What if you could pinpoint your most engaged users, understand what makes them tick, and tailor your strategies to boost conversions and retention?
In this webinar, our very own Jude Felix, Data Scientist at Accrease will show you how to activate an engagement score and drive significant business impact. Discover how engagement scoring can turn your customer data into actionable insights that fuel growth and improve outcomes.
Here's what you can expect:
How Can Engagement Scoring Impact Your Business? Understand why engagement scoring matters and how it directly contributes to driving meaningful results for your business.
Introduction to Engagement Scoring: Learn what engagement scoring is, its role in analytics, and why it's crucial for effective decision-making.
Role of Adobe Analytics & Customer Journey Analytics: Compare key features and benefits of Adobe Analytics (AA) and Customer Journey Analytics (CJA), and understand how these tools help bring engagement scoring to life.
Data Requirements: Identify relevant data sources, understand the types of data needed, and address data quality and integration challenges.
Building Your Engagement Scoring Model: Learn the steps to define key metrics, collect data, develop, and validate an effective engagement scoring model.
Implementing and Activating the Model: Discover how to integrate your engagement scoring model into AA and CJA, and how to monitor and adjust it for maximum impact.
Takeaways
Bonus: As an added bonus, all attendees will receive a complimentary pre-counseling offer! This includes a free one-on-one consulting session with Jude to help you get started. This offer is for those who use Adobe Analytics and are ready to activate their data for engagement scoring.
What if you could pinpoint your most engaged users, understand what makes them tick, and tailor your strategies to boost conversions and retention? With Adobe Analytics (AA) and Adobe Customer Journey Analytics (CJA), you already have a wealth of data on user behaviour. The real challenge lies in distilling that data into clear, actionable insights.
An Engagement Scoring Model helps you do just that. By assigning scores based on user interactions, you’ll quickly identify your top-performing audience segments, understand which behaviours drive the most value, and prioritize efforts to maximize business outcomes.
In this guide, Jude Felix, Senior Consultant at Accrease will show you how to build an Engagement Scoring Model step by step. You’ll learn how to transform raw analytics data into a powerful tool for targeting, personalization, and optimization, giving you a clearer view of what drives success—and how to replicate it.
Jude Felix,Senior Consultant
What is an Engagement Scoring Model?
An Engagement Scoring Model is a framework that assigns a numerical score to users based on their interactions with your digital properties. By scoring user engagement, you can:
- Identify which user behaviors or interactions are most valuable.
- Segment users based on their engagement levels.
- Make data-driven decisions for targeting, personalization, and optimization.
The process for creating this model combines both gut-based intuition and data-driven analysis to determine which metrics matter most for your business goals. Below are the steps to make the model.
Steps to create the Engagement Scoring Model
Creating an effective engagement scoring model is a powerful way to understand and quantify user behavior. It helps businesses tailor strategies and drive more meaningful customer interactions. Following a structured approach, you can identify key engagement metrics, analyze their impact, and assign appropriate weights to create a robust scoring system.
In this process, we will walk through 7 key steps, starting with defining the data timeframe, selecting relevant metrics, and conducting correlation analysis. We’ll then benchmark metrics, assign weights, and create an engagement score formula. Finally, we validate the model to ensure it accurately reflects user engagement and drives real business results. This systematic approach helps you gauge engagement effectively and provides actionable insights to refine customer experience and strategy for better outcomes.
1. Decide the data time frame
The first step is to decide how much data you want to include in your model. The last 30 days is typically a good starting point, as they capture recent user behaviour without including too much stale data. However, depending on your business or campaign needs, you may choose a different timeframe (e.g., last 7 days or last 90 days).
2. Select key metrics
Selecting the right metrics is the most important step in building the engagement model. There are two main approaches to choosing these metrics:
The intuition-based approach: Based on your experience and knowledge of your customers, you can choose metrics that you believe are important for driving engagement. Some of the metrics might include:
- Page views
- Time spent on site
- Number of sessions
- Product views
- Purchases
- Revenue
The data-driven approach: If you want a more empirical approach, you can identify the metrics most correlated with achieving a specific goal, such as purchasing or signing up for a newsletter. You can do this through statistical correlation analysis, which we will discuss in the next step.
3. Perform Correlation Analysis
To validate and refine the chosen metrics, you can use statistical methods to find out which ones are most closely associated with user success or your defined goals. The goal here is to understand which metrics have the greatest impact on user engagement.
How do you conduct the correlation analysis in Excel?
Gather your data:
- Export relevant data from AA or CJA for your selected metrics over your chosen timeframe (e.g., the last 30 days).
Enable Analysis Toolpak in Excel:
- Go to File > Options > Add-ins.
- In the Manage box, select Excel Add-ins, and click Go.
- Check the box for Analysis Toolpak, and click OK.
Run the correlation analysis:
- Organize your data in columns, with each column representing a metric.
- Navigate to Data > Data Analysis and choose Correlation.
