Plan a messaging matrix for Personalization

  • Updated
This topic describes how to:
  • Map experiences for different audiences in a single Campaign
  • Implement a single campaign strategy in Optimizely Personalization

After you know for whom you want to personalize experiences, the next step in your personalization strategy is to determine what you want to say and where you want to say it.

A messaging matrix can help you develop personalized messages that resonate with each audience you’ve created and map them to different areas on your site.

This article shows you how to deliver the best single experience to visitors who qualify for multiple audiences. To deliver multiple experiences to visitors who qualify for multiple audiences, use the multi-threaded campaign strategy.

Create a messaging matrix

The messages, or personalized content, that you design will be intrinsically related to the audiences you want to target. The messages will also differ depending on what area of your page to which you want to deliver them.

Consider these three categories as you map out your personalization strategy:

  • The pages where your campaigns will run
  • The areas within a page that will be customized
  • The audiences that will receive personalized experiences

The simplest way to be mindful of where you deliver personalized messages, in addition to whom you deliver it, is to map it out in a messaging matrix.

Each matrix represents a page. Each row represents an area within a page, and each column represents an audience. The intersection of audiences and areas are the experiences, or personalized content, that will be delivered to your visitor. Create a new messaging matrix for each page that you want to personalize.

As you work through the experiences you want to deliver, revisit the basic assumptions that drive the performance of your page:

  • What is the visitor trying to accomplish on this page?
  • What are the primary, secondary, tertiary goals for this page?
  • Within this page, what role does the area we are personalizing play in meeting those goals?

With the goals of each page clarified, consider the personalized content that you hypothesize each audience should experience to reach those goals. Think about the following questions:

  • How are your audiences different from one another?
  • What needs are not being met with a “one size fits all" model?
  • What area of the page could better meet those needs?
  • What experiences could you employ to deliver on those specific needs?

As you plot the experiences in your messaging matrix, a campaign strategy will begin to emerge, allowing you to maximize your campaign's impact and reach. It may look something like this:

Manage audience overlap

In Personalization, it is likely that a given visitor will qualify for multiple Audiences. But how do you decide which experience the visitor will see? Optimizely Personalization allows you to prioritize your experiences when you set up a campaign, so you can show the most important experience to visitors who qualify for more than one.

Use your audience research to prioritize the experience that is most important. For example: is it more important that your visitor is browsing on a mobile device, or that they are eligible for a spring promotional campaign? Your business goals and key metrics can help you decide. When a visitor qualifies for more than one audience, they should see the experience that is most impactful for your business.

When you have decided how you will manage your overlapping audiences, prioritize them in your campaign setup.

Do you want to deliver multiple experiences to visitors who qualify for more than one audience, instead of prioritizing a single experience? Learn how to create multi-threaded campaigns in this article.