The Anatomy of a Personalization System:

Three Case Studies

Derek Olson, Vice President, Foraker Design

Is your website acting like it’s on a first date
instead of an anniversary dinner?
 Case Studies:

1 Improving Health Care Decision Making

2 Custom Web to Print

3 Snakes on a Plane
What is
personalization?
“…involves using technology to accommodate the
differences between individuals.”

“Delivering the right information, to the right people, at

the right time, in the right format and language.”

“The combination of a ‘person’ and a bunch of

‘alization’”.
Person alization
(Business or website (Machinery that measures,
owners, content writers analyzes, and eventually
and editors, UX folk. partially or fully automates
NOT the end user.) content delivery)
When not to personalize

  When you have a crappy

website
  When you don’t have a
UCD program in place
  When you have a great
website (but there’s no
value add)
When you might consider personalization:
To surface relevant content that a user would otherwise not
know to look for

To identify high profit customers and then make them more

profitable

To partially or fully automate more effective marketing to

users or audience segments

Key: add value above and beyond an already high-performing

site or app
Key Steps of Personalization

Measure!
Traffic, user feedback, customer inquiries,
sales data, user demographics—anything
that will help you make measurable
improvements.
Key Steps of Personalization

Develop and Test

Develop and test these improvements. Start
simple. Collect data on what works. Refine.
Key Steps of Personalization

Automate
Find ways to automate delivery of personalized
content or application functionality to users—when
it makes sense.
Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org
Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org

The “Person” -

Breastcancer.org editorial
and medical advisory staff.
Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org

The “alization” -

  Custom Ruby on
Rails
  PostgreSQL
database
  SDL Tridion
CMS
  Google Analytics
Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org

“You have breast

cancer...”
Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org

?
Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org

Subtrac(on
Probe
Technology
 
 

Chromogenic
In
Situ
Hybridiza(on

Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org CA
15.3


Colloid

Thermography
 Cribriform


Subtrac(on
Probe
Technology 
 

Chromogenic
In
Situ
Hybridiza(on


Mucinous


Oncogene
Overexpression

Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org CA
15.3

ER/PR+
 Digital
Tomosynthesis

Colloid
 Papillary

Thermography
 Cribriform

CA125


Subtrac(on
Probe
Technology
 
 

Chromogenic
In
Situ
Hybridiza(on


Mucinous
 Ki‐67


Comedo
 Her2/neu

Oncogene
Overexpression


Progesterone
Receptors
 CA
27.29

Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org CA
15.3
 Posi(ve
margins


ER/PR+
 Digital
Tomosynthesis

Colloid
 Papillary

Thermography
 Cribriform

CA125

Ductal
Lavage
 Ductal
Carcinoma
In
Situ


Subtrac(on
Probe
Technology
 
 

Chromogenic
In
Situ
Hybridiza(on


Mucinous
 Ki‐67
 ImmunoHistoChemistry


Comedo
 Her2/neu

Oncogene
Overexpression


Progesterone
Receptors
 CA
27.29

Fluorescence
In
Situ
Hybridiza(on

Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org

And then, if you’re like an awful lot of folks, you’ll click on the first
organic result, which is breastcancer.org…
Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org
Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org

Lessons from User Research…

Clear navigation and powerful
search were not enough

But, oh, the risks of

personalization…
Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org

Risks of Personalization…
Overly negative and/or poorly targeted
research articles

Too much info about advanced new

treatments that they were “missing out on”

Users unable to report their own diagnosis

information accurately
Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org

Five vocabularies were developed to assign metadata to content.

Clinical

Audience
 Situa(on
 Perspec(ve
 Topic

Characteris(cs

Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org
Audience   Patients
  Family & Friends

  Press & Public

  Clinicians & Providers

  Worried Well
Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org
Situation   Just Diagnosed
  Waiting for Test Results

  Undergoing Treatment
  Recovery & Renewal

  Metastatic Cancer
  End of Life
Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org
Clinical Characteristics   Lobular Carcinoma In Situ
  Ductal Carcinoma In Situ

  Inflammatory Breast Cancer

  Recurrent Cancer

  Metastatic
  Lymph Node Involvement

  Male Breast Cancer

  Post-menopausal

*This is a partial list

Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org
Perspective   Clinical
  Emotional

