Matching Online Experiences for Customers: Why Is the Post-Click Stage Stuck?

Last updated on by Ted Vrountas in Marketing Personalization

More and more, customers today expect highly personalized shopping experiences. According to one survey by Evergage, 88% of them.

Fortunately, for marketers, those experiences are becoming easier to provide. With the marketing technology boom, there’s no shortage of tech stack combinations that bring together the best of data and its implementation.

However, as is the case whenever options are plenty, distractions are myriad as well. Bells and whistles ring and shout, and the temptation to run before you can crawl is hard to resist.

While 98% of marketers agree that personalization advances the customer relationship, according to research, fewer than ever are confident in their ability to achieve personalization. Only 12% say they’re extremely satisfied with their personalization success, followed by only 38% who are “moderately satisfied.”

Among marketers’ greatest obstacles to personalization is tracking throughout the customer journey with an overwhelming amount of available data. When faced with it, often the result is an impersonal post-click landing page.
Matching online experiences post-click

When it comes to online experiences, for users, there are two main types: the pre-click experience and the post click landing page.

The pre-click experience describes an internet user’s experience before the click. That includes: the targeting of an advertisement, its branding, colors, media, copy, the platform its run on, and myriad other elements that contribute to getting them to click.
The post-click landing page describes an internet user’s experience after the click. That includes: post-click landing page personalization, message match, branding, colors, form length, media, ‘thank you’ page, and more.

Thus far, the pre-click experience has received a majority of attention from marketers. Email and banner ads are often the most personalized elements of a campaign, while post-click landing pages are only personalized by a measly 37% of marketers:

matching online experiences survey data

This illustrates a major gap in personalization. While many marketers focus on driving click-throughs to post-click landing pages, the personalization ends there. For the user, though, it doesn’t.

When the prospect sees an ad that calls to them with personalized content, and they click, they expect to see personalized content on the following page. This is known as message match. A post-click landing page with good message match will mirror the personalization of its referrer.

For example, if an ad features a particular headline, the post-click landing page will feature the same one. If an ad features a specific offer, the post-click landing page will also feature that offer.

Without this message match, matching online experiences is impossible from the pre-click stage to the post-click stage. When you don’t match online experiences, the expectation of the visitor goes unmet, which lowers the chance of conversion greatly.

What 67% of marketers seem to neglect, or perhaps forget, is that conversions happen in the post-click stage. While pre-click elements contribute to the success of the campaign, ultimately, the conversion happens after the click.
Mismatched online experience vs. message match

When an online experience misses the mark, it can poison an entire campaign. When a marketer gets it right, though, the results can be seen in an above average conversion rate. Here are a few examples of what to avoid and what to shoot for.
Kentico

Type the query “lead generation platform” into Google, and you may see this PPC ad from Kentico:

matching online experiences Kentico offer

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