Why Personalization is Your Best Strategy for Increasing Repeat Visits

Digital media readers that come back again and again bring with them a big financial boon. Because frequent visitors are more likely to register or subscribe and be more loyal, that leads to more pageviews and more revenue. One of the most powerful strategies for driving repeat visits is personalization, which shouldn’t be confused with segmentation. Personalization uses actual reader behavior and preferences to tailor relevant and engaging reader experiences.

“It’s important to understand the difference between personalization and simply segmenting out your audience. When you ask about broad interest categories and put readers into buckets, you’re effectively making assumptions about their interests. When you pay attention to and collect data on their activity, the information you have about them is much more real,” explains Matt Dickow, internet channel manager at The San Francisco Chronicle.

Forward-Focused Publishers Personalize with Success

Other publishers continually adjusting their personalization strategy include The Washington Post, The Economist, The Independent, and Business Insider, among others.

By combining reader behavior, platform and demographic data, these publishers have created a foundation of information. That helps them tailor reader experiences to individual interests and preferences. Using tactics such as recommended articles, emails and mobile alerts that reflect individual interests, The Washington Post has increased online subscriptions by 140% and The Economist has increased web pageviews from email by 160%.

Your Guide to Generating Results with Personalization

If you want to generate similar results, take a look at the personalization tactics laid out in our Increasing Repeat Visits strategy guide. The guide provides details on both foundational, or must-do, tactics to begin personalizing. We’ve also included sophisticated methods for publishers looking to advance their use of personalization, with advice on how to put into action.

What is a foundational personalization tactic? Examples include recommending articles on-site, dynamically personalizing email content and personalizing email send times. If you know someone typically opens their email at dawn, why message them at noon?

If you’re looking to get more sophisticated, you can suppress previously consumed content and personalize in-app messaging. To really go above and beyond, connect the mobile and on-site personalization experiences.

Our guide to Increasing Repeat Visits includes other strategies and tactics to engage readers and increase visit frequency.

Download the guide today to learn more about reaching and engaging your readers to increase their visit frequency!

Learn more about Marigold Engage by Sailthru’s Personalization Marketing Solution and how you can increase repeat visits and visit frequency.