us/targeted-ads/
FOR…GOOD?
WTF?

ALSO KNOWN AS
STALKER ADS
As in upon seeing one, you might feel a bit like this…

Source:OverlyAttachedGirlfriend

Source:OverlyAttachedBoyfriend

TARGETING THAT LEAVES A BAD TASTE
Adrants.com

warcraftonline.files.wordpress.com

• In November 2015, started collecting
data on any app downloaded (not just
from within Twitter)
• Recently started letting advertisers
use that data to target ads
• Facebook has done this since 2012
Source: Motley Fool, June 18, 2015
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/06/18/twitter-starts-
using-your-apps-to-target-ads.aspx
TWITTER USES YOUR APPS TO TARGET ADS
AS OF LATE…

Source: Fortune Magazine, October 5, 2015
http://fortune.com/2015/10/05/linkedin-class-action/
LINKEDIN TO PAY OUT $13M IN CLASS ACTION
SUIT FOR HIJACKING YOUR IDENTITY VIA EMAIL
EVEN MORE RECENT: ANYONE GETTING IN ON THIS?
• “Add Connections” feature led users
to unknowingly send hundreds of
spammy emails
• Linkedin settled for $13M in damages
• Lawyers get $3.25 mill
• You get 10 bucks!

Source: AdThis.com
YAHOO’S HOMEPAGE IS JUST PRETY MUCH ALL TARGETING
(NOT THAT YOU GO THERE ANYWAY)

WHAT ABOUT FACEBOOK TARGETING?
DO YOU TRUST THEM?
Source: AdThis.com

• At its worst, tracking invades
privacy and erodes user trust
• Belgian privacy commission taking
Facebook to court for alleged
“trampling” over Belgian and
European privacy law
• Tracking of non-users and logged
out users for advertising purposes
• Additional countries in EU have
since followed suit
THE EUROPEAN UNION DOESN’T…
Credit:TheGuardianJune15,2015

• Courts in Canada and the EU have
ruled that Facebook's “Moments”
auto photo-tagging product
violates privacy law
• Certain laws forbid the “collection
of biometric data without explicit
user consent”
• Instead users must manually tag
themselves
DOES FACEBOOK OWN…
YOUR FACE?
Source: The Verge, May 10, 2016

BACKLASH: COOKIES ARE CLOSELY REGULATED IN THE E.U.
European Union (EU)
regulations now require
sites to inform users if
cookies are active
Source: UPS.com

• Cookies are small text files sent
from a web server and stored in
user's browser to track “stateful”
information
• Classic example is shopping cart
• 64% of users have cleared cookies
(Pew Research)
• 41% disable cookies in browser
• 14% now use an anonymous
browsing service, like Ghostery Source: Wall Street Journal.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304704504579432823496404570
BACKLASH: MORE AND MORE USERS ARE BLOCKING COOKIES

Example of Mashable.com on
my Chrome browser session
with Ghostery enabled (notice
missing content chunks)
Ghostery can block over 1900
trackers (here it’s DoubleClick,
Google’s internet ad subsidiary)
BACKLASH: GHOSTERY CAN BLOCK OVER 1900 TRACKERS

Source: Ghostery.com
PERIODICTABLEOFTHINGSTHATCANSTALKYOU

BUT IT’S HARD TO RUN…
• Facebook's "Year in Review" was
intended to showcase your best
moments of the previous year
• But as it turns out, not every
memory on Facebook was happy
• This user’s boyfriend’s apartment
had caught fire earlier that year
Via CBS News December 29, 2014, 12:09 PM

EVEN WORSE.
• This user received a photo
of ashes of his dead father
Source: CBS News

“INADVERTANT ALGORITHMIC CRUELTY”
• In one of the most disturbing
examples, web designer and
speaker Eric Meyer was shown a
photo of his daughter, who had
passed away earlier that year
• She was surrounded by images
of people having a party
• Meyer called it “inadvertent
algorithmic cruelty”
• Facebook later apologized
Source: CBS News

WITH POWER COMES
RESPONSIBILITY.

