Our previous article discussed that website personalization is the key to optimal digital experience and better ROI. However, managing the personalization process can be tricky - especially when developers and marketers need more collaboration to make it successful. By working together, marketers and developers can create a competitive advantage that will benefit their organization.
That's why it's crucial to identify the obstacles both parties are facing and discover how to work together as a team.
This article will explore the challenges of website personalization for developers and marketers, along with the advantages of using personalization tools, such as Acquia's Personalization tool, to overcome those obstacles.
With a focused and unified team, the benefits of website personalization will be worth the effort.
Website Personalization Challenges For Marketers
1. Pressure to create compelling CX/UX
As a marketer, creating a compelling CX (Customer Experience) and UX (User Experience) requires a deep understanding of your customer base and their journey. It's essential to be able to anticipate customer needs, expectations and interests to create a personalized experience. Data-driven insights can help you understand how people engage with your website, which web pages they are likely to view, and what content appeals to them.
Developing a successful CX/UX strategy is an ongoing process and requires dedication and continual refinement, which is considered a challenge for marketers. Investing time and resources into creating a compelling CX/UX will pay off in the long run.
2. Data gathering across different platforms and departments
For your website to be upgraded and improved, you must have access to and be able to analyze data on your visitors and audience. But collecting and analyzing data to understand user conduct can be difficult and can take up a lot of time because the data is scattered across various platforms, systems, and departments.
The information gathered could be incorrect, incomplete, or unorganized. As a result, it may not be easy to customize a website using the data and understand user behaviour.
Furthermore, various departments within a company could have goals and objectives that are incompatible with one another. This may make it challenging to create consistent data across departments.
As a marketer, comprehension of data collection, storage, and utilization is essential for tailoring content, campaigns, websites, etc. To do this effectively, it's necessary to integrate data from different sources, such as social media, analytics tools, and customer relationship management systems. However, this can be daunting, as it requires a deep understanding of the data and how it is used.
3. Developing personalization strategies
As a marketer, you must create personalization tactics to enhance the user experience after you have a complete understanding of the user's path and have access to pertinent data. This could entail developing targeted content for each user segment or creating a personalized homepage for each user.
You must also choose the personalization strategies you want to employ. This can involve targeted advertising, unique landing pages, or customized content. You must decide which engagement-boosting strategies are most successful while simultaneously taking user security and privacy into account.
4. Constraints of IT resources and abilities
Even when marketers have the right strategy and technologies, their success could still be limited by IT resources, forming a barrier to success. IT department's resources and capabilities can limit what marketers can do.
Big plans for a website or content might are not achievable if the IT department does not have the technical capabilities to make it happen. IT constraints for marketers include limitations in data storage and computing power; All of these issues can lead to a lack of customization and limited website personalization.
Website Personalization Challenges For Developers
1. Complicated implementation and limited options
Developers frequently struggle to personalize software that does not integrate, resulting in a time-consuming and expensive customization process. Developing algorithms to match user preferences with website content also necessitates a thorough understanding of user behavior which is a difficult task for developers. Besides, website personalization should be done in a way that is also user-friendly for marketing teams.
2. Glitches and bugs
When you’re using multiple systems and programs that don’t integrate, there’s a higher chance of glitches and bugs. These bugs can impact the overall load time on certain pages and the entire site, damaging your UX significantly.
Bugs can occur due to some issues, including coding errors, incompatible software versions, or even user mistakes. Glitches and bugs can also be caused by changes to the website, such as adding new features or updating existing features. Developers must be vigilant in testing websites for potential glitches and bugs, as they can lead to user frustration and decrease user satisfaction.
3. Unreliable API integration
When it comes to API integration, you must have a secure process. Because APIs are commonly used to access and integrate data from third-party services into a website, which can be a source of untrustworthy. With numerous robust and intricate tools and systems for transferring and keeping data, developers may find this task daunting to choose the right tool.
4. Keeping up with changing user preferences
User needs and preferences evolve over time, so website personalization must be continuously refreshed to guarantee that the website conveys the most pertinent and customized material to its users. This could include adding new features, adjusting existing features, or changing the look and feel of the website to stay current and relevant. Developers must anticipate needs and be ahead of the game, understanding how users interact with the website and making changes to ensure a good experience.
5. Balancing personalization with user privacy and security
With the implementation of GDPR and other privacy laws, website personalization must be done with user privacy in mind to ensure user data is not misused. Also, developers need to consider security implications when personalizing a Drupal website. This includes ensuring that all personal data is stored securely and that the website is protected from malicious attacks.
Acquia Personalization Tool
Asking a web developer to implement many marketing initiatives on top of their already demanding workload can be challenging. It's more complex than it may appear; a developer cannot just make personalization happen with a snap of their fingers. Also, the tools available for implementing such initiatives can be restrictive, not allowing for the level of customization that is desired.
