A Primer on Content Management Systems

A CMS is the backbone of your website. It allows you to upload and edit content to your site while maintaining a consistent look and feel.

Multiple users can upload and manage content within a CMS. In contrast, a single person could be responsible for updating a CMS.

Content Management Systems and Personalisation

Today’s customers demand personalised experiences from brands. Fifty per cent of marketers report that personalisation is the most effective personalisation strategy; when marketers quantify the effects of personalisation, they see a 19% boost in sales.

Certain technologies make personalisation at scale possible. One such technology is CMSes, yet be aware that not every CMS enables tailored content for audiences.

Personalising Your Website

Before we discuss the impact of a CMS on website personalisation, let’s look at what ‘website personalisation’ means.

You can personalise your website in a number of ways:

• The content
• The user experience
• The language
• Abiding by local regulations

Personalising Website Content

James is the head of a marketing department at an office supply company. He’s looking for new software to automate the marketing process, so he does a web search.

The first site he finds has a blog post about how automating the marketing process yields higher-quality leads. From the first paragraph, James realises this post is quite relevant, so he continues reading. When he’s done, the website suggests two other articles on the benefits of marketing automation. Based on James’ behaviour, the site understood what content would be the most useful for him.

Personalising the User Experience

We’ll use James again for this example. He goes back to the marketing automation vendor’s website to look at some other blog posts and to explore some of the software’s features.

On his second visit, the site remembers him – it doesn’t ask him to sign up for email updates the way it did the first time James came to the site. That creates a more pleasant experience for him; he’s not sure he wants to sign up for email updates, so it would be annoying to be asked for the same thing constantly.

Personalising Language

You’re located in New Zealand, but where are your customers? Some of them might be in other parts of the world, and not all of them speak and read English.

That’s why personalising language is crucial – you need to reach your customers and leads so that they understand the value you can deliver.

Abiding by Local Regulations

What does abiding by local regulations have to do with personalising your website? You might have visitors to your site who aren’t located in your country, and there may be regulations (like GDPR) that affect the way you interact with them.

While abiding by local regulations might not seem like it creates a huge difference for your website visitors, it does ensure that you’re abiding by the law. Even if you’re not necessarily located within a jurisdiction, some of these laws are quite sweeping, and they give governments broad enforcement powers.

How Does Your Content Management System Affect Your Personalisation Choices?

The right CMS allows you to personalise your site for your users based on a number of factors (including geography). Here’s how:

• It understands the visitor’s geographic location
• It recognises the visitor’s history with the site
• It predicts what the visitor might need from the site
• It integrates with the technologies of today and is flexible enough for future integrations

Geographic Location

Where your visitors come from matters; it tells you in which language you should display content and even which offers you might be able to make (not every sale you have might meet local laws). Your CMS must be able to discern a visitor’s geographic location to provide a personalised experience.

History on the Site

Think about the last great experience you had on a website – what made it so great? Most likely, it was because you felt a bit as though you were being welcomed as an old friend. The site remembered your language preferences and what you’ve previously purchased.

Website personalisation also involves understanding what a visitor has previously done on the site for a completely tailored experience.

What Does the Visitor Need from the Site?

When a visitor comes to your site, that person has a specific goal in mind. Maybe she’s ready to purchase right away, or perhaps she wants to do more research.

With AI, your CMS learns what the visitor is looking for based on her history and the actions she’s taking while on the site. It can suggest what she should do next (like read a blog post or talk to a salesperson).

Integrating with Technology

Market-leading CMSes have built-in AI; that being said, you don’t want a CMS that’s so inflexible, you can’t integrate with other emerging technologies.

Your CMS should be able to integrate with the technologies of today as well as technologies of tomorrow for maximum flexibility. You don’t want to miss out on an opportunity to reach customers because you didn’t have the right CMS.

Personalise Your Site with Sitecore

Sitecore’s CMS offers you the functionality you need to personalise your site. It recognises users based on their geography and history, and built-in AI predicts what a user will do next. Moreover, it’s flexible – you’ll be able to integrate new technologies into Sitecore’s CMS.

Choose Enlighten and Sitecore for Your Personalisation Needs

For over two decades, Enlighten has been delivering amazing digital experiences to our clients, including digital personalisation. We’re a proud partner of Sitecore, and our expertise and knowledge allow us to create customised experiences for your site visitors. To learn more, contact us.