- Select the range of data and choose Output Range to display the correlation matrix.
Analyze the results:
- The correlation matrix will show you the correlation coefficients between each metric and the goal metric (e.g., purchases, signups).
- A correlation coefficient ranges from -1 to 1, with 1 indicating a perfect positive correlation, -1 indicating a perfect negative correlation, and 0 indicating no correlation.
Figure 1 below shows the results of a correlation calculation in Excel based on a few selected metrics.
Figure 1 Correlation calculation in Excel.
4. Benchmark a Score Using the Correlation Coefficients
Once you have your correlation coefficients, the next step is to decide which metrics to include in your engagement model. To do this, you can benchmark a threshold score by calculating the average correlation coefficient across all metrics.
- Metrics with correlation coefficients equal to or above the average should be included in the engagement model.
- Metrics below the average threshold may not significantly contribute to engagement and can be excluded.
Based on the coefficients of correlation from the Figure 1 we can create a benchmark chart like in Figure 2. The metrics number 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are he metrics that is highly correlated.
Figure 2 Benchmark chart
5. Assign weights to the metrics
Now that you have selected the most relevant metrics, you need to assign them weights. These weights determine how much influence each metric will have on the overall engagement score.
Normalizing Correlation Coefficients to Assign Weights:
Take the correlation coefficients from the previous step and normalize them so that they add up to 100%. This can be done by dividing each metric’s correlation coefficient by the total sum of all selected metrics’ correlation coefficients and multiplying by 100.
For example, if you have three metrics with correlation coefficients of 0.8, 0.5, and 0.3, you can calculate the normalized weights as follows:
These normalized values become the weights for each metric, ensuring that the metrics most closely associated with user engagement have the greatest impact on the score.
6. Create the Engagement Score Formula
Now that you have both the metrics and their respective weights, you can calculate the engagement score for each user. The formula will look something like this:
For example, if you score based on Page Views, Time Spent on Site, and Purchases, figure 3 shows how this can be created in AA or CJA.
Figure 3 Calculation of engagement score
7. Validate the Engagement Model
After building the engagement scoring model, it’s crucial to validate it by applying the model to a sample of users and comparing the scores with actual business outcomes. As shown in figure 3, we can Do higher engagement scores correlate with higher conversions or more purchases?
If the scores don’t align with real-world outcomes, you may need to revisit the metrics or re-run the correlation analysis to fine-tune the model.
If the model accurately reflects user engagement and correlates with success, it’s ready to be deployed.
Why use an Engagement Scoring Model?
An engagement scoring model provides businesses a tangible way to measure and track user engagement over time. Here’s why it matters:
Identify high-value users: By scoring users, you can quickly identify your most engaged users, allowing you to focus your marketing efforts where they’ll have the greatest impact.
Target personalization: Use engagement scores to deliver personalized experiences based on the level of user engagement, creating a more tailored and relevant experience for your audience.
Optimize user journeys: By understanding which behaviors drive engagement, you can optimize your website, app, or marketing efforts to encourage those behaviours, improving overall customer satisfaction and conversion rates.
Conclusion
Building an engagement scoring model using Adobe Analytics or Customer Journey Analytics data is a powerful way to turn raw user interaction data into actionable insights. By following a data-driven approach backed by statistical analysis, you can create a model that accurately reflects user engagement and drives better business outcomes.
This method combines both intuition and rigorous analysis, ensuring that the metrics you choose are grounded in actual data and that the engagement scores you generate align with your business goals. Whether you’re focusing on retention, acquisition, or conversion optimization, an engagement scoring model provides the foundation for smarter, more effective marketing and product strategies.
Start building your model today to maximize your Adobe Analytics data.
Want to dive deeper? Join Jude Felix for a 20-minute Mini Masterclass: 'How to Activate Engagement Scoring to Drive Business Impact.' In this session, Jude will walk you through building and activating engagement scoring models using Adobe Analytics and Customer Journey Analytics (CJA). Don't miss out, sign up here: Mini Masterclass
In the marketing automation space, Adobe has four similar offerings: Adobe Journey Optimizer (AJO), Adobe Campaign Classic (ACC), Adobe Campaign Standard (ACS) and Adobe Campaign v8 (AC v8).
If you are wondering why so many options and what the difference between them is, you are not alone.
However, when you understand them, you realize that they make a lot of sense and each one has its own space in the Adobe stack. Sure, there are overlaps, but there are also important differences we need to address to get the full picture.
Jonas Guldberg Pabst, Principal Consultant
I hope this post will help you better navigate these options and help you choose the best offering for you and your company.
If you are looking for the a comparison do not want to read all the details and conclusions, go directly to the comparison by clicking here.
Platform Question
When talking about the Adobe Campaign platforms, there are currently three in the list there is originated from the same system, but with years of development between them.
The AJO platform is the newest automation offering from Adobe, which is built on top of Experience Platform with the ability to combine online and offline data at a granular event level creating a real-time customer profile.
