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Standardized Content Creates Personalized Experiences

Contributed by Nicole McCoy

This presentation was given by Valerie Swisher, CEO of Content Rules, Inc., and streamed by the LavaCon Content Strategy Conference in October, 2020. Check out Content Rules to learn more about where Valerie contributes her expert knowledge, or browse their resources for more information about content strategy.

Overview

This presentation from Valerie Swisher provided an easy way to understand the concept of standardization and personalization. Valerie’s definition of personalization is: “delivering the right content, to the right person, at the right time, on the right device, in the right language. It’s delivering what someone needs, where they are, when they need it, nothing more, nothing less.”

Valerie then discussed the paradox regarding personalization and standardization, and elaborated on how it’s actually possible to bridge the gap. She mentioned that “you can’t create independent content for every single person,” but if users have choices you allow them to have a more personalized experience. As a user “you personalize your experience because you have selected from a small set of standardized small components.”

The Personalization Paradox:

  • To personalize, you must standardize
  • You can’t create independent content for every single person
  • You need a balance between standardization and personalization
  • Consider a housing analogy. Apartment units are typically standardized, vs. custom built homes.
  • Consider further, a planned community development. In a planned community homes are customized within a set of parameters.
  • You can choose specifics from a limited set. “You personalize your experience because you have selected from a small set of standardized small components”
  • Each component can be mixed and matched.
  • Each component is scalable to personalize.

Key takeaways

As technical communicators the Personalization Paradox enforces the notion that we always need to keep our audience in mind when creating content, but we have to keep ourselves and organizations in mind by also standardizing the content. Having a personalized experience as a user can go a long way, as suggested by Valerie when she stated that 86% of customers said that a personalized experience made an impact on their buying decisions.

However, having standardized and organized content as a technical communicator can also impact the efficiency and potential ease of use for rework of content for future uses. Valerie said, “in order to create nimble reusable pieces of content that can be combined, on the fly, in different ways for different people and different devices, you must standardize everything about the content.” If we can understand the Personalization Paradox correctly, then we all win in the end.

Reflection

Valerie’s explanation of the Personalization Paradox, especially using the housing metaphor, was very useful when considering a way to personalize a user’s experience, while still maintaining a level of standardization within an organization. As someone new to the field of technical communication, understanding the value of both personalization and standardization is valuable to keep in mind when moving forward in the workplace. It is valuable knowledge that appears to make a large impact for the entire organization and user - seems very important to me!