However, Acquia website personalization tool gives businesses the ability to customize their website beyond the typical settings. Acquia Personalization collects a vast amount of customer data from multiple sources, allowing marketers to obtain a comprehensive profile of their customers, including their interests and likes.
Acquia Personalization offers three different campaigns, and all three can be combined to help your marketing team better understand your website visitors.
- Simple campaigns allow for dynamic, personalized experiences based on criteria set by the marketing team.
- Targeted campaigns personalize content to specific visitor segments.
- A/B Testing allows your marketing team to test different variations of webpages to find the best experience for visitors.
Marketers can make use of analytics and insights for tailored personalization strategies. Marketers can use the tool to get their required info without needing a data scientist. These three features can help marketers create personal experiences for visitors:
- Multisite deployments allow collecting and optimizing data from digital properties in one interface.
- Multilingual personalization provides content in the right language for visitors worldwide.
- Anonymous targeting personalizes content based on browser conditions, location and third-party variables.
The Benefits of Website Personalization Tools For Marketers
1. Centralizes data and content into one platform
Some personalization tools, such as Acquia Personalization tool, allow you to centralize your data and content into one place. This eliminates the struggle of combining multiple data sources for your analysis and will enable you to access and utilize the best data to create a tailor-made user experience.
2. Improved CX/UX
Using personalization tools to tailor your company's website can generate more relevant material for your visitors and give them a personalized experience. You can refine your brand's experience to match your audience's desires and values.
Assuming that a visitor arrives on your website, Acquia Personalization will begin to collect data about them. This includes details about their device and location as well as their activity and behavior on the website. Acquia will then combine this data to form a comprehensive profile of the visitor that includes their past and present activity across all channels.
This allows marketers to create segments based on various criteria, which aids in understanding and targeting the visitor. As this occurs, the visitor will likely compare your product to other solutions. With Acquia Personalization making sure that the information being presented is valuable to the visitor, your chances of maintaining engagement increase. This will lead to an improved user experience, ultimately increasing conversion rates.
3. Builds stronger brand awareness
Your marketing team has done a great job bringing the right prospects to your site. Although personalization is not directly involved in this process, the groundwork has been set up beforehand. By offering more personalization options for your website, you can make a cohesive look and feel that accurately reflects your brand's personality. Your users will quickly understand what you stand for and build a sense of familiarity with your brand when you can go beyond the basics.
Drupal's native taxonomy is a powerful way to classify the content on your site, giving you access to personalization. With this feature, all that is needed is to point, click, and personalize.
The Benefits of Website Personalization Tools For Developers
1. More freedom and flexibility
When you use personalization tools, you’re no longer restrained by your platform or system and its limited capabilities. You have the freedom you need to customize your website however you want. You can use custom coding and design elements that will allow you to achieve those bigger personalization dreams that the other platforms limit.
2. Quicker turn-around times and one place
Using personalization tools lets you create a more seamless experience for personalization. Personalization tools put everything you need in one place. You no longer need to try to integrate multiple programs and elements to achieve the results you want; it’s all in the same place, which means quicker turnaround times and more straightforward implementation. Every time a customer views a piece of content, the details are stored with the content and attributed to the customer's profile.
For instance, if someone is looking for a midsize sedan, Acquia Personalization will take note of the ten cars they have looked at and show them more midsize sedans. It also permits the marketing team to customize and adjust the system to their personalization objectives, like adding custom HTML/CSS or controlling who can do what.
3. Keep up-to-date with the best practices of personalization
Acquia Personalization ensures that your company stays up-to-date with the latest personalization best practices. With its help, pages will load quickly without any “flash of general content.” Furthermore, with an API integration, you can share data with analytics teams or data scientists to uncover new information that can help you create a top-notch customer experience.
Bring Developers and Marketers Together
Acquia Personalization bridges the gap between developers and marketers, allowing them to overcome their hurdles and create personalized customer experiences that are both engaging and effective. The technology is integrated with Drupal, providing easy-to-use tools that let you elevate your website's CX capabilities. Personalization is no longer a distant dream - it's something you can achieve.
Conclusion
Website personalization is a powerful tool for businesses and customers. It enables you to create tailored and personalized experiences for your customers, which can lead to increased engagement and satisfaction. However, personalization can be difficult to achieve due to the various challenges marketers and developers face.
These challenges include creating compelling CX/UX, data gathering across different platforms and departments, developing personalization strategies, constraints of IT resources, and balancing personalization with user privacy and security. Luckily, website personalization tools like Acquia can help marketers and developers overcome these challenges, allowing them to create engaging, personalized experiences for their customers.
With the help of Symetris, an Acquia partner and Drupal expert, you can unlock the power of website personalization and take your business to the next level. Unlocking the potential of website personalization can lead to increased customer loyalty, revenue, and growth, so start your digital journey today and see the results for yourself!