When I am saying there currently are three platforms, the oldest ACC platform is being decommissioned within 2027* and the ACS platform is being decommissioned in 2026*.
This is to make room for the new kid in the stack called Adobe Campaign v8 also referred to as - Adobe Campaign Managed Cloud.
The new AC v8 is a good combination of the two older Adobe Campaign platforms, with an injection of features from AJO.
So we have the strength and speed from ACC, the marketer-friendly web UI from AJO (with added features) and the 360 profile view known from ACS.
AC v8 can be controlled from a web UI, which is created in an extended design from the current Experience Cloud UI, used in Experience Platform and Journey Optimizer, through a powerful user-friendly drag-and-drop interface.
You are also able to connect from the console as you have done until now in ACC, where all you do will be automatically reflected in the web UI, including the folder structure which is a totally neat feature.
AC v8 is placed as a standalone product with all the strengths and weaknesses that come with this and it's a more siloed, but powerful database structure.
AJO is a full web solution which is intertwined with AEP and can leverage all the cool functionality that AEP has to offer. Taking advantage of the rtCDP and the streaming segments we can create journeys that can be joined when data from an action is added.
There is a large number of sources that can add data through the edge network, which all will be combined into the profile.
AJO is placed on top of AEP as a service and will share its data directly and will also leverage the power of the more simple rtCDP and the segmentation features.
So, which platform should we invest our money in, when departing from ACC/ACS?
That question is after my belief, the most important question we need to ask ourselves and is something that we need to have an answer on, within the first half of 2024, or we will be left in the dark age when ACC and ACS are gone.
Put the tech on the sideline
To start the conversation on the subject, I will take us a bit back from the tech and look at the platforms from a cleaner perspective, where we can define our business rules before settling on the tech and investing in a platform that does not quite fit all of our future needs or has to much to offer.
So, we need to talk about how we would like to place the marketing automation platform in the solution architecture, and if it should be a headless or more controlling factor of the automation in terms of how we collect and use the data.
The headless will be AC v8 would be running primarily on offline data and sending batch-based experiences. Where AJO will be leveraging offline and online data in batch and real-time communication.
In a few non-tech separations you should go with AJO for the real-time trigger experience and pick AC v8 for advanced offline batch communication through planned experiences.
Working with data
We can say that the biggest difference between the two is that AJO is a service on top of the Adobe Experience Platform (AEP), where AC 8 can be acquired as a standalone platform, just like ACC or ACS was placed in the Adobe automation stack.
In AJO we are leveraging on the AEP XDM data model which works with having a flat profile model with many fields and few relational schemas, whereas we in AC v8 are working with a postgres relational database where the profiles can be linked to data in a nested model rather than the flat model as we see in AJO.
From a non-tech perspective, this will mean that in AJO, we are publishing the same data on several profiles whereas in AC v8 we are linking the profiles to a schema containing all the data needed e.g. company. In AJO we have faster access to the profile data and the real-time or event updates there will be combined into the 360 customer profile.
Cool features
Both AJO and AC v8 will deliver the coolest features to help you deliver a heck of a customer experience, personalized at many data points for delivering the best customer experience.
Each of the platforms will have a bit different view on how we can deliver that experience, even if they are quite similar when looking at them from a big perspective, there are small but larger differences.
AJO will keep a good focus on having a finger on being able to trigger experiences based on online and offline behaviour, where at the same time they can create custom actions sending event data for internal usage in another system.
All of the above can trigger communication in real-time using both offline and online data arriving in batches or through real-time events.
AC v8 will use its power to have a relational data model, create complex user journeys with advanced workflow elements, leverage powerful built-in web apps, ability to send attachments in emails and export modulated data from the platform.
AC v8 can trigger communication through API or make use of the data placed in the database from various custom sources.
Comparison table
When we have looked a little under the hood on the two platforms, we have made this table with a few simple one-liners about the two platforms.
Journey Optimizer (AJO)
Campaign v8 (AC v8)
Ability to combine online and offline data at a granular event level creating a real-time customer profile
Offline data, limited view of online data to trigger communications
Real-time segmentation and activation based on big data architecture
Batch segmentation and activation reliant on traditional SQL database
Powerful segmentation capabilities across online and offline data inputs
Strong segmentation capabilities using offline data. If including online behaviour, there is a delay in absorbing online data.
High personalisation capabilities – online content into offline (e.g showing the last product viewed but didn't purchase in emails) and vice versa
Personalization is possible with what data is imported into the daily or delta loads. Limited online or real-time behavior-driven personalization is possible
High-scale sending capabilities (millions in minutes)
More limited sending capabilities (20 million per hour)
Offer decisions across all channels.
Offer decision capabilities limited to email, direct mail and SMS
Ability to talk to all customers at once through 1:1 behavior-driven communications
Batch communications and limited web-triggered communications
If you can see yourself and your organization in one of the below bullets, AJO is not the right choice for you.
