Personalizing user experiences is paramount for engaging and satisfying visitors in the digital age. We've gathered insights from 16 experts, including marketing coordinators and directors, sharing their successful strategies. From understanding customers through conversations to leveraging social proof and interactive chatbots, discover how these professionals enhance user interactions on their websites.
1. Understand customers through conversations
While discussions around personalization often focus on tools and analytics, the key to successful personalization efforts starts with truly understanding your customers, their journey, and their context.
This comes from foundational, generative research and scales with continuous discovery. The best way to understand your users is quite simple: talk to them regularly.
Karen VanHouten, UX Practice Lead, TMG
2. Personalize content by industry
A strategy B2B companies should consider leveraging is personalizing content based on industry. For instance, a strategy I've rolled out for a software company targeting healthcare facilities is to build out personalized experiences which layer in several items, including:
1. Images of nurses and doctors in action
2. Headlines that speak to the pain points of medical professionals
3. Logos of other customers in the healthcare industry
4. CTA buttons with links to case studies of existing customers in healthcare
Every time I've implemented this, critical engagement metrics such as time on site, page depth, and leads have been boosted.
Leslie Gelina, Digital Marketer, Frizzlie
3. Create connections with first-person content
As the owner of Clearwater Web Design, the best strategy I have found, by far, is writing in the first person and speaking directly to the user. I've found that writing from a first-person viewpoint, as the owner of the business, creates a very powerful connection. The visitor feels like they are having a conversation, rather than reading a bland description of a nameless, faceless business. This has been key in increasing engagement and conversions.
I wrote first-person content on the home page of a client's chiropractic website, personally addressing the problems and concerns of the visitor. Ever since it was launched, it brings so many leads and new patients to the practice that I haven't even dared to change the website, and it was built 12 years ago.
Kurt Enget, Owner, Clearwater Web Design
4. Use custom landing pages for segmentation
We use custom landing pages to personalize experiences and capture more leads from different audience segments. We use campaign-specific landing pages connected to PPC ads and content marketing that tie messaging directly to user searches and clicks.
We've found the most success by creating separate landing pages for different pain points and use cases so people looking for answers to their biggest challenges don't hit a landing page where only 20% of the content resonates. Users don't want to skim through irrelevant content to find what they're after, and most won't bother!
Rex Huxford, Director of Demand Generation, MD Clarity
5. Implement targeted pop-ups for engagement
One way I make the user experience on my website more personal is by using targeted pop-ups based on how people behave. I know pop-ups can be annoying, but if you do it right, they can work really well for your business.
The key to making pop-ups work is to make sure they're relevant and not too pushy. For example, I track what users do on the site to see what they're interested in. If someone is looking at our website but not pressing the "Get Started" button, a small discount or incentive pop-up might just be what they need.
If you're selling products and not a service like I am, you can use the same method above. A last-minute offer is also great if they're exiting the website without buying anything.
As for tools, I use a tool called OptinMonster to create these pop-ups because it lets me customize them based on what users are doing. It makes the experience feel more personalized, and I've seen a big increase in engagement as a result. It's all about showing the right message at the right time.
Alex Tilici, Founder, Virtual Staging
6. Employ subtle personalization with “less is more”
The best approach to personalization we've found is "less is more." An overly personalized experience tends to turn users off, and there is certainly an art to tailoring a user journey to make it resonate more meaningfully with visitors on an individual level.
Our team is a big fan of Mutiny, having used it on several occasions, for its versatility, subtlety, and ease of implementation.
James Weiss, Managing Director, Big Drop Inc.
7. Tailor onboarding to user roles and needs
At Taskade, we onboard every user and ask them specifics about their use case and role. We then use that data to personalize their entire onboarding experience. For instance, if they're a Marketing Director, they'll be able to generate an AI marketing assistant in a few clicks that can complete tasks for them immediately.
They'll also see marketing examples first when they move around the website. If they're chatting with AI on their sidebar, they'll be directed to chat with marketing experts first. This helps ensure that our users see the value right out of the gate. It's a lot of work to set up properly, but personalizing the experience of our website has reduced churn and created more active and engaged customers.
John Xie, Co-Founder and CEO, Taskade
8. Enhance navigation with content chunking
We break up our website content into smaller, distinct units of information, which makes scanning easier for users. The aim is to help users comprehend the information faster and remember it.
We use short paragraphs with white space separating them, short sentences, and clear visual hierarchies that group together related posts. This way, users can easily locate relevant information on our website and navigate to sections that interest them. We used the same strategy when we created a course tailored to guide marketers through effective and ethical email outreach strategies.
Even though our course could take up to seven reading hours, meaning a commitment of at least 20 hours to complete it fully, we broke it down into manageable topics, each spanning 5-20 minutes. The strategy proved helpful, with more than 95% of the participants completing the course.
Vladislav Podolyako, Founder and CEO, Folderly
9. Build trust with authentic storytelling
I believe in the power of storytelling to create a meaningful connection with our users. On our websites, we regularly share personal stories about the inspiration behind our products, our journey as a brand, and the challenges overcome at a personal level. This transparency builds trust and a deeper connection with our audience. It also helps position us as subject matter experts.
To do this, on our sites we have a dedicated "journal" section where we post regular updates about our journey, including news on product development, personal stories from my entrepreneurial path, and informational content that supplements our products. This gives our blog sections a more personal feel, while remaining helpful for our users.
I believe with this approach our customers feel more connected to our brand and appreciate the authenticity and transparency we offer. By sharing our stories, we create a community of loyal customers who are not just buying products but are also part of our journey.