AND YET DESPITE ALL THAT…

IF YOU ASK TEN MARKETERS…
What they think about personalized user content…

Data based on a survey of 1,506 marketing and communications executives worldwide, representing all major
industries. The survey was conducted in the fall of 2014, and follows a similar survey conducted in 2013.
9/10 MARKETERS CAN AGREE!
9/10 Marketers agree “personalization is the way of the future.”
This is us
agreeing.

HOWEVER IF YOU LOOK AT SPEND…

Before people
get to your site
After people
get to your site
MARKETING $$ IS HIGHLY SKEWED
For every 92 marketing dollars spent trying to lure users to their sites,
companies spent only one dollar trying to keep them there
$92
$1
Source: AddThis: “Website Personalization: What It Is and How It Can
Help Increase Conversions on Your Site.” Published May 2015

MARKETING $$ IS HIGHLY SKEWED
$92
After people
get to your site
*TODAY WE
ARE TALKING
ABOUT THIS
EMPTY WHITE
SPACE HERE
For every 92 marketing dollars spent trying to lure users to their sites, companies
spent only one dollar trying to keep them there.

THIS TALK IS ABOUT
PERSONALIZED UX
ON YOUR OWN WEBSITE
INTELLIGENTLY DESIGNING

OK, GREAT.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN.

• Traditionally, the average UX person
didn’t have much of a role in targeting
• Ads were controlled by marketers; e-
commerce by proprietary algorithms
like Amazon’s
• The advent of robust, out-of-the-box
targeting platforms has helped
democratized the landscape
WHAT’S CHANGED FOR CONTENT PEOPLE:
ENTER THE “EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM”
$40k - $300k + 20% annually
ASP.NET, C#
$40k - $500k + 20% annually
ASP.NET, C#
$140k - $1.2M + 20% annually
JAVA based
*Pricing data from: Berndt, John. “Personalization Mechanics:
Targeted Content for Web Teams of All Sizes.” March 10, 2015.
NB: Colin has zero interest
in promoting any of these
products, other than making
you more knowledgeable
about them

LET YOU CREATE TARGETED VERSIONS OF YOUR OWN SITE
Entire experiences can be targeted, from the images and copy to background colors
FOR
“HER”
FOR
“HIM”
Source: Adobe.com

JUST A FEW GLOBAL BRANDS USING SOME KIND OF “EMS” TODAY
Source: Forrester

LESS EXPENSIVE (SORTA):
THIRD PARTY “OPTIMIZATION SYSTEMS”
$20k -- $250k / year
(a “Drupal Hybrid”)
$20k -- $100k / year
$100k+ / yearly (custom pricing)
$100k+ / yearly (custom pricing)
• Can be “plugged in” to any existing
site by inserting some JavaScript in
the header of pages (similar to
analytics tagging)
• Segmentation and content
management handled in external
tool, not your CMS
• “All-inclusive” pricing w/ hosting
can be better for higher-traffic sites *Pricing data from: Berndt, John. “Personalization Mechanics:
Targeted Content for Web Teams of All Sizes.” March 10, 2015.

IF YOU’RE NOT USING
TARGETING YET, OR YOUR
CLIENTS AREN’T YET,
CHANCES ARE THAT WILL
CHANGE QUICKLY. AND YOU
NEED TO BE PREPARED.

Next we will look at the essentials for putting together a targeted information
design using a standard experience management platform, including…
1. Goals & Objectives The Why
2. Audiences & Segments The Who
3. Rules & Campaign The What
4. Testing & Analytics The So What
5. Learn from Others The Whatcha Done
WHAT WE’LL LOOK AT NEXT

TARGETING STRATEGY
STEP 1 | DO WE EVEN NEED TARGETING?
Does the pool have water in it?

GOOD REASONS TO TARGET
• Your audience can be segmented in ways that are meaningful
• Narrowing your message provides incremental value
• Targeting is tied to specific business KPIs or objectives
• Because we can.
• Some variation there of.
WHAT TO ASK YOURSELF BEFORE YOU START
BAD REASONS TO TARGET

1. Like any other content project, begin with intent
2. You still need to determine your core principles and goals
3. The question is how (or if) targeted content can further those goals
REMEMBER, PEOPLE!
TARGETING ITSELF IS NOT A GOAL. IT’S JUST
ANOTHER TOOL IN THE CONTENT TOOL BOX.

