So we have arrived at the end of this personalization progression series. And to wrap things up, it’s time to talk about pattern personalization – a.k.a the holy grail of personalized experiences (in my personal opinion).
Simply put, pattern personalization in Sitecore allows marketers to match visitors to a user type, preference or persona pattern based on the content they consume. The content will have been tagged or profiled as being content that user type is interested in.
Let’s say we have a fictional software company and they offer products for non-profits, small businesses and enterprise customers. Using Sitecore, we would tag content in the system with profile cards to indicate who the content is for. Those profile cards would give users a point value towards a business type as they consume the content. When the user hits a certain point threshold (determined by the business), they would then be considered as matching that business type pattern. If each small business page is tagged and gives a user 2 points towards small biz and we set the pattern threshold at 6 points, we know a user is a small business customer once they consume 3 pages of small biz content. From there, we can start to personalize the content that has more of a small biz focus.
The reason pattern personalization is powerful is that it allows you to deliver different content to site visitors as their patterns change in real-time, allowing marketers to deliver content as the preferences, needs and interests of their customers change. Some common patterns that B2B organizations can use to tag and deliver personalized content include:
Product and Service: If a user shows interest in a specific product or service type, more products/services similar to their interest can be shown through personalization (think Amazon’s “you might also like”)
Industry: Different industries have different needs, different concerns and will respond to different messaging. Matching users to industry-based patterns will help ensure that the content they see and the path they are guided through are relevant to their industry needs.
Customer Journey Phase: Your visitors may need different content at different phases in their journey. Tagging content against customer journey phases and then matching users to the phase that they are in will allow you to serve up content that informs the decisions a user is trying to make in each phase, and will allow you to present content and CTAs that move users through their path to purchase.
What’s great about leveraging patterns and profiling content within Sitecore is that it allows you to deliver impactful, personalized content (adaptable in real-time) and also helps guide users through complex sales cycles while providing powerful analytics. Through Sitecore’s pattern-based reporting, you’ll be able to have insights into segment behavior, inform decisions around how to target segments with campaigns, drive off-site marketing and help provide valuable customer insights to your sales teams.
Want more information on patterns and B2B personalization? Drop a note through the Contact Us page or get at me on Twitter @jgrozalsky.
Stay thirsty, friends!
