Marketers today know that personalization is increasingly important to running a successful business. But we know a challenge facing many marketers in adoption is the fear of not being able to provide the contiguous experience that users expect due to a lack of variety available. For example, for business blogs, how do you make personalized article suggestions if you only can post once a week, or you haven’t been posting for very long? A question we often hear is, “Can you give each viewer a tailored experience with any sized library?” And the clear answer from us is almost always yes.

In this post, we’ll break down our tips for providing unique, personalized experiences for every visitor with virtually any amount of content you’re able to generate:

1. Maximize the content and inventory you do have

By strategically re-using evergreen pieces of content, you’ll be able to offer a variety of content in newsletters and on-site recommendation tools with relevant and exciting pieces without having to create new articles and videos on a daily basis. Additionally, by dynamically ordering the content, you’ll be able to show the most relevant content first without being afraid of frequently repeating the same suggestions.

2. Add top selling products to suggestion engines and newsletters

To further prevent newsletter and on-site content from appearing repetitive or thin, add in non-content relevant pieces, such as products or services the user is likely to enjoy or even articles about your industry news they’re likely to enjoy. By adding these, you’ll not only increase variety, but also see a rise in conversion rates. Lastly, keep in mind that at best open rates for ecommerce are around 20% – so repeating yourself can actually be helpful instead of hurtful, as it increases the likelihood that your reader will see your content at all.

3. Personalize the entire customer experience, not just content

Content selection isn’t the only factor when it comes to customizing the user experience. It’s important to also keep in mind where customers are coming from (acquisition source), when and how often they visit, along with any other data points you may be able to collect.

Where users are coming from should set the tone of your site and give you explicit clues about the type of content they may be looking for. For example, if they’re arriving from your social network you already have some insight into the types of content they enjoy given the tone, content mix and products found on social.

Visits also give you important clues about appropriate frequency and time of day when each user engages with your content. If they only visit once a week, for instance, consider only sending them email once a week. Listening to their behavioral frequencies will help stretch the amount of content you do have, and keeps it fresh.

–Marielle Hanke, Sr. Manager of Analytics & Optimization at Sailthru

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