KM SHOWCASE 2020 - "Knowledge Pros: the heroes of personalization programs everywhere" by Colin Eagan and Jeffrey MacIntyre

Studio
Personalize with poise.
Privileged&Confidential—KMShowcase2020DistributionOnly

Knowledge Pros:
Knowledge Management
Showcase March, 2020JEFFREY MACINTYRE
Principal, Bucket Studio
https://Bucket.Studio
@jeffmacintyre
COLIN EAGAN
Partner, ICF Next
https://ICF.com/next/
@colineags
THE HEROES TO PERSONALIZATION
PROGRAMS EVERYWHERE

3. Strike Up the Band
Today’s Session
2. The Personalization Gap1. Heroes Among Us

Credit:SignsoftheTimes,ScottKellyandBenPolkinghome
Greetings from
PERSONALIZATION,
land of fantasy and fear

The life of the information wrangler.
Does this look... tactical?
Does this look... familiar?
Does this look... lonely?
We see untapped opportunity: a single point
of control across a wider content lifecycle.
Your current state just may be a great
precondition for orchestrating without an
orchestra.
Home on the Range... 🎶
��
Credit: Caters Clips, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcR4cyQyAF-guvk7Wm5Lbqg.

Amazon in ecommerce. Netflix in video entertainment.
Spotify in music. Going unnoticed in many places, and at
the heart of emerging technologies like conversational UI.
❏ 1. What’s personalization?
Personalization is...
❏ 2. Where have I seen it in action?
The age of algorithms is upon us.
The economics of attention is fierce.
All the science tells us we need to focus and
simplify to deliver value in our CX.
❏ 3. Why should I care? (Also, according to BCG*, it’s an $800B revenue market swing
coming for financial services, retail and healthcare alone, and
going mainstream fast.)
*Credit: Boston Consulting Group, “Profiting from Personalization” (2017).
—James McCormick, Forrester, 2017
3-Minute Primer

❏ 4. What does
it look like?
It lives as features inside your CMS and MAP and testing software.
Personalization is also tactics, systems, branded products, even whole companies:
● screen-based dynamic content elements
● multi-channel campaigns and notiﬁcations
● recommenders and automations
❏ 5. Remind me, what’s
the alternative?
Credit:Evergage;@LoriLewisand@OfficiallyChadd;“IsThisTomorrow?Information
Overload”JihyunHam;Capterra;BusterBesnon;AtlanticMonthly.
● ⇡ noise ⇢ friction ⇣ signal
● Unsustainable content programs and asks
● Weak or fuzzy performance indicators
● Information overload by design
● Squandered brand opportunities
● Not meeting users where they are
● Total surrender to the same-old
● conversational UI (messaging, bots, voice)
● customization (e.g., user preferences)

https://bucket.studio | hello@bucket.studio
We make personalized, optimized,
and automated experiences
effective and efficient.
We solve content riddles and tame
marketing technology madness.
We offer services and tools to make
your CX efforts a success—in every
setting, at any scale or budget.
whom we serve
Anyone seeking a
high-performing digital
customer experience
leveraging marketing
automation or multiple
systems of record.
why we do it
Connected experience is
hard, essential, and
evolving fast.
But the tools are here.
And the value is proven.
Connected experiences, A-Z:
● Experience optimization
● Personalization
● Content operations

Studio
“Personalization is table stakes for digital transformation
in any organization today.
Jeff's expert insights and deep domain knowledge has been
a key driver in unlocking the ROI of Consumer Reports'
personalization efforts and taking them to a new level.
I highly recommend him to anyone pursuing CX/UX
excellence that drives bottom-line results.”
—Jason Fox, Chief Digital Officer

Not All Heroes Wear Capes
Some hold MLIS degrees.
They understand personalization practice is a set of recipes.
The program is a cookbook.
Personalization is where AI meets IA.
Patterns of use matter to scale, effectiveness, usability, and ethical practice.

