Image: Optimizely Personalization suite product iconOptimizely Personalization

Personalization Adapt content to customized target groups for a more personalized website experience, such as displaying different content to first time and returning visitors. (See visitor groups.) lets you individualize content displayed to online visitors or sent to them by email, instead of showing the same content to everyone.

Optimizely Personalization includes the following features:

You can apply Personalization to an individual visitor Someone who visits a website using a web browser. In most cases, a visitor can use public functions and services but cannot create content and has limited access to community content. In an SEO context, visitor means the number of visits to a URL through channels (external referrers), direct arrivals, and internal links. (See also visitor groups.), or for a segment A term for dividing recipients into relevant groups to send them appropriate content. Optimizely Campaign uses Target Groups and Click Profiles for segmentation. of visitors. Personalization uses intelligent algorithms and also can be manually configured by administrators, editors, marketers, or merchandisers. Using visitor groups Site visitors with something in common, such as age, geographic location, and so on. Used in the personalization feature of Optimizely CMS. (See Personalizing Content.), you can manually target content for first-time site visitors, or visitors from a specific region. You can also apply automatic content recommendations, based on individual or group website behavior, and create email campaigns Personalization: Describes the rules for sending email that share a strategy and time frame while marketing a product or service. for selected groups.

Personalization tools include behavioral search ranking, product recommendations for web and email, promotion creatives Artwork for website advertisement, such as a banner, that is used to generate leads by promoting a discount, product, or service., and automatic triggers A product that lets you send automated personalized emails via an Email Service Provider (ESP), which are initiated by the the email recipient's on-site actions. and actions to help increase conversions When a website visitor takes a desired action. This desired action can be, for example, buying an item, filling in a form, or clicking a link. and average order value.

Personalization Product Description
Content recommendations Suggests topics of interest based on real-time website interaction, visitor profiles, and intelligent algorithms. Personalizing content is a powerful way to increase visitor engagement. For example, you can provide articles of specific interest on a news site.
Product Recommendations

Creates and configures a merchandising campaign Personalization: Describes rules for displaying recommendations that share a strategy and time frame while marketing a product or service. with personalized product recommendations. Whether you display your products on the web or on a mobile device, Optimizely optimizes the ranking for every visitor, including behavioral data and merchandising strategies.

Email Content Recommendations

Includes personalized content recommendations in any email, including retargeting emails.

Email Product Recommendations

Includes personalized product recommendations in any email, including cart Commerce: A collection of products selected by a website customer, with the intention of completing a purchase. Also known as a shopping cart or basket. abandonment and retargeting emails.

Triggered Messages

Works with behavioral triggers A product that lets you send automated personalized emails via an Email Service Provider (ESP), which are initiated by the the email recipient's on-site actions. to detect on-site behaviors and act on them through automated, personalized emails. Triggered Messages works with Email Product Recommendations and Optimizely Campaign only.

Optimizely Visitor Intelligence

Tracks and saves data about your website visitors, such as their name, email, associated company, and country of origin. You can then use this data in your campaigns, to craft and distribute personalized messages for specific target groups.

Personalization Portal

Available only if you have the features for the Personalization Product Suite installed on your site. The Personalization Portal is the user interface for accessing the features for Product Recommendations, Email Product Recommendations, Email Content Recommendations, Triggered Messages, and Promoted content. Features include automatic product and content recommendations online and through email.

Promoted Content Promoted Content is available for Optimizely customers who use a non-Optimizely platform. Optimizely platform customers can use similar functionality built into Optimizely CMS. See the Optimizely Promote User Guide (in PDF format only). See also the CMS Personalization guide.
Visitor groups Visitor groups Site visitors with something in common, such as age, geographic location, and so on. Used in the personalization feature of Optimizely CMS. (See Personalizing Content.) are a simple way to work with content personalization in Optimizely, using built-in functionality. You can for example design a product banner, a landing page A landing page is the target page on which a visitor "lands" after clicking a banner or link. Usually, a landing page is a web page that is separate from the main page, with the goal that the visitor performs a certain action (conversion)., or a registration form, with content targeted towards for example first-time visitors, or visitors from a geographic region or market.

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