“Personalization is not a trend; it’s a marketing tsunami.” — Avi Dan
In UI/UX design, personalization is the greatest tool for businesses to woo their customers and generate revenue. Personalization refers to the process of crafting and designing customer journeys and experiences while keeping in mind the wants and requirements of the customers. Be it for an app or a website, personalizing interfaces for the customer can be a game-changer for businesses. Many models of Personalisation can ensure spanning data, segmentation, and content delivery across different platforms. One such model that is currently making waves in the tech scenarios is the Personalisation pyramid.
The Personalization Pyramid is a designer-centric model that ensures human-centered personalization programs. UI/UX designers need to understand what the customer needs. But before we understand what the personalization pyramid is, let us have a look at ways that Personalization delivers to businesses who choose to invest in personalization.
Benefits of personalization:
Enhanced customer engagement and experience
Increased customer satisfaction
Much better conversion rates
Reduced cognitive load
Higher brand loyalty
Data-driven insights
Customized Recommendations
High level of adaptation to context
Precise and quick Decision-Making
Competitive Advantage
The Personalization Pyramid
As depicted in the figure, the Personalization model comprises different aspects of UI/UX design at different levels.
North Star: This refers to the final aim of the personalization
Goals: These refer to expected outcomes once the project is run.
Touchpoints: As the name suggests, touchpoints include all the stakeholders and parties that are involved in personalization.
Campaigns: This level refers to all the content that customers are privy to.
Target audience: This encompasses the intended audience of the personalization project
Actionable Data: This refers to all the data that is gathered and will be used to drive the personalization program.
Raw Data: This levels to a wider set of data that can be extracted conveniently
Read on about the levels of the personalization pyramid in detail here :
North Star
North Star refers to the primary goal of the personalization project. It is also instrumental in orienting teams towards a common goal that personalization will help achieve. Also, these are useful for characterizing the end-state ambition of the presently stated personalization effort. North Star is the guiding light of any project
Goals
Personalization is known to accelerate designing as one knows what the customer wants. Goals are crucial in executing and implementing personalization at a core level. Goals are the tactical, quantifiable metrics that guide the project in understanding what the customer wants and the completion. Some of the common goals include:
Good Conversion Rate
Less Time on Task
High Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Customer Satisfaction
Touchpoints
The touchpoint level of the personalization pyramid is where the real designing is involved. As a UX designer, this phase is extremely crucial. The touchpoints decide for a designer how personalization and associated technology capabilities are best implemented while aiming solely at improving a customer’s experience throughout the customer journey. Touchpoints can be multi-device (mobile, in-store, website) but also more wireframe-level touchpoints (web banner, web pop-up, etc.). Here are some examples:
Channel-level Touchpoints
In-store display
Native app
Search
Wireframe-level Touchpoints
Website overlay
Website alert bar
Banner
Website content block
Website Menu
Campaigns
Once touchpoints have been established, the next step is to design the personalized content received by the customer. These are referred to as “campaigns” and are programmed to be shown at certain touchpoints to certain customer segments, which are defined by the customer data.
Personalization campaigns aim for the following :
Cross-sell
Alert
Convenience pitch
Enrich
Customer Segments
Customer segments are the target audience the personalization is aimed at. These would be driving factors in how each aspect of the website is designed. Here are some examples from the personalization pyramid:
Guest
Authenticated
Default
Unknown
Role
Unique ID
Actional Data
Actional Data is yet another level of the personalization pyramid that is essential in the personalization process. It refers to the data collected by any enterprise with a digital space. Ethically collected first-party data helps designers and developers understand the customer best.
Personalization+ Segmentation+ Optimization: A seamless customer experience
Personalization in iNterface designing can further be enhanced by following three simple personalization techniques in another personalization pyramid.
These are 1:1 Personalization, Optimization, and Segmentation.
Optimization
The bottom of the pyramid is Optimization. Optimization means testing, choosing the best design, and finally executing the most ergonomic design. This phase is also called A/B testing or multivariate testing. Often used by e-commerce marketers, the optimization approach has proven to provide excellent insights and enhanced outcomes.
Segmentation
This approach is used to divide the market into smaller targets for specialized content. This further helps marketers with optimizations within smaller segments which is more convenient. The approach is also popular since it elevates the customer experience for the targeted audience like no other.
1-to-1 Personalization
1-to-1 personalization is a niche level of the pyramid and leverages Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to deliver an individualized experience to each customer. The powers of machine learning further help brands offer, each of their customers, a personal experience based on all the data collected and available.
Conclusion
The advent of the tech era has led to digitization of all markets globally. It would be a mistake for any business to not invest in UI/UX designing and ensure personalization for its clients. Many UI/ UX design firms provide state-of-the-art, human-centric UI/UX design services. OpenXcell happens to be one such company who is known for its web design services and quality solutions.