Right Content, Right Person: New Content Personalization in Sitefinity 5.2

November 22, 2012 Digital Experience

Sitefinity’s new Content Personalization feature gives you the ability to personalize content for different audiences, thus creating unique user experiences for each. Your public content is automatically delivered to specific users following a set of predefined criteria which can be tested using simulations before going live.

User Segments

Define multiple user segments, and then categorize your audience. You can then use Sitefinity to target specific versions of a page by creating a variation for each user segment.

 

User Characteristics

User segments are defined by designating one or more characteristics that Sitefinity later employs to identify a user. There are several options you can use to classify a user, such as location, landing Url, and even time of day.

These characteristics can be mixed and matched using AND/OR logic, allowing you to define very specific subsets of users for delivering precisely targeted messages. You can then prioritize user segments to give preference to one subset over another.

Creating Personalized Content

Once you have defined your user segments, you can proceed to create targeted versions of any page in your site. Simply select "Personalize" from the action menu, and create as many versions as you need.

Sitefinity will prompt you to choose a targeted user segment, then duplicate the full page so that you can customize the message using the familiar tools you already know. A new header identifying the targeted user helps you keep track of which message you are creating.

A single click from the Pages menu reveals all your variations for a given page, allowing you 1 click access to modify or delete each of them.

Testing Your Message

Many of the user segment characteristics can easily be tested locally—such as time of day or landing page—while others may be difficult to simulate (such as location). Fortunately, Sitefinity includes a fantastic tool to aid in testing your personalized content.

With the Personalization Preview Tool, you can view your site in a variety of personalization scenarios. Choose to view the site as any one of your predefined user segments, and enter custom values to test how your site will respond to various user characteristics.

 

Make sure you get the Sitefinity Mobile Add-on Module. This powerful tool allows you to preview your personalized targeted content on a wide variety of devices so you can fully assess the user experience.

Try Sitefinity Personalization Today!

Sitefinity Personalization is a powerful way to target different messages to varied audiences based on a wide range of characteristics. Try it yourself today at and as always be sure to share your feedback with us in the Sitefinity Forums.

The Progress Team

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