Making personalization measurable
Many companies hesitate to invest in personalization. Too high costs and a lack of measurability are the reasons. But there are some tricks that companies can use to approach this topic.
Companies are still too vague about personalization. Many companies prefer to rely on the tried and tested for online campaigns: reach instead of personalized content. In the short term, this is also helpful: The probability that a target group can be found somewhere in the broad masses is great.
However, the wastage is enormous. With personalized campaigns, however, I reach exactly the right and important target groups and thus long-term success. But how can I measure the success?
Measured variables
Personalization is certainly measurable: namely with the evaluation of website usage data and the analysis of visitor behaviour before and after the personalisation measures. The most important Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is the conversion rate, that is:
What proportion of users have done what you wanted them to do. This can be, for example, a purchase, a contact or also another expression of interest. In addition, however, increased click numbers, a longer dwell time of the user on the various pages or reduced bounce rates also tell of a successful measure.
Trial and error as a maxim
As in many areas of digital transformation, the maxim for personalization is: try, try, try. The earlier a measure fails, the faster a company can intervene and learn from it. Especially in the testing phase, however, projects should not go beyond the financial scope.
Often, even small adjustments to the website help to celebrate the first successes. An example: A telecommunications provider shows its visitors the latest smartphone on the homepage. However, if a potential new customer - the IP address can be used to find out whether the user is under contract with a competitor - comes to the page, the start image changes: The focus is then on the advantages of a change of provider or a discount campaign for new customers.
Another, somewhat more complex example: Many car manufacturers offer a configurator with which the customer can put together his car according to personal wishes. However, the design usually disappears after it has been created. However, the company could confront the user with his design again via advertising on third-party platforms or a personalized mailing. In this way, the user comes back to the website and the next step in the customer journey, for example the agreement of a free test drive, can be tackled. A vivid scenario for the fact that online advertising and onpage measures must be perfectly coordinated.
Monitoring is important
In order to really measure the success of the personalization measures, a continuous monitoring process is needed. This must be standardized - before, during and after the activity. As already mentioned in the first article, you need to define concrete goals in advance. During the campaign, you need to use integrated analytics systems to check and measure the metrics for the goals, the KPIs. Based on these results, the measures can always be adjusted and optimized manually or automatically. After a certain period of time, the entire results are evaluated and compared with the goals defined at the beginning. From this, exciting learnings and conclusions can be drawn and hypotheses for new measures can be defined.
Most companies are still at the very beginning of their personalization plans. But anyone who wants to be close to the customer in the future will not be able to avoid this topic.
