Web personalization is delivering targeted content and adaptive web experiences based on what you know about each visitor. Your own personalization efforts can use as much or as little of this kind of insight as you need to drive the content you choose to present in each session.

The point is not to make every session perfectly targeted from day one – just to improve the relevance of each session so the visit becomes more compelling. As the project proves itself, you can then grow your ambition and sophistication.

The principles of real-world personalization

At EPiServer, we’re seeing personalization take off and we’ve distilled some of our front-line experience into a set of principles for anyone embarking on the path to personalization.

Here are the top 14 principles for a successful personalization strategy:

1. Start with clear goals and metrics
2. Assemble the right team
3. Use as few software systems as possible
4. Make the workflow simple
5. Start small
6. Develop 'Personalization Personas'
7. Use what you know about the visitors
8. Map content to the purchase journey
9. Plan your metrics for quick-starts and real-time
10. Use search term data
11. Link to community activity
12. Look for intent indicators
13. Personalize even before you have a profile
14. Test everything

Download our white paper "The Personalization workbook" and get practical tips on how to create personalized web experiences.