- Will only use on-premise data
- No plan to use a Customer Data Platform (CDP)
- Looking for a "lift & shift" of existing campaigns
- Teams and processes are not aligned in achieving the organization's goals at a bigger and no need for an extensive automation setup
Make the decision
It is known, that it can be hard to pick the next platform and have your organization with you in understanding the need for a “new” platform, but this decision must be, as mentioned earlier, made within the first half of 2024.
If you need help making the decision and have the advantage of seeing the platforms in action, you can contact Accrease to get you started.
What about the development
If you are interested in the history of the Campaign platform, and how it developed from ACC into AC v8 and AJO, I will roll out a few details about it here below.
The original product was called Neolane and was owned by a French company called Neolane Inc. until it was purchased by Adobe in 2013 for $600 million.
The Neolane product was released in 2001 and has from 2001 till 2013 gone through 4 major releases with new revolutionary features for a cross-channel platform of that era.
It was first released by Adobe as Campaign Classic in 2013, and the original product has kept that name up until today where its in final years as version 7.
During the years, Adobe released its “little brother” in 2017, called Campaign Standard which was released as a cloud version of Campaign Classic there was more marketer-friendly than the big brother ACC was.
Campaign Standard did gain a lot of market reputation and many customers made the jump from Campaign Classic to Campaign Standard due to the lightweight possibilities that marketers saw in the new platform.
With Campaign Standard came a new email editor, the introduction of Fragments and a simple but advanced editor fully based on drag-and-drop functionalities.
Later in 2019 AEP was announced and unveiled at Summit to everyone's excitement, a full-blooded CDP, created from Adobe's own hands (and not bought as earlier products).
With the release of AEP, we also got Journey Orchestration, which was a marketing tool that could leverage the power from AEP and trigger communication through various automation tools eg. ACC and ACS.
In 2021 AJO was announced to the public and will be a tool placed on top of AEP which could leverage the AEP CDP power and put it into automation with its built-in actions for email, SMS and push.
In the same year as AJO was announced Adobe also unveiled that they will continue the ACC lane and build a new version of the ACC platform that will be better implemented in the Experience Cloud and have the power of Snowflake from their new partnership with Microsoft.
In 2024 the new web user interface was released, which was a revolution since marketers now easily can create experiences in an advanced automation tool like ACC without the technical console and old-looking platform.
* Dates are as currently mentioned by Adobe, but they can change in the years to come.
Summit US is around the corner, so like everyone else, we here at Accrease prepare for which sessions are relevant for us and what announcements we will see to ensure we can include these when working with our clients.
If you have yet to hear, then 'rumours' are that there won't be a Summit in London this year. This only means that there will be more focus on the US one and potentially more EMEA-based clients attending the US one.
Currently, 249 sessions are available if you're attending in person and 28 online. As in previous years, I expect recordings to be available for everyone post-summit. So regardless of whether you'll be attending in person or expecting to watch the recordings afterwards, I've asked our Specialists which sessions they would recommend to help you prioritise in the large selection of sessions. So, let's jump straight into the recommendations:
Fulton Yancy
He has experience in digital analytics since 1996 and spent the last decade getting his hands dirty digging for insights in Adobe Analytics. Remember to check out his blog on www.webbanalys.se.
Reason: Meeting the rockstars of Adobe Analytics is always a great way to boost inspiration and learn new ways to work with Adobe Analytics. This has always been my all-time favourite session at Summit as - regardless of my experience in the tool - I always walk away having learned something new. You should definitely take advantage of this session!
Jonas Nielsen
Former Consulting Manager at Adobe and Founder of Accrease. Jonas is a Swiss army knife for the Adobe stack, particularly AEP, and often finds himself by a whiteboard drawing the client's architecture around AEP.
Reason: I usually focus on sessions that give a deeper understanding of the architecture behind the solutions. I tried looking for a relevant one this year but found no one. Instead, I personally find this session really interesting.
Often, a CDP is only thought of as something for bought media strategies, but to take full advantage of a CDP, it needs to be thought into the entire marketing funnel.
Sharath Kumar
Former Consultant at Adobe - Well experienced in Adobe Campaign and migrations to/deployments of Adobe Journey Optimizer.
Reason: At Accrease, we collaborate directly with the product teams for the different solutions we support. And especially when it comes to AJO, as the solution is evolving extremely fast with new releases every month. They can only give us some insights, so the roadmap sessions at Summit are my favourite ones. Understanding the product's direction will allow us to ensure the implementations we plan take any new features into account.
I find optimising the flows and scaling the personalisation using AI fascinating, so my second recommendation is precisely this. Many clients we work with don't have huge teams, so the efficiency and scaling of personalisation come down to working smarter, and I have no doubt AI is a big part of the solution for this.
Samuel Rajkumar
Marketo specialist unlike any other. Experienced in building digital strategies using technologies like CDP and combining them with Marketing Automation.
