3 Approaches for Personalizing Content on Your Website

Disclaimer: We are a HubSpot Gold Partner agency, but do not work for HubSpot or receive any financial (or other) consideration in return for mentioning their product. I'm simply a happy user of their platform and recently returned from a week-long marketing automation conference they hosted in Boston.

One of the most exciting takeaways from the Inbound conference last month was the fact that it's now possible to personalize web content for different site visitors using new smart content features within HubSpot's marketing automation platform.

Serving personalized versions of the text, imagery, calls-to-action and video content that appears on the pages of your site has been discussed at great length in the industry for a while now, but seeing the concept play out in reality has been a rare occurrence (or one that required more engineering talent and effort than is often feasible within marketing budgets.)

However, now that this capability has been made so simple within one of the most widely used marketing automation platforms out there, it's safe to say that content personalization for websites could very likely be the next big thing in marketing automation.

Here are three approaches you can take to personalize your website in an effort to better meet each individual site visitor where they are in the decision-making and/or buying cycle with your organization:

1. Persona-based

Changing out homepage header/banner copy to address visitors based on their job title or primary use cases as it relates to the product or service being offered.

For example, a SaaS company selling network security products for SMBs could segment their site traffic based on personas so that a visitor matching an "IT Vendor" buyer persona profile could be served messaging that relates to an IT channel partnership program the company runs. While a visitor that aligns with a " SMB Owner" persona could be presented messaging that addresses the main concern expressed by small business owners as regards data breaches and network security.

2. Context-based

Using referral source information, it's possible to automate the content that will be shown to a visitor based on how they are arrived to the page. Did they come to your site from a paid search ad? Particular blog post? Specific keyword search on Google? Or maybe a link embedded in an ebook?

For example, a home goods site could maintain a landing page that shows different products to a visitor who:

a) lands on the page from a hyperlink contained within a Winter Decorating eBook
b) arrives to the page by clicking a call-to-action in a blog post about BBQs and grills

3. Lifecycle-based

By dynamically shifting through content offerings and calls-to-action, you're better able to assist leads through the natural buying process.

For example, if someone has already been to your site and downloaded an eBook regarding industry trends, the next time they arrive on the site it might make sense to show a customer testimonial video as well as a call-to-action around scheduling a demo.

Using marketing automation tools to personalize website content and deliver more relevant content to individual visitors results in higher conversion rates and a better overall customer experience - all while keeping marketing costs lower.

There are all types of contextual information about a web visitor that can be used to personalize the web experience. And by catering to the interests of the visitor with messaging, imagery and calls-to-action, the website becomes a more effective tool for meeting the visitor's needs and converting them into a lead.