Keira Rumble, Founder, Krumbled Foods
10. Boost engagement with topical content clusters
My best working strategy for content personalization is the "read more" section underneath each post. Although I do not have the skills to create a tab like YouTube does, with individual personalization, I can work on clusters and offer articles, which could attract attention.
The strategy of implementation was simple: A/B testing. With four suggested articles, I used two from the topical cluster, and two different, fully random ones from the pool of articles. The CTR was approximately 290% higher on the similar articles rather than on the random ones. Seeing the data, I've decided to implement full topical cluster recommendations for content, which can meet this criteria, and for some less common topics, there are three topics from the same cluster, and one from a random one.
The user engagement has improved marginally, but it was a simple improvement which anyone can do on their company websites or private blogs. Although it's just a drop in the sea of potential strategies, it works, and improves the user experience on the website, keeping them for longer, and guiding them towards the bottom parts of the sales funnels.
John Kawecki, Marketing Manager, F1 Blast
11. Offer behavior-based content recommendations
One key strategy we use to personalize user experiences on our website is implementing behavior-based content recommendations. This is specifically important within the B2C ecommerce industry. This approach allows us to deliver highly relevant content and product suggestions based on users' interactions with our site.
In e-commerce, we use our customers' site interactions to provide recommendations that best match their desires. This strategy can organically increase conversions and improve your users' experience, showing them products they are most likely interested in.
An example of how this works is when a user frequently browses our electronics section but has yet to make a purchase. When they return to our site, the homepage features the latest gadgets, detailed reviews, and special offers in the electronics category. Additionally, product pages might show "Customers who viewed this also viewed" recommendations, making the shopping experience more tailored and engaging to the end user.
By utilizing behavior-based content recommendations, we ensure that each user's experience on our website is efficient, relevant, and valuable, significantly enhancing user engagement and satisfaction.
Jordan Bridge, Digital Marketing and Cyber Security Analyst, Growthlabs
12. Facilitate cross-device personalization
At TrackingMore, we understand how an excellent user experience improves visitor satisfaction whenever they land on our website. To make this possible, we've invested heavily in cross-device personalization.
Knowing what we know about our website visitors, we understand their preferences for visiting our website from various devices, including desktop computers, smartphones, and tablets.
Cross-device personalization allows us to track users' behavior and record their visits. When users visit our website from a different device, they can conveniently continue from where they left off.
This personalization has been vital in ensuring the customer registration process is completed by many visitors who would often abandon it. Additionally, our customer support has improved remarkably, with customers able to continue their chat with the support team even when they switch devices.
Clooney Wang, CEO, TrackingMore
13. Guide users with clickable value propositions
On our website, we create clickable links for each of our different value propositions. If our customers have varying needs, or if we offer a range of products or services, it's wise to have clickable links for each value proposition on the same webpage or within a campaign.
Our unique value proposition is what sets us apart from our competitors. It's how we persuade our audience to choose us over others.
By creating a clickable link for each value proposition, we guide customers directly to the specific solutions they seek on our website. This approach prevents our visitors from having to navigate through our site for too long before finding what they need. With this strategy, we can tailor our website to cater to different segments of our audience, enhancing user engagement and satisfaction.
Amy Tribe, Director, OGLF (Our Good Living Formula)
14. Optimize content and point to website goals
It's got to be more than just making your website look good and easy to use; you have to understand your target market and what outcome they want and need, and your UX needs to show them you know how to help them achieve that goal. The next part needs to be making sure the UX is as easy to use as possible and helps to point to your number one goal of the website, NOT just making it easier to fit more content on your website, because more content is not always better, especially if you're trying to sell something.
My strategy is:
- Make sure you have the optimal amount of effective content possible (enough to positively affect SEO, but not too much to dissuade people or slow people down from acting on the CTA or main goal of the website).
- Build the user experience in a way that points to the website's main goal in a way that makes the consumer feel they need what you have to offer in the easiest and most efficient way possible. If you have too much fluff, or something that doesn't provide immediate value, then get rid of it. A website is not a place to put as much information as possible; it's a place to get people to act on what you have to offer as quickly as possible.
Frankie Schell, CEO, Support You Marketing
15. Display dynamic CTAs based on sales stage
We show different CTAs based on their stage in the sales funnel. Dynamic CTAs help us personalize the landing page experience and target people with the right messaging at the right time for even higher conversion rates.
If a prospect is at the top of the funnel, they'll see a much different CTA that fits their journey than a returning customer, for example. For a CTA to be truly effective, it needs to suit the user's needs in the moment. By leveraging user data, we can determine their stage in the journey and match them with the right CTA.
Derek Pankaew, Founder, Listening.com
16. Leverage social proof and interactive chatbots
At Supramind.com, we harness the power of social proof to personalize user experiences and boost engagement. Incorporating user reviews, ratings, and testimonials throughout our website helps create a sense of community and trust among our visitors. By displaying personalized recommendations based on highly-rated products and positive customer feedback, we provide social validation that encourages new users to explore and engage with our offerings.
Furthermore, we utilize interactive chatbots powered by natural language processing (NLP) to provide real-time, personalized assistance. Our chatbots can address user inquiries, offer product recommendations, and provide support based on a visitor's browsing history and past interactions. This immediate and personalized support elevates the user experience by making it more convenient and tailored to individual needs, leading to higher satisfaction and conversion rates.
Rohit Vedantwar, Co-Founder and Director, Supramind.com
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