TBC.
TBC

1. In your org, are personalized, customized, or
automated content interactions already live?
2. Whose boss wants to expand that?
3. Have you been thinking about content re-use
as a means to personalize, but wondering
where or how to begin?
Many of us live here, in the
personalization gap, between
aspiration and reality.
BOLD CLAIM ALERT!
Personalization is a means to:
● address your known
content touchpoint
commitments, and to
● expand the surface area
of your content ops well
beyond them.Pro Tip:
You can piggyback existing testing/growth programs.
Credit:TobyMurdock/Kapost,http://resources.kapost.com/b2b-content-strategy-operations-white-paper.html;BBC:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05dhg89.

https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/teacher-personalized-handshakes-students/story?id=45
190825
http://abcn.ws/2jwBs4j
Credit:ABCNews,https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/teacher-personalized-handshakes-single-students-45196089

“We don’t need personalization.”
● The critic. For some, personalization is
synonymous with ﬁlter bubbles, overzealous
retargeting, or dark patterns. It can’t be done
virtuously.
● The skeptic. For us, personalization is a hill
too high to climb. We can’t execute reliably
or effectively.
● The pundit. The personalization gap is a
disillusioning horse race of have and
have-nots. The game is rigged.
● The pragmatist. We don’t need
personalization to compete. It’s irrelevant. Credit: Colin Eagan
(@colineags) and Jeff
MacIntyre (@jeffmacintyre).
Copyright ⓒ 2019 Bucket
Holdings and Colin Eagan.
There is a personalization gap. Detractors come in ﬂavors:
● The box-checker. Once we buy it,
we’re done—right? *

Name your promised land
Credit: https://bucket.studio.
Efficiency:
“How might we do more with less.”
Examples:
● Automation
● Optimization
● Contextual intelligence
● Reduce bloat across digital touchpoints
Experience:
“How can we be more valuable to our customer, and differentiate?”
Examples:
● Innovative user flows and deeper forms of engagement
● Increased content relevance
● Simplified marketing messaging
● New product and feature ideas
Orchestration:
“We need to create a culture of connectivity”
Examples:
● Organizational alignment
● Continuous process improvement
● Better reporting and internal KPIs
Understanding:
“What do our customers want, and are they getting it from us?”
Examples:
● Measurement
● Data insights
● Voice of the consumer
BACK STAGE
FRONT STAGEBUSINESS
CUSTOMER

Credit: Dynamic Yield via Wider
Funnel; Colin Eagan, ICF Olson,
@colineags; Slack.
Designing for personalization is DAUNTING
Promise Ideal state
NOW WE’RE
TALKING!

There’s a better way.
How about:
Meaningful generalizations that
solve a measurable user need.
Credit: Monetate (2nd
Annual
Personalization
Development Study),
2018.

Before...
After...
Proﬁt By Design
Credit: Monetate (2nd Annual
Personalization Development Study), 2018.

Credit: Colin Eagan, ICF Olson; @colineags.
Personalization efforts begin as recipes, and
grow into a cookbook of what works. A pattern
of re-use emerges, building trust + consistency.
From Recipes to Cookbook.

Credit: Colin Eagan
(@colineags) and Jeff
Copyright ⓒ 2019
Bucket Holdings and
Colin Eagan.

Credit: Colin Eagan (@colineags) and
Jeff MacIntyre (@jeffmacintyre).
Copyright ⓒ 2019 Bucket Holdings and
Colin Eagan.

Chunking and splitting. Matching and indexing.
Compression, amplification, discrimination, and
cataloging are structured thinking superpowers.
It’s patterns all the way down.
Inside such CMSes, MAPs, and personalization
engines, there is a high-volume number of these
decisions to be made, from targeting to attribution to
flows to segments to cohorts. Experts warn against
“overfitting” due to faulty pattern matching.
Those who can think in BTs and NTs can thrive.
Credit:HarvardBusinessReview,
https://hbr.org/2019/09/the-dangers-of-categorical-thinking
Taxonomy Matters are
Crucial to Effective
Personalization Practice.
virtues
———

Design + Taxonomy =
Personalization Success
It helps you ship better outcomes from a program or product setting:
● ORGANIZE, smoothly ITERATE, and SIMPLIFY your efforts,
● SENSE AND RESPOND to user behavior MEASURED CONSISTENTLY, and...
● COLLABORATE, PRODUCTIZE, and SCALE
Credit:RyanSinger,
https://basecamp.com/shapeup

Personalization’s
immaculate conception…
“The right content
to the right person
at the right time…”
Easier said than done.

Design is how to connect
intention to result
in delivering personalization.

Personalization...
without design
It’s grim.
Occasionally, comedy ensues.
... Or Design Can Be Your Worst Enemy.