EXAMPLE: CONTENT GUIDING PRINCIPLES
Credit:ICFInteractive

AUDIENCE SEGMENTS
STEP 2 | WHO ARE WE TALKING TO?
Once you have your mission, you can
begin segmenting your audience.

WHAT’S A SEGMENT?
• Similar to personas: a group of users with
some distinguishing trait, like age, interest,
location
• Generally speaking, targeting can be either:
1. Segment Based (all males 50+)
2. Algorithm Based (previous purchases,
clickstream, etc)
• For our purposes, we’ll look at how to set
up segment-based targeting, since this is
how many EMSs are set up

SEGMENTS ARE DETERMINED BY DATA
BEHAVIORAL TRAITS
 Pages Visited
 Duration of Visit
 Frequency of Visit
 Search Terms Used
 Site Referred From
 Interest on other sites
(determined using tools
like Spyjax)
DEMOGRAPHIC TRAITS
 Age
 Income
 Family size
 Marital status
 Gender
 Location
Examples:
 Site User Profile
 Google Ad Planner
 FaceBook Connect
DemandBase (B2B)
This is how we know who is who. Typically these will be fed through some type of
targeting data exchange to be accessed by the CMS

Logged in;
My Profile
HOW DO WE GET DATA? TWO WAYS TO KNOW ABOUT
“Explicit Data” “Implicit Data”
Explicit data is based on something the user tells us directly, such as via profile
information. Implicit data if something we infer, such as via IP lookup

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
SOME DATA IS BETTER THAN OTHERS
Segments are identified by user data, either implicit or explicit

SOME DATA IS BETTER THAN OTHERS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
DARK ARTS
Less transparent
Available—for a price
Highly unpredictable
HAPPY PLACEUsers provide data openly
Hard to buy or fake
Reliable, if you can get it
Segments are identified by user data, either implicit or explicit

BIG BROKER IS WATCHING YOU.
• Federal Trade Commission released
2014 report on lack of transparency
among data brokers
• Axciom has more than 3,000 data
points on nearly every citizen in the US
• Some are what you might expect: race,
gender, age
• Others get very creepy very quickly
Source: https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/data-brokers-call-transparency-
accountability-report-federal-trade-commission-may-2014/140527databrokerreport.pdf

BIG BROKER IS WATCHING YOU.
•
•

RACE
GENDER
AGE
OCCUPATION
MARITAL STATUS
POLITICAL AFFILIATION
HOME OWNERSHIP
VEHICLE OWNERSHIP

GAMBLER
SMOKER
GUN PURCHASER
“BIBLE LIFESTYLE”
SPORTY LIVING
BIKER / HELL’S ANGELS
ALLERGY SUFFERER
“LEANS LEFT”
FINANCIALLY CHALLENGED
PLUS-SIZE APPAREL
“DIABETES INTEREST”

• There is a fine line between providing helpful personalization and
betraying user trust
• No form of targeting is inherently good or evil; it’s how you deploy it
• Users may invite personalized content if it’s helpful and you are
transparent in your methods
• Invite users to “self-identify” by giving you information, like profile data
• If you want to dabble in implicit data, make sure you’re being up-front
• Give users a way to “opt out” if they are uncomfortable
LESSONS!

LET’S PRETEND…
THIS IS ALL GETTING A BIT ABSTRACT, SO

We want to target busy creative professionals who travel regularly
What online content
should we create to
give us an edge?

Research suggests that $1 spent on business
travel can generate $9.50 in revenue and $2.90 in
profits.*
That’s good!
But there are also hidden costs: Travel is stressful.
(That’s bad.)
*Source: HEC, Carlson Wagonlit
SO WE DO SOME RESEARCH…

So our first idea is to start a content campaign
that takes the stress out of travel. The
traditional method would be “one size fits all.”
But that makes a lot of assumptions – what
does “stressful” even mean? Is it the same for
everyone?
What if we look at it by audience…
WHAT CONTENT SHOULD WE CREATE?