Reason: I always find it inspiring to hear from clients about what they have achieved using Adobe Stack. What I find even more inspiring is the Adobe on Adobe sessions. I recall they started doing these years ago, and I love seeing how Adobe are using their own solutions - simply because they know all the ins and outs of its products to ensure it fully gains the most from them.
This is an excellent opportunity to gain insights directly from industry experts who have successfully set up a Global Marketing Ops.
My second recommendation is similar to Sharath's. Regardless of whether you have a large team, AI will be part of your workflow one way or the other. I don't necessarily believe that AI will be able to fully automate personalisation or something similar in the near future. But I 100% believe AI will make you and your team more efficient.
Jonas Guldberg Pabst
Campaign specialist, who was raised - not by wolves - but alongside Neolane, which later became Adobe Campaign. A companion of his ever since.
Reason: Adobe has announced that they will unveil their new Campaign v8 web user interface (UI) as part of Summit. These two sessions introduce the new interface and how to leverage the power to build customer experiences. As for the new UI, you may have noticed that the documentation has been updated with a few previews.
The new interface is a revolution for marketers and is a good blend of the more sophisticated UI from Campaign Classic and the simple marketer-friendly UI from Campaign Standard.
It will embrace new powerful features and help you elevate campaigns, build audiences, and unleash the true potential of cross-channel experiences through a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface.
This is super exciting news. We here at Accrease look forward to introducing all the new features it gives our customers.
Kasper Andersen
Former Manager at Adobe for Proof of Concepts in EMEA & JAPAC. He has been working with Adobe Analytics since it was known as SiteCatalyst; however, his favourite solution is and always will be Adobe Target.
Reason: With Target as my favourite solution, how can I recommend anything besides Target sessions?
The top tips session is my clear winner - if I could watch only one session, it would be this one. Ryan Roberts is a former colleague and friend, and he's been doing similar sessions in previous years and always received high ratings from the attendees. I love his sessions. During my time with Adobe, I ran a similar session at Summit in London. Needless to say, it was with great sparring and input from Ryan.
Just like Samuel, I enjoy watching the Adobe on Adobe sessions. Combine that with AI, and you have my second favourite session. Not many Adobe Target customers have Target Premium, which allows for using the Recommendation add-on. Most think that it is only relevant if you're an e-commerce site. However, that certainly isn't the case. I'm working with B2B companies that have successfully promoted training videos and FAQ articles.
There you go. These were the recommendations. Check back after Summit, as we'll be providing a summary of the biggest and most important takeaways.
Discover the power of zero-party data in transforming customer relationships. This blog explores the definition of zero-party data, its benefits, and how businesses can leverage it to create personalized experiences. Learn how targeted campaigns, deeper customer insights, and increased trust can revolutionize your marketing strategy.
It´s been two weeks since Adobe Summit 2023 kicked off in Las Vegas, and I have reflected on how the announcements made at the Summit and general trends in the market will affect us this and the following years.
Adobe Experience Platform (AEP) was in focus, as expected, with several announcements on new features and innovations. There are many exciting opportunities within AEP to take advantage of, but even more interesting is the direction in which technology development moves and how businesses evolve to facilitate how their teams work with personalization.
It’s clear that 2023 is the year of disruption. In this blog, I will dig deeper into these trends, the sneaks (Adobe lingo for projects that aren´t in development yet but could if it is in demand), and examine the key takeaways from the US Summit 2023. Follow along on the ride.
Generative artificial intelligence: Firefly and Adobe Sensei GenAI
One of the most significant announcements at the Summit this year was the launch of Adobe Firefly. It’s a solution built on generative AI models that enables content creators and marketers to play around with creatives and content using descriptive text.
What caught my interest the most was the mention of Firefly in relation to Adobe's partnership with Microsoft and OpenAI, which, considering Microsoft's plans for Bing (incorporating ChatGPT), could become a game changer in the way people use search engines in the future.
Currently a Beta, it´s available to test with Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), but Adobe states they plan to expand the integration to other Adobe solutions soon.
However, let´s not get ahead of ourselves. More relevant opportunities in the close future would be for brands using Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) to test Firefly for AI-generated content based on your brand's imagery and publicly available stock. Adobe also states they will have strict safety processes to ensure the content is brand compliant.
On a related note, Adobe Sensei has been around for ages and has helped us as marketers make more informed decisions across our marketing activities (ranging from analysis to performance forecasting and much more). However, with generative AI, Adobe has further developed Sensei and branded it AdobeSensei GenAI, which will be applied to Adobe Experience Cloud and AEP to work with text, content, insights, analytics, and audiences across your customer journey efforts.
With the launch of Adobe Firefly and the further development of Adobe Sensei GenAI, the impact on the marketing industry will undoubtedly be significant. These new tools offer exciting possibilities for content creators and marketers. As they continue to evolve and improve, we can expect to see even more innovative solutions to the challenges of the modern marketing landscape.