Personalization’s
right time

Credit: Twitter.

Credit: Twitter.
● Product catalog
metadata: custom ﬁeld
● Household durables are
not household
perishables
● Weigh them differently
based on purchase /
re-purchase cadence

Personalization’s
right person

Credit: Twitter.
● Recommendations
“contamination” and
related boosting /
burying use cases
● Fixes:
○ Sub-accounts
○ Whitelisting or
badging
○ Downvoting
● Amazon Echo starting
to voice-personalize,
likely as a proxy for
sub-accounts

3
2
1
The Layer Cake: Value-Mapping Personalization Techniques
Behavior (implicit targeting)
Interest (opt-in targeting)
Role (explicit targeting)
Authenticated member /
Authenticated non-member /
Non-authenticated user
Authenticated member
Role 1.1
Role 1.2
etc.
Value-to-User Scale:
↳ [Primary beneﬁciary]
↳ [Tertiary beneﬁciary]
Authenticated member /
Authenticated non-member

Solve at the level of “context.” A context is a
mode or scenario for doing a job in a journey.
Customer
JOURNEY
CONTEXT CONTEXT
JOBJOBJOBJOB
Credit: https://Bucket.Studio.

Browse Skim
Nudge Feast
Low engagement
High engagement
LEAN BACK LEAN IN
passive interactive
Credit: https://Bucket.Studio.
—Landing or details page
(wade)
—SERP
—Bot/messaging
—Home page
—Email campaign
—Shortform thought
leadership
—Notification
—Walkthrough
—Any customized,
automated, or
personalized flow
(swim)
—Longform thought
leadership
—Tertiary interior pages
(dive)
—Gated download
—Recommender
See Your Content Offering... in Context
PROGRESSIVE PERSONALIZATION

SYMPHONYSONATA
kickstarting personalized CX
with “recipe” patterns
SOLO
On-Ramps to
Orchestra
PersonalizationCustomizationAutomation
Experience
Mode

Activity 1

On-Ramp #1:
SOLO
Automate a key moment in the
customer journey. Systematize
the context as an email drip
campaign.
Credit:maturitymodelfromTheContentAdvantagebyColleenJones.
Minimum Maturity: PILOTING. Business Drivers: ⇡ MQLs, ⇣ CHURN, ⇡ REACH.
● Re-use extant content in an email automation as an off-channel nudge.
● Enhance your reporting: Validate how and which users engage with your
content at a crucial moment. Optimize as desirable.
● If email channel engagement performs well, expand usage to other key
moments. Consider simplifying or retiring the as-is source content.
🪕
Credit: Colleen Jones, The Content Advantage

1. Welcome flow
2. Nurture flow
3. Winback flow
Kickstart your
personalization
activities by
thinking
modularly.
A Common “First 3 Automations” for a Mature Content Operation
Credit: Colin Eagan (@colineags) and Jeff
Copyright ⓒ 2019 Bucket Holdings and
Colin Eagan.
Componentizing your content makes for re-use practices
that are consistent, uniform, and scalable.
For a user, it simplifies interactions. For a business, it
sharpens content intelligence, performance, and ROI.

Prompt for Activity 1

Activity 2

On-Ramp #2:
SONATA
Customize content for a specific
audience or line of business with a
custom landing page or page stack.
��
Minimum Maturity: SCALING. Business Driver: ⇡ SEGMENTATION, CR.
● Deliver a landing page and associated content for a targeted segment, product, etc. A/B test
how it performs (and richness of its analytics) alongside more broad, generalized as-is content.
● Pick a strategically valued target audience. ABM is a perfect motivating force and context.
Otherwise, piggyback on extant testing/optimization efforts. Test and expand.
○ Pro Tip: Think of a cookbook. If you manually customize for the same class of interaction (e.g., meals)
across different subsets (i.e., audience segments), you will be fulﬁlling all the content production needs of
a fully personalized user ﬂow in future.
Credit:maturitymodelfromTheContentAdvantagebyColleenJones.
Credit: Colleen Jones, The Content Advantage

Activity 3

Minimum Maturity: SUSTAINING. Business Driver: ⇡ ENGAGEMENT, CSAT.
● Super-serve users who want to accomplish something you can provide.
● The most valuable personalizations are products themselves, like
Discover Weekly: always-on features, such as persistent site modules.
● Devise your own. Identify a module, new or existing. Assign
audience-speciﬁc messaging goals and content (i.e., offers, education,
etc.) targeted to their needs and your business objectives for that
audience. Think cadence and refresh cycle, or relevant triggers.
On-Ramp #3:
SYMPHONY
Personalize for “top tasks”
or jobs-to-be-done. Use
the zone targeting model.
Credit:TBD.
��
Credit:ColinEagan;maturitymodelfromTheContentAdvantagebyColleenJones.

