Select the Right CMS to Personalize the Online Experience

If you are ready to break out of your static cookie-cutter mold and personalize your website, make certain you select the right web content management platform to help.  You will want a solution that will work well for both technical and nontechnical users.  Marketers should be able to easily accomplish tasks on their own, without having to wait for support.  Developers and IT staffers should find features that streamline routine tasks and enable easy integration, customization and extensibility. 

To personalize the online experience, consider these features in a WCM:

• Ability to Segment.  The best WCM solutions let you easily segment visitors using market characteristics and online behavior.  You can tailor content based on how visitors arrived at your site, what they searched for, duration of their visit, their geo-location and more.
• Ability to Specify Content. To create a tailored response, you need to be able to tag specific content relevant to grouping of roles, interests and online behaviors.  Look for a platform that lets you add and modify pages easily and create variations based on the user characteristics you defined.  To overcome synchronization challenges, your software should update your custom versions when any changes are made to the original page. 
• Ability to Test and Validate.   To simulate the user experience and validate your work, you should be able to impersonate any segment and any grouping of characteristics.  Insist on intuitive, easy-to-use mobile device emulators so you can preview the customer experience on smartphones and tablet PCs as well.
• Ability to Measure Results.  Look for built-in reports and metrics to help you measure your conversion rate and other key performance indicators.  With data at your fingertips, you will be able to measure the impact of your personalization efforts and further fine-tune what content is delivered and to whom.
• Ability to Integrate with CRM and Marketing Automation Tools.  Your WCM solution should integrate seamlessly with your CRM and marketing automation platforms and any adjacent technologies.  You should be able to use data from these systems to build and segment personas.
• Ability to Address Mobile Devices Seamlessly.  You should be able to personalize and manage your entire online presence from a single, device-agnostic platform.  That includes content delivered to mobile devices.  Look for Responsive Design features so you don’t have to create a separate mobile version of your site.

For more tips on breaking away from a static cookie-cutter approach and personalizing your website...  Download our personalization white paper