What is Website Personalization?

In the modern world, keeping up with digital marketing trends is a must in order to survive as a business. Creating a well-rounded digital marketing plan is more difficult than simply posting on social media and other existing platforms. One piece of the puzzle many digital marketers forget is website personalization. If you’re asking yourself, “what is website personalization?” you’re in the right spot. 

Website Personalization Defined

Website personalization is the process of creating unique experiences for your website visitors to help them find the information they need and increase conversions. Instead of showing a single, stagnant, web experience to all visitors, website personalization gives companies the ability to share a relevant and unique experience with each visitor. 

If you think about it, our day-to-day experiences are consistently being personalized. When the waiter at your favorite restaurant uses your name or when a store owner sees you eyeing new jeans and makes a recommendation, your experience is being personalized to help you meet your needs and desires. Now that many people are shopping online and many businesses rely on their online business, business owners are finding a way to bring these time-tested personalization techniques to the web. One way this is done is by personalizing websites to help the customer find the information or products they are looking for quicker and more efficiently. 

Ways to Personalize Website Content

There are a variety of ways to personalize your website content and copy. Here are a few options and the best tools to get the job done: 

• Based on the visitor’s location: This is useful when customers in different locations prefer different items, when you have multiple store locations or when you have location-specific announcements. For example, you might recognize that customers in California are more likely to purchase small, travel trailers while customers in Oregon are more likely to purchase large RVs. Personalizing based on visitor location would allow you to highlight these products to the relevant audiences. GeoFli is a great tool for personalizing websites based on visitor location.
• Based on the visitor’s previous activity: This is useful when you can actively track what customers may purchase next based on their previous website or purchase activity. If you know someone typically purchases a hat one month after purchasing gloves, you can highlight your most popular hats to people who previously purchased gloves. 
• Based on time of day or year: This is useful when you want to show specific information or products based on the time. Maybe you know that your customers are more likely to call you during business hours and email after hours. Using this technique you can display the most relevant contact information at different times of the day.
• Based on the device the visitor is using: This is useful when you understand the device habits of your customers. For example, you might know that your customers are more likely to browse your “About” page on mobile devices and purchase from desktops. Using this type of personalization you can share the relevant information quicker and more effectively to the various devices. 

Understanding Your Customers Through Website Personalization

Personalizing your website is a great way to meet your customers’ expectations for quick and efficient service online. Not only will website personalization likely lead to more sales for your company because of happier, better served customers, it also allows you to learn more about your customers. When you decide to personalize your website in one or multiple of the ways listed above, you will begin to understand your customers on a whole new level. You will begin to recognize their patterns and needs and ultimately create a company that serves your clients more efficiently and completely. In addition to these things, you'll also be able to understand location-based data on a more granular level as well.