To customize content, content needs to be flexible. As we noted previously, the content model associated with traditional CMSs isn’t very flexible. That prevents content from being easily customized. CaaS lets content be more customer focused. Content as a Service provides the flexibility that enables content to be customized.

Shift from Generic Content to Custom Content

The world is awash in generic content. Content is generic when everyone sees the exact same content anytime they look at it. Generic content might be OK for certain kinds of reference material such as