What Acquia Learned from Its Personalization Test (and Why Every Test is Valuable)
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Today, we are sharing the third blog post in a series looking at how the team at Acquia is optimizing digital experiences on Acquia.com. Previous posts looked at Acquia’s web strategy, and at how we achieved a 6X conversion rate boost on our Contact Us page.
When it comes to digital experience optimization, it’s tempting to focus only on the home runs, such as the tests that deliver an obvious, measurable lift in engagement or conversions. But the truth is, every test tells a story. Sometimes, that story isn’t about a dramatic win. It’s about uncovering what doesn’t work, so you don’t spend time and resources scaling an approach that won’t move the needle.
That’s exactly what we learned in our recent personalization experiment on the Acquia DAM product page.
Why Personalization Matters
Personalization continues to be one of the hottest topics in digital experience. Customers expect the content they see to be relevant to their industry, role, and intent. Done well, personalization can increase engagement, accelerate buying journeys, and build trust. But to get there, organizations can’t just assume. They need to test, validate, and iterate.
The Four Ds of Personalization
The Four Ds of Personalization is a widely recognized framework that breaks down the process of creating and delivering personalized customer experiences.
The “What”
This is the raw material for any personalization strategy. It’s about collecting and unifying information about your users to understand who they are, what they’ve done, and what they might want. Without good data, personalization is just guesswork.
The “Why”
This is the "brain" of the operation. The decisioning engine uses the collected data to determine why a specific user should see a particular piece of content. It applies logic and rules to turn raw data into an actionable instruction.
The “How”
Design is the creative execution—what the user actually sees and interacts with. A brilliant decision is useless if it’s presented poorly. This stage involves creating the various content components and layouts that will be used for personalization.
The “Where”
Distribution is the final step: delivering the personalized experience to the user on the right channel at the right moment. The goal is to create a seamless experience across all the touchpoints where a customer might interact with your brand.
As we dive deeper into our own personalization experiment we will refer back to these principles to help guide us along the way.
Crafting & Testing our Experiment
Identifying the Opportunity
Our team spotted a dip in performance for the DAM product page among visitors in the consumer goods industry. That made it an ideal candidate for personalization. Our hypothesis was that we could tailor the experience to the consumer goods segment, we could drive stronger engagement and conversions.
| As part of the “What” in the 4 Ds we were able to use data from Google Analytics, our own Acquia Optimize and Acquia Convert to see that the overall performance of the page was less than ideal. It’s always good to look at all the data available when making these decisions. |
How We Built the Personalized Experience
We pulled together several Acquia tools to test this hypothesis:
- Targeted Experience (Acquia Convert): Using attributes and intent data from our CRM and 6Sense, we set up a targeted experience designed for consumer goods professionals.
| As part of the “Where” and “How” in the 4 Ds we were able to use “Acquia Convert” and it’s integration with 6sense to quickly segment and target our users. |
- Quick Content Updates (In-Page Editor): With Acquia Convert’s in-page editor, we swapped in logos and imagery relevant to consumer goods, making the page more relatable at a glance.
- SEO for Relevance (Acquia SEO): We identified keywords aligned with the new copy and used Acquia SEO’s scanning features to uncover interlinking opportunities that would improve organic performance.
| As part of the “Why” of the 4 Ds we were able to use Acquia SEO to research keywords and help target users and provide them the content they were looking for. |
- Accessibility Check (Acquia Optimize): Personalization can’t come at the cost of inclusivity. Acquia Optimize flagged a missing alt tag on our updated hero image, and we were able to correct it immediately. Beyond accessibility, alt text also helps search engines understand and index content.
- Findability for Segment (Acquia Search): To complete the experience, we prioritized the personalized DAM page in search results for users identified as part of the consumer goods segment.
All together we focused on these 4 primary areas of the page, and then A/B tested all of these changes with users in the Consumer Goods industries vs. other industries.
What Happened Next
The results were… mixed. While there was some positive movement, the impact wasn’t as significant as we had hoped. The changes were noticeable, but they didn’t meaningfully shift conversion rates or engagement for this segment.
At first glance, that might look like a miss. But in reality, it was a valuable outcome.
The Power of Testing
The real win here was in the learning, not in the numbers. Without testing, we could have rolled out this type of personalization across dozens of product pages, investing time and effort with little return. Instead, we now know that this particular approach doesn’t justify broader deployment.
Testing saved us from wasted effort. It gave us the confidence to refine our strategy, focus on what actually drives outcomes, and move forward smarter.
Why Every Test is Valuable
Optimization isn’t a straight line from test to triumph. It’s an iterative process of experimenting, learning, and improving. Sometimes that means discovering a breakthrough. Other times, it means ruling out a path that seemed promising but doesn’t deliver. Both outcomes are equally important.
At Acquia, we see every test as a step toward smarter digital experiences. The key is to embrace the process, not just the big wins.
Marketers and digital leaders: Don’t be discouraged if every test doesn’t deliver a dramatic uplift. If you’re learning, you’re winning, and saving your team from investing in strategies that don’t deliver impact at scale.
Vice President, Digital Experience & AI Enablement Marketing Acquia