AI in Adobe Experience Platform
While generative AI is a new and exciting technology, Adobe has also integrated Adobe Sensei (is it dull to call it "ordinary AI"?) into AEP. This incorporation allows for increasing utilization of AI with solutions built on AEP, such as Customer Journey Analytics (CJA) and Real-Time Customer Data Platform (RTCDP) for analysis, performance insights, and smart segmentation. Here are a few exciting examples:
1. AI-driven propensity scores for predicting user conversion
Adobe Sensei incorporates machine learning algorithms to generate propensity scores which will be useful for predicting the propensity of a user converting or churning, including insights into the customer profile attributes that are driving the prediction. This scoring summarizes user propensity, splits them into low, medium, and high propensity groups, and lists the top influential attributes within each group.
2. Lookalike modeling for audience targeting
Lookalike modeling (Beta) enables marketers to target users most similar to their target audience. This function is similar to the one found in Audience Manager and many other media solutions.
3. Predictive lead and account scoring for B2B marketers
B2B marketers can use predictive lead and account scoring to engage with prospective buyers to enhance buyer engagement.
4. Attribution AI for analyzing customer journey touchpoints
Attribution AI breaks down each marketing touchpoint, such as email, search, and display ads. The report provides an overview of the conversion path, the Influenced score (the fraction of the conversion that each marketing touchpoint is responsible for), and the incremental score (the amount of marginal impact directly caused by the marketing touchpoint).
5. Adobe Mix Modeler for holistic marketing planning
Adobe Mix Modeler is a significant step towards incorporating paid media analysis into AEP, along with Attribution AI mentioned above. It allows marketers to integrate data from various sources, such as local and national publishers, social media platforms, search engines, and owned channels. It provides a holistic tool for measurement, reporting, and marketing planning.
It will be interesting to see how this develops for Adobe Advertising Cloud (AdCloud), which has never been invited to the party when discussing Experience Cloud. While AdCloud currently has integrations with Adobe Analytics and Audience Manager, the possibilities of developing this solution towards AEP integrations, or even better, building native AEP Advertising bid management capabilities, are truly exciting. I am looking forward to seeing how this develops and the potential it brings for enhancing Adobe's advertising capabilities.
6. Product Analytics for combining product and marketing insights
Product Analytics, built on AEP and CJA, combines product and marketing insights to analyze users and determine product growth over time. It seamlessly integrates with RTCDP and AJO for quick and easy activation to drive more targeted personalization. It combines multiple data types, such as CRM, web analytics, transactional, and paid media data, so it's useful for various organizational roles, from data analysts to marketers and product developers.
It is an incredible addition to Adobe's already strong analytics portfolio and could encourage more robust collaboration between product development and marketing teams.
7. #ProjectPathWise for Adobe Journey Optimizer
Suppose Adobe develops the sneak #ProjectPathWise. In that case, Sensei GenAI will be applied to Adobe Journey Optimizer (AJO) for profile engagement predictions across the customer journey, journey orchestration recommendations, and quick and straightforward application of these recommendations. Now that would be a ground-breaking feature.
These examples are a few that show how AI and ML can shape how we create and optimize customer journeys. To explore the full potential of AEP and AI, we recommend attending the Adobe Summit in London in June or watching the digital sessions from the US Summit.
A new era of Collaboration
Although the advancements in technology showcased are exciting, how businesses work with this technology was also a hot topic at this year’s Summit. 2023 is the year of disruption for sure.
With challenges like the depreciation of third-party cookies, privacy regulations, customer expectations, and technology such as AEP and its AI-based solutions, a shift in how we work is required. Businesses investing in customer journey development face a significant digital transition, requiring IT and marketing departments to work more closely together than ever.
An interesting takeaway was that although many businesses agree a key challenge in that transition is the lack of single executive ownership in the organization, there does not seem to be one clear preferred operating model for enabling personalization. While some organizations prefer building a Center of Excellence (CoE) for personalization, others opt for a cross-functional agile approach or dedicated areas of responsibility within each department.
As businesses, their people, and their cultures are inherently unique, each company must find its own way by (partially) trial and error. Nonetheless, organizations amid the transition do have a few clear recommendations:
1. Define and assign a single executive owner
It is vital to assign a single executive owner to provide a common direction and ensure all teams are aligned and working toward the same goals.
2. Involve stakeholders early
Early involvement of stakeholders is crucial to building trust and empowering people to feel involved in the transition process.
3. Make sure you have the right team.
Having the right team in place not only applies to the first phase of the transition, during the implementation of the technology but also to ensure you have the right people utilizing the technology. These individuals should feel inspired by what they do and be curious to learn and develop outside of their area of expertise.
4. Don´t overthink silos.
Although silos are prevalent in large organizations, paying attention to how they impact the quality of customer journeys is essential. If the impact is significant enough, it is necessary to prioritize addressing them.
5. Don´t expect to work in the same way as before.
Hiring more people to deliver across all areas of customer journey orchestration may be necessary. As the industry continues to evolve, businesses must adapt to thrive in this new era of collaboration.