Survey of 7,400 global managers accustomed to travel.
Source: Harvard Business Review. Data from HEC, Carlson Wagonlit

• Support Staff Male
• Associate Staff Male
• Manager Male
• Director Male
• VP Male
• Senior Exec Male
• Support Staff Female
• Associate Staff Female
• Manager Female
• Director Female
• VP Female
• Senior Exec Female
So we could potentially* set up 12 segments in
our system. For our pilot campaign, let’s limit our
focus to Senior Execs, male and female.
IDENTIFYING SEGMENTS FOR PILOT
*Note for research people: don’t freak out this is just an example.
We would absolutely want to research the “why” behind this data.

EXAMPLE: SETTING UP A SEGMENT IN ADOBE
Client Context: Male Sr Exec from US
Gender = male is a basic business rule. Can get more
complex. Advanced segmentation is more like JavaScript
Credit: Adobe

EXAMPLE: SEGMENTS & CAMPAIGN WORKSHEET
Credit: ICF Interactive
Helps you organize segments and which content campaigns to show them

EXAMPLE: TARGETING USE CASE
Helps illustrate how targeted content will improve the experience of a user segment

RULES & CAMPAIGNS
STEP 3 | WHAT ARE WE GOING TO SAY?
We know who we want to talk to.
Now how and when do we say it?

OUR PILOT CAMPAIGN: IDEAS TO SHOW SR EXECS
Ad for
Business Class
Service
List of Flight
Cancelations
Links to
priority web
content
Travel tips to
reduce stress
If we knew they were visiting
our site, what would we say?
Art Credit: ICF Interactive

Consider a “typical” layout…
• EMS can configure each zone
differently depending on who
is visiting
• Rules are “if then”
statements, typically applied
at the component level
• Campaign is set of rules that
work together to create an
experience
OUR SITE: DETERMINING TARGETABLE ZONES

Understanding these types will help you determine what type of targeting rule to
create and where you would like to show it on your site
Show this user time-sensitive information
E.g. A delay or cancelation impacting this user
TARGETED CONTENT MODEL: FOUR WAYS TO ADD USER VALUE
Promote site functions useful to this user
E.g. Navigation options helpful to this user
Task at Hand
Big Picture
Notify this user of relevant products or services
E.g. Ad for a product or service we think user will like
Notify this user of relevant (non-sales) content
E.g. Blog content, articles, social content, etc.
ALERT
MAKE EASIER
CROSS-SELL
ENRICH

A list of flight cancelations in real time
Some shortcuts to Priority web content
An ad for new Business Class Service
Tips on Trip Prep (male)
Tips on Destination (female)
Understanding these types will help you determine what type of targeting rule to
create and where you would like to show it on your site.
APPLYING THE MODEL: WHAT TO SHOW SR EXECS
If Sr Exec, Then Show:
Task at Hand
Big Picture
ALERT
MAKE EASIER
CROSS-SELL
ENRICH

DEFAULT STATE: WE DON’T KNOW WHO USER IS

IF SR. EXEC FEMALE: TARGETING CAMPAIGN SHOWS THIS:
Note, we’re NOT even
using the main banner zone
here. Targeting can be
more than just ads!

IF SR. EXEC MALE: TARGETING CAMPAIGN SHOWS THIS:
Neat.

EXAMPLE: TARGETING ZONE CHART

CONTENT MODELING
AND NOW LET’S PAUSE FOR A BRIEF WORD ON
How does the system “know” what
content to show someone?

TAGGING & TAXONOMIES:
CREATING SEMANTICALLY RICH CONTENT
• Tags help the system
know what content to
show which audience
• Tags can be organized
into taxonomies
• We might tag a banner
ad for audience “Sr Exec”
or by type “Priority
Content”
Clickstream Cloud
As the user navigates, you can capture tags related to pages
they look at. For example, Basic products vs Expert. You can tag
content with this. Video could be more expert vs basic.
Credit: Adobe

Credit: Sara Wachter Boettcher
“Content Everywhere”, Rosenfeld Media
• Helps define relationships
between content
• Informs how you set up
content types in CMS
• Helps create your taxonomy
and metadata schema
• Can also help with things
like search results
EXAMPLE: BASIC HIGH-LEVEL CONTENT MODEL

A BIT MORE COMPLEX…

TESTING & ANALYTICS
STEP 4 | HOW DO WE KNOW IT WORKS?
The “so what.”

