DX: Process
Categorizing the customer
Explore how Sitecore teams use data-driven segmentation to correctly recognize visitors and deliver unique digital experiences.
By Megan Engard.
3 minute read
We also commonly use simple, in-session interaction data to optimize and measure segments of visitors on the site.
Broadly speaking, Sitecore.com visitors are categorized in three key ways: Product of interest, Role Type, and Industry. These three segments allow us to address the needs of individuals and segments of customers who visit our site – and they provide the backbone for our content creation, personalization, and optimization.
Data-driven segmentation
To correctly recognize which segment a visitor to Sitecore.com belongs to, we utilize five key data points.
Implicit & explicit profiling
Profiling is a way to segment visitors based on their onsite behavior. On Sitecore.com this is done in two ways: implicitly and explicitly.
- Implicit profiling allows us to match someone into an interest group based on which content they consume using out-of-the-box Sitecore XP features.
- Explicit profiling allows us to match someone into a segment based on data they provide when filling in a form.
For example, someone could match into a “Marketer” persona either by visiting 3+ pages of content on the site which has been written for marketers or by filling in a form and selecting ‘marketer’ as their role type.
Campaigns
All paid media directed to Sitecore.com is tagged with a Sitecore campaign tag – which we affectionately refer to as “scamp” tags because of their “sc_camp” format, and to differentiate them from UTM and Salesforce campaign tags.
These scamp tags allow us to immediately recognize which campaign has brought the visitor to the site and measure, optimize, and report on the results. They also allow us to quickly categorize visitors as belonging to one of the three categories mentioned above, as the Sitecore campaign facets categorize each scamp tag.
Interaction data
We also commonly use simple, in-session interaction data to optimize and measure segments of visitors on the site. For example, many of our customer logo components use Geo-IP to deliver a set of logos that are more relevant to a customer in Europe as opposed to Asia.
We also use interaction data such as having visited a specific campaign page or having already triggered a particular goal. These simple, out-of-the-box tactics have provided great results for us in the past and are always a good place to go back to the basics when more complicated results are not delivering.
ABM
We have integrated Sitecore Experience Platform (XP) and Sitecore Customer Data Platform (CDP) with industry-leading ABX platform 6sense, allowing us to group visitors into segments of accounts, or even to focus on a specific high-value, high-intent account to personalize a landing page or journey. Learn more about our ABX program.
CRM
At Sitecore we use Salesforce Sales Cloud CRM, working closely with our Global Alliance Partner to collect, collate and measure our customer relationship data across the entire journey from acquisition to loyalty and advocacy.
We have integrated Sitecore XP and Sitecore CDP with our Salesforce CRM, allowing us to utilize account and contact specific data points held in CRM for segmentation and optimization.
For example, we have developed custom rules in Sitecore XP to personalize based on data points including:
- Job function or role (e.g. marketing, content, IT-related roles)
- Account status (e.g. existing customer, prospect)
- Products owned (e.g. Sitecore XP, Sitecore Content Hub)