Implementing a process of personalization in design

In a fast-paced world full of buzz, we expect our experience to be adapted to our needs. One of the basic human needs in the current world is to be effective. We want to perform our tasks as quickly as possible without going through a lot of information. That’s why, if you want your product or service to perform better, it needs to include a personalization process.

Definition

According to the Nielsen Norman Group, we can distinguish two types of personalization:

• Role-based personalization: users are grouped according to specific characteristics that are well-defined and known in advance (as opposed to being inferred by the computer based on each user’s interaction history). This is particularly common on intranets, where HR databases typically hold substantial data about each employee. For example, only employees participating in the company’s retirement plan can review their accounts on their personalized benefits dashboard.
• Individualized personalization: this sounds like a redundancy but should be seen in contrast to role-based personalization. Here, the computer creates a model for each user and presents different things to each person. For example (and somewhat controversially), the computer might infer that a user is pregnant based on her searches and/or recent purchase history.

Why should we personalize user experience ?

Personalization is an essential factor for the success of your service for a few reasons:

• Time and efficiency is a key. Users expect us to be able to offer them precisely what they are looking for. They want to receive relevant information that will determine their decision in the shortest possible time.
• Reducing displayed information helps the user make a decision.
• You can provide a relevant experience to different segments of your users. To reach more users, you need to anticipate the triggers.

Omni-channel experience

The users expect us to provide an omni-channel experience. That means that they connect with us through many touchpoints, and we should be sure that all of those channels work together in our favor.

Let me give you an example: Kate wants to buy a pair of jeans. She goes to a shop, tries on a pair of jeans, and talks to a shopping assistant, but finally, she decides not to purchase immediately. Before she spends money, she wants to read the opinions on a website and check other users’ photos on Instagram. Finally, she goes to the shop application, and she buys them.

By personalizing an experience, we don’t want Kate to go to another website that may offer the same pair of jeans. We want to ensure she finds what she wants as quickly as possible at every step.

Planification

Before starting a process of implementation, we have to ask ourselves a few questions:

• Why do we want to personalize an experience? What is the goal we want to reach?
• At which moment do we want to add personalization to the user flow?
• Which segment of our users do we want to turn to?
• What type of personalization do we want to apply? A role-based personalization or an individualized personalization?
• Should we introduce customization? How can we do it?
• What are the risks related to customization?

Definition of a goal

First, we want to define our goal. We want this goal to be well-specified, easy to measure, and time-bound. Do we want to increase product sales or sales of a group of products? Do we want to acquire more users of our service? Which segment of our clients will bring us to our goal? Let’s define our goal clearly and communicate it to the rest of the team.

Choosing the right moment

At which moment of a user journey do we want to personalize the experience? What channels will we choose? Create a proposition of new user journeys, and remember to include all your channels, like mailing, social media, your website, mobile application, etc., in the flow.

Choosing a right segment

Choose a segment of your users that will approach you to your goal. You can use a Value Proposition Canvas to determine your persona pains, gains, and jobs to do.

Personalization and customization

Let me clarify those two terms :

In the case of customization, users actively define the content they want to see. An example of customization is:

• A question in a signup form
• Definition of preferences in settings
• A survey sent by email

Let’s remember that users’ preferences change over time, so when modifying their settings, we should encourage them to confirm their choices from time to time.

On the contrary, personalization doesn’t require users to take any action because the content presented is based on data we already have.

An example of personalization is:

• Proposition of articles related to the products we have already bought
• The proposition of content related to the phrase we were searching
• An email with content related to the emails we are opening the most often

Designing a personalized experience step by step using a hook model

I will use the hook model to present a process of implementing personalization to the project.

If you are not familiar with the hook model, I leave here this short video which explains the concept (if you want to know more, I highly recommend the book “Hooked” by Nir Eyal)

Briefly, a hook model is a 4-step process that enhances the creation of new user habits.

The hook model consists of four elements: trigger (internal or external), action, variable reward, and investment.

Trigger

Trigger means what makes users use some product. There are two types of triggers:

Internal trigger

It is something that the user feels “inside of him.”

Examples: feelings of angriness, loneliness, boredom, excitement, etc.

An example of an internal trigger is the famous FOMO — Fear Of Missing Out — used by many social media platforms.

External trigger

An external trigger is an event that makes users use a product.

Examples: a notification, an email, etc.

Example of personalization (trigger):

Project: Food delivery app

Personalization according to internal trigger (hunger), external trigger (notification), and geolocation.

Our user lives in Paris and orders food 1–2 times a week, usually around 11 o’clock. You can use this information and send him notifications about the discount in his area daily around this time.

Action

Action is what users do to anticipate an award.

An action should be worth it for users to undertake. If the steak is high, the user is motivated to commit more. If the reward is small in a user’s view, the action shouldn’t be time-consuming or complicated.

Example of personalization (action)

Personalization according to external trigger (notification), information about how often the user uses discounts and special offers (he usually chooses the offer with a discount limited in time)

Our user is an economic buyer who looks for the best offers. We facilitate his decision by proposing a personalized discount proposition through notification, such as “ Only today will you receive a 20% discount in your favorite restaurant.”

Variable reward

A reward is something that users receive when they undertake an action triggered by internal or/and external triggers. Keep in mind that people appreciate more unexpected than expected awards. (for example, we are more happy to win in a lottery than to receive our salary every month)

Example of personalization (variable reward)

Personalization according to variable reward (money the user receives for his next order)

After ordering food, the user receives an email stating that he has won 5 euros extra for his next order.

Investment

People appreciate more things in which they previously invested something, like time or money. Give your user a task to perform, make him feel like a co-author, and he will be more eager to return.

Example of personalization (investment)

Personalization according to investment (user provides content), frequency of user reviews.

The user occasionally leaves an opinion on the restaurant. To encourage him to make it more often, we can email him with information that he can win a publication in a professional restaurant review.

Summary

I presented the methodology I most often used to implement a personalization process in a project. After defining your goal, you can adapt the personalization process according to the model currently used by your organization. Remember to implement your ideas one by one and test them.

Have you already implemented personalization in your project? Don’t hesitate to leave a comment.