DOES IT WORK?
• Personalization only as good as ability to measure it
• KPIs are key to proving that targeting works
• Agency TBG estimates +10-20% in KPIs1
• Rockport: +32% order value, +10% conversion with personalized recs2
• Iron Mountain: +123% referral rates for targeting healthcare-specific message3
1 Berndt, John. “Personalization Mechanics: Targeted Content for Web Teams of All Sizes.” March 10, 2015.
2 “Predictions 2015: Invest in Customer Insights To Activate Contextual Marketing.” Forrester Research. November 10, 2014.
3 Demandbase also reported a 115% increase in the small to medium business segment using a similar approach. Source:
Strohmeyer, Robert. “Driving Conversion Through B2B Personalization.” March 5, 2015.

EXAMPLE: CHILDREN’S NATIONAL REDESIGN BY TBG
• Built on Sitecore CMS
• Targets based on content
previously viewed
• Ex: Show neurology story to
user who viewed neurology
content
• Using Maxmind IP
geolocation, can even target
high-value customers from
parts of the Middle East
• 161.45% increase in session
duration overall1
1 TBG reported 15% increase in page views, and a 161.45% increase in session duration. The
new site also increased site-based donations by 54%. You can read the complete case study at
http://www.berndtgroup.net/projects/portfolio/childrens-national-website-redesign-and-cms-
implementation

Shifting from low-cost
provider of credit cards to
ramping up customer
experience
Personalize based on
whether customers are
researching or buying a car
Adding personalized
recommendations to
its online store
BUT WILL IT WORK FOR ME?
JUST A FEW NON-TECH BRANDS THAT TARGET
Wells Fargo’s latest ATM
UI reshapes based on
transaction history
“Flavor Profile”
shows relevant
recipe and product
recommendations
Source: Forrester Research. November 10, 2014. Predictions 2015:
Invest In Customer Insights To Activate Contextual Marketing

READY TO START?
WHAT’S THAT? YOU’RE CONVINCED AND TOTALLY
Just a few things to consider
before you hurt yourself…

YOU MAY STILL NEED SOME WORK IF…
• You don’t have enough content to make targeting useful
• You don’t have enough staff to maintain targeted content
• Your content is not semantically rich – you need a taxonomy, metadata, etc.
• You don’t have a CMS that supports it
• You don’t have analytics and tracking in place to gain insights and adjust
BEST PRACTICES FOR WHEN YOU’RE READY
• Start segmenting traffic on your CURRENT site. Third party providers like
DemandBase can start showing you IP based user data asap
• Role out campaigns iteratively. Avoid “big bang” approaches. Tune your
business approach and technical infrastructure over time
• Never stop testing. Audiences change over time as consumers learn more
about your products, make purchases, read reviews, etc.

REMEMBER: IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE COMPLEX
Even if your organization doesn’t have a fancy targeting platform, you can start thinking in that mindset
Source: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/articles/one-to-one-personalisation-will-boost-conversion-rates/646
In a survey of digital marketing managers, 92% of respondents claimed to
offer a level of personalization in their email communications.
QUESTION
What’s the number one method
of customer personalization used today?
ANSWER
Email.

AND YOU TOO
CAN TAKE BACK
TARGETED
CONTENT
FOR GOOD.

THANK YOU
@colineags
#ConfabMN

*BONUS READING!
Approaching Content Strategy for Personalized Websites
IllustrationbyJoeAlterio
http://alistapart.com/article/approaching-content-strategy-for-personalized-websites

*PLEASE COMPLETE YOUR CARDS!
Approaching Content Strategy for Personalized Websites
We at Confab value your opinion! The content universe thanks you!

Colin Eagan Content Strategy for Personalization Confab 2016

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