6. Celebrate your wins! 🎉
Even the small ones. Because this can be a long ride, and it’s all too easy to get caught up in our day-to-day challenges.
Takeaways: Leveraging AI for Personalization with Adobe Experience Platform
The capabilities for building and analyzing cross-channel customer journeys based on a unified customer profile, ensuring excellent data governance and compliance, and creating a future-proof marketing rig without 3rd party cookies are exciting. We emphasize these key features to our customers when they explore AEP and its native solutions.
However, leveraging AI to its full potential is essential to take your organization’s personalization efforts to the next level.
If used correctly, the new AI-based innovations announced at Summit will empower marketers to make more informed decisions and gain advanced insights. But adopting innovative technology like AEP and AI capabilities built into AEO requires more than just a tech upgrade. Companies must facilitate cross-functional collaboration, encourage experimentation and learning, and create a culture of agility to succeed. Those who do will be the ones to watch in the coming years.
Final thoughts
The Adobe Summit US 2023 showcased exciting announcements in AI, content, and collaboration. The launch of Adobe Firefly and Adobe Sensei GenAI provides innovative solutions for content creators and marketers. At the same time, AI integrations in AEP offer exciting possibilities for businesses to improve customer experiences. With the further development of these tools and solutions, the marketing industry can expect to see more innovative solutions to the challenges of the modern marketing landscape.
To explore the full potential of AEP and AI, we recommend attending the Adobe Summit in London in June. Accrease will be there, and we would be delighted to meet you in-between sessions. Let us know if you will attend by joining this LinkedIn event.
Providing an exceptional customer experience is crucial for the success of any business, and lead lifecycle and scoring models can help achieve this. These strategies offer a comprehensive approach to understanding and engaging with potential customers, providing valuable insights into their behavior and preferences to create a more personalized and effective customer journey.
In this post, we'll explore the key benefits of lead lifecycle and scoring models and provide steps on how to implement these strategies as a foundation for creating a better customer experience.
Benefits of lead lifecycle and lead scoring models
Implementing a lead lifecycle and scoring model can offer several benefits, including:
🤝 Improved marketing and sales alignment 🔮 Better customer insights 📬 Personalized and consistent communication 📈 Higher conversion rates, ROI, and increased sales 😀 Improved customer retention
Implementing a lead lifecycle and scoring model can offer a range of benefits to businesses looking to optimize their marketing and sales efforts. One significant advantage is improved alignment between marketing and sales teams. By providing a clear framework for lead handoff and ensuring that both teams work towards the same goals, a lead lifecycle and scoring model can help bridge the gap between the two departments. Assigning scores to leads based on their engagement and fit will make the lead qualification process more efficient, and sales and marketing can prioritize efforts on leads more likely to convert.
In addition to better alignment, businesses can gain valuable customer insights by implementing a lead lifecycle model. By tracking and analyzing leads throughout the buying journey, businesses can gain valuable insights into their customer's behavior and preferences, allowing them to tailor their marketing and sales strategies more effectively.
Personalization is another key benefit of lead lifecycle and scoring models and a key driver for customer satisfaction. By understanding where a customer is in the journey, businesses can tailor their messaging to provide the right information at the right time based on the customers' interests and needs. This not only improves the customer experience but also helps build trust and rapport with the customer, improving retention efforts.
By focusing on leads that are most likely to convert, businesses can increase their conversion rates, generate more revenue from sales and marketing efforts, and improve their ROI. The lead qualification process becomes more efficient by assigning scores to leads based on their engagement and fit, enabling sales and marketing teams to prioritize their efforts on leads more likely to convert.
Ultimately, the goal for a business is to increase sales. By identifying the most promising leads and targeting efforts accordingly, businesses can increase their win rates and close deals faster, resulting in increased revenue and profitability. A clear and cohesive journey from lead to customer can significantly improve the overall experience, leading to a more positive perception of the business and increasing the likelihood of repeat business.
How to implement lead lifecycle and lead scoring strategies
Implementing a lead lifecycle and scoring model can be a game-changer for businesses looking to optimize their marketing and sales efforts. However, it can be challenging to know where to start. Below are some steps for implementing lead lifecycle and scoring strategies:
1. Identify and define the lead lifecycle stages
Start by identifying the stages of your lead lifecycle, such as lead capture, marketing qualified, sales qualified, and lead nurturing. Assign specific criteria for each stage, such as lead source, engagement level, and behavioral actions. This will help you create a structured framework for managing and prioritizing leads.
2. Assign lead scores
Use lead scoring to assign scores to each lead based on their behavior and level of engagement with your brand and their fit with your ideal customer profile. For example, a lead who visits your website and downloads a whitepaper might score higher than a lead who simply opens an email. Lead scoring helps businesses identify the most promising leads and prioritize their efforts accordingly.