Music To Your Ears...
Remember, this is just another form of
content re-use. You’ve got this.
Your pre-performance checklist:
● Assess your tools: a MAP, CMS,
CMP or CXP. For simpler kickstarts,
utilize in-production testing
software or an ESP. If none of the
above applies, use Google Optimize.
● Ensure you can measure KPIs.
● Pre-ﬂight the entire effort in the software—process, assets, reporting,
etc.—so you can de-risk the pilot and lay groundwork for your second
‘gig’ that much sooner. Design backwards from what a eureka-level
revelation requires but just enough scope to prove value.

We appreciate your
time + feedback,
Content Ops
Summit 2019!
Thank You.
Questions?
Jeffrey MacIntyre
❏ New York
❏ jeff@bucket.studio
❏ https://bucket.studio
❏ 1.347.688.6796 (o)
❏ @jeffmacintyre
❏ @thisisbucket
Colleen Jones
Principal, Content Science
❏ Atlanta
❏ colleen@content-science.com
❏ https://content-science.com
❏ 770.296.0121 (m)
❏ @cjones
❏ @contentscience
● Make the end-goal of these pilots a win-win for
sponsors and leadership. Design an interaction ﬂow
that simpliﬁes what you already do, with better KPIs.
● Look to generalize for a range of interactions you may
automate, personalize, or customize over time.
● Productize your approach and it becomes a system, a
way to extend and scale these efforts over time.
...and Theirs.
Strike Up the Band!

TINKER: Take a page “zone” and begin conceptualizing how you would customize it.
TALK: Share your own personalization on-ramps, your “fail” sightings in the wild—or
your wins. In the spirit of learning, of course: @jeffmacintyre or jeff@bucket.studio.
Curious?
Connect!
A tribe is
gathering.
I’m working on more activities around enabling DIY personalization.
❏ To stay up to
date,
subscribe to
Bucket List,
a periodic
newsletter
about
personalized
experience.
❏ Progressive
Personalization
workshop cards:
Alpha prototype
wait-listed.
❏ More
community
resources
available or
forthcoming.
If you can’t tell
by now, I love to
talk shop.
Personalization-Curious? Take Your Next Step.
Subscribe.bucket.studio Meet.bucket.studio
Progressivepersonalization.com

We appreciate your
time + feedback!
Thank You.
Jeffrey MacIntyre
❏ New York
❏ jeff@bucket.studio
❏ https://bucket.studio
❏ 1.347.688.6796 (o)
❏ @jeffmacintyre
❏ @thisisbucket
Colin Eagan
Partner, ICF Next
❏ DC
❏ colin.eagan@icfnext.com
❏ https://icf.com/next/
❏ 1.410.598.0098 (m)
❏ @colineags
❏ @icfnext
Questions?

Appendices

Intent
Identity
Success / Failure
Understand: Signals
In terms of data, for each job, how
will your customers:
A. identify themselves as your
intended audience;
B. indicate their intent to
accomplish the job; and
C. indicate success or failure in
attempting the job?
This is how we conduct attribution
for a job to be done “ﬂow”.
C
B
A

Thank you!
Bucket.Studio

Studio
JEFFREY MacINTYRE, Principal | @jeffmacintyre
291 Main Street
Beacon, NY 12508

KM SHOWCASE 2020 - "Knowledge Pros: the heroes of personalization programs everywhere" by Colin Eagan and Jeffrey MacIntyre

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Similar to KM SHOWCASE 2020 - "Knowledge Pros: the heroes of personalization programs everywhere" by Colin Eagan and Jeffrey MacIntyre (20)

More from KM Institute (19)

Recently uploaded (20)

KM SHOWCASE 2020 - "Knowledge Pros: the heroes of personalization programs everywhere" by Colin Eagan and Jeffrey MacIntyre