Three Steps for Providing a Personalized Online Experience

Three Steps for Providing a Personalized Online Experience

In a world increasingly dominated by social media and mobile communication, today's consumer is hyper-connected to personal networks and can instantly access content and information that is relevant to his or her interests. Not surprisingly, shopping behavior has evolved in this landscape. Consumers are seeking more than just inventory and competitive prices. They want personalized and relevant brand experiences—whether it's in-store or online.

How can online businesses provide the personalized and dynamic experience that consumers expect? By treating each site visitor like the unique individuals they are.

Below are three steps for engaging with customers in real-time to provide a personalized experience, as well as an example of how Maverick Aviation Group, a leading helicopter excursion company in Las Vegas, successfully implemented each of these steps.

Step 1. Leverage data. Through cloud-based intelligent engagement solutions that are available today, marketers and businesses of all sizes can provide a real-time, personalized experience. Data-driven targeting solutions provide all the tools to seamlessly implement and deploy sophisticated personalization campaigns on any website, and even on social media platforms and mobile devices.

Maverick Aviation Group implemented a data-driven targeting solution to run a holiday-specific wedding promotion for higher-value packages. Maverick offered the package to customers who seemed the most interested.

Step 2. Segment visitors. Through data-driven technology, marketers can intelligently segment and target visitors to drive any number of desired business outcomes. Visitors can be segmented by keywords searched, pages viewed, mouse behavior, geo-location, cart value, customer history, and much more.

Maverick Aviation Group identified interested visitors by a number of variables, including time spent on a page, click patterns, and shopping cart content. By leveraging a data-driven targeting solution, the company was able to identify and segment these visitors.

Step 3. Offer customized, relevant content. After visitors are segmented, companies can offer consumers content that is not just useful, but fully customized to be relevant to their online movement. For instance, a customer who searched certain keywords could be offered a promotion code for those specific products; visitors with a high-value item in their cart can receive an offer for a free complementary product. Customized, relevant content should be deployed virtually anywhere on a website, at any point during the visitor's experience.

Maverick Aviation Group delivered a coupon in real-time to segmented visitors and also used this technology to offer a special free upgrade for customers who spent a defined length of time on a specific tour page. This special offer would appear as a sales incentive, minimizing the chances of them abandoning the page and Maverick losing the sale.

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So, what do these three steps lead to? A better website for your business and a better experience for your visitors.

By implementing online personalization technology, businesses can increase conversions and overall customer experience by creating a more relevant and compelling site experience. In fact, Maverick Aviation Group has boosted sales and customer satisfaction since deploying a data-driven targeting solution.

As consumers become even more hyper-connected, businesses will need to continue to proactively implement online engagement solutions to keep visitors on their site and, most importantly, to keep visitors satisfied.

Damien Acheson is director of product marketing at LivePerson.