3. Use automation
Implement marketing automation tools to help streamline the lead lifecycle process. For example, set up automated workflows to send targeted messages to leads based on their stage in the lifecycle and lead score. Automation can help move leads through the different stages of your lead lifecycle, save time, and improve the efficiency of your lead qualification process.
4. Monitor and analyze
Track and analyze customer interactions at each stage of the lifecycle to gain valuable insights into their behavior and preferences. Use this information to refine your lead scoring and communication strategies. Continuously monitoring and analyzing your lead data can help identify trends and inform ongoing improvements.
5. Personalize communication
Use lead lifecycle and scoring data to personalize your communication with leads. Tailor your messaging to their interests and needs, and provide relevant content and offers to keep them engaged. Personalization is key to building strong relationships with leads and improving conversion rates.
6. Continuous optimization:
Optimize your lead lifecycle and scoring strategies based on performance data. Identify areas for improvement and make adjustments to ensure you are providing the best possible customer experience. Continuously testing and refining your strategies will help ensure that you are meeting your business goals.
Remember, lead lifecycle and scoring strategies will vary depending on your business and industry, so it's important to adapt these steps to your specific needs and goals. By implementing a lead lifecycle and scoring model, businesses can improve their marketing and sales alignment, gain valuable customer insights, and improve conversion rates, ultimately leading to increased revenue and profitability.
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We are thrilled to announce that Accrease has been honored as Adobe's 2023 Digital Experience Emerging Partner of the Year for Western Europe! This prestigious award highlights our unwavering commitment to helping clients fully leverage their Adobe technologies and create exceptional data-driven customer experiences.
In recent years, we have concentrated our efforts on the Adobe Experience Platform, establishing ourselves as the most experienced consultancy in the region for this technology. Furthermore, we have been committed to broadening our knowledge and expertise in Adobe Marketo Engage, maximizing our clients' capabilities and integrations to the broader customer experience ecosystem. These accomplishments would not have been possible without the trust and support of our exceptional clients and partners. We are grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with you in creating data-driven, impactful customer experiences that drive business success.
As industry leaders in the technical and organizational sides of bringing data to life, we take immense pride in our three-time Adobe Partner award-winning status in the last four years. Our collaboration with Adobe and our clients has allowed us to push boundaries and establish ourselves as a standout partner in Western Europe. We're dedicated to continuing this journey of excellence and industry leadership.
We would be delighted to meet you in-between sessions at the upcoming Adobe Summit in Londonto celebrate this incredible recognition. It's the ideal occasion to connect, share experiences, and celebrate our collective success. Let us know if you will attend by joining this LinkedIn event.
Again, thanks for your support and for being a part of our journey. We're grateful for the opportunity to work with industry-leading brands like yours, and we're excited about the future ahead.
Don't forget to read the full press release for more information about our exciting Adobe 2023 Digital Experience Emerging Partner of the Year achievement.
COPENHAGEN – March 21, 2023 – Accrease today announced it has been recognized as Adobe 2023 Digital Experience Emerging Partner of the Year – Western Europe. Adobe’s Digital Experience partner awards honor companies that contribute to Adobe’s business and customer success.
Accrease was recognized with this award in part for its proven ability to help industry-leading brands leverage Adobe technologies to create impactful, data-driven customer experiences that drive business success.
“We take great pride in helping our clients unlock the full potential of their Adobe technologies and create impactful, data-driven customer experiences. This recognition is a testament to our team's expertise, dedication, and pursuit of excellence. We remain committed to pushing boundaries, enabling our clients to succeed and stand out in their industry.””
Jonas Damgaard Nielsen, Senior Partner and Co-founder, Accrease
“Accrease has established itself as a standout partner in Western Europe, consistently achieving exceptional results for industry-leading brands through their expertise in leveraging Adobe technologies. With a proven track record of delivering outstanding client experiences, the company's three-time recognition as an Adobe Partner award winner in the last four years is a testament to their unwavering commitment to excellence and industry leadership. We are proud to partner with Accrease and excited to see their continued success in driving business growth and customer satisfaction for their clients.”
Christian Keim, VP Interim Head of DX Partner Sales, Adobe
About Accrease
Accrease is a recognized and award-winning specialist consultancy dedicated to helping industry-leading brands unlock the full potential of their Adobe investment. The company delivers cutting-edge solutions and empowers organizations to create impactful and engaging data-driven customer experiences through Adobe Experience Platform and Adobe Experience Cloud.
Accrease's relentless commitment to helping clients achieve exceptional results has been widely recognized, having won prestigious awards, including the 2023 and 2021 Adobe Digital Experience Emerging Partner of the Year in Western Europe and the 2020 Adobe Digital Experience Solution Partner of the Year in Nordics. With deep expertise in Adobe solutions, the company holds two specializations and is recognized as an Adobe Solution Partner Gold. Learn more at accrease.com.
For more information, please reach out to: Katrine Kieldsen, Senior Partner & Co-founder [email protected]