  Practical
  Press / Public
Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org
Topic   Environmental Risk Factors
  Genetic Risk Factors
  Symptoms, Self-Detection & Breast Self-Examination
  Medical Screening and Testing
  Dealing with Cancer Fear
  Surgery
  Chemotherapy
  Radiation Therapy
  Hormonal Therapy
*This is a partial list
Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org

Audience
 Patients

Situa,on
 Undergoing Treatment

Clinical
 Lymph Nodes Removed: 20+

Characteris,cs

Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org

Audience
 Patients

Situa,on
 Undergoing Treatment

Clinical
 Estrogen Receptor+

Progesterone Receptor+
Characteris,cs
 Pre-menopausal
Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org

Audience
 Patients

Situa,on
 Undergoing Treatment

Audience


Clinical
 Estrogen Receptor+

Progesterone Receptor+
Characteris,cs
 Pre-menopausal
Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org
Metadata for
personal profiles
was made possible
by adding structure
to already in-use
signature
information
Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org
How it works

Push personalized content to

users based on profile info:
  Email
  Website content
  RSS (in funding)

Breastcancer.org staff create

rules for content metadata and
personal metadata overlap
“fingerprints” that add value
Case Study 1

Breastcancer.org
Why Personalization is Important

 Allows breast cancer patients to fully

understand their diagnosis—making them
more likely to question their doctors.

 Provides extra information that users

would not necessarily know to look for via
search or navigation.
Case Study 2

Data Warehouse Client

Formulary data (drug coverage across states, health plans, and tiers) is populated by a
team of pharmacists that keep the database up-to-date daily via another piece of the
application.
Case Study 2

Data Warehouse Client

Why Personalize?
  Pharmaceutical corporations do
their marketing everywhere.
  To convince doctors that a drug
is cheaper than an alternative.
  Pharmaceutical sales reps can
tailor printed marketing materials
to individual doctors.
Case Study 2

Data Warehouse Client

The “Person”

  Pharmaceutical corporation
sales staff
Case Study 2

Data Warehouse Client

The “alization”

  Custom ColdFusion
application
  PostgreSQL database
  iText Java Library PDF
rendering tool
Case Study 2

Data Warehouse Client

How it works

Sales reps start by selecting:

  Drug Class
  Drug
  State
  Health Plan
Case Study 2

Data Warehouse Client

How it works

Sales Reps may then select

options such as:
  Whether to display co-pays
  The order in which results
appear
  Bolding of results
Case Study 2

Data Warehouse Client

How it works

  Sales reps may add “personal

touches”, and then generate a print-
ready PDF file.
  Automatically sent to approved print
vendors for production.
Case Study 2

Data Warehouse Client

Why Personalization is Important

  Allows sales staff to quickly turn up-to-date,

national database of formulary information into
glossy, personalized marketing materials.

  Fine control over data presentation,

geographic coverage, and formatting add to
effectiveness of marketing materials.
Case Study 3

ShipYourReptiles.com

(Snakes on a Plane)
Case Study 3

ShipYourReptiles.com

Why Personalize?

  To target customer service

resources, volume-based
discounts, and value-add features
towards certain purchasing profiles.
  Convenience = increased profits
  Preferred status = repeat business
and collection of valuable feedback
Case Study 3

ShipYourReptiles.com

The “Person”

ShipYourReptiles customer
service and sales staff:
  Reptile shipping experts
  Thorough understanding of
UPS rate structure
  Capable of making account
upgrades
Case Study 3

ShipYourReptiles.com

The “alization”

  Custom Ruby on Rails

application
  PostgreSQL database
  Google Analytics
Case Study 3

ShipYourReptiles.com

How it works


Due to unique requirements of UPS

shipping label purchase, all users must
create accounts to buy labels.

Users may personalize their own accounts:

  Stored payment methods
  Address book for ship-from and ship-to
addresses
Case Study 3

ShipYourReptiles.com

How it works


Account managers may

review order activity, and
upgrade accounts for high-
volume customers.
Case Study 3

ShipYourReptiles.com

Why Personalization is Important


In eCommerce, every fraction of a percentage point counts

when multiplied across thousands of orders and customers,
day in and day out.
Conclusion: Review of Key Steps of Personalization:

Measure!

Develop and Test

Automate
Questions?

Questions?
Derek Olson
VP, Foraker Design
dlo@foraker.com
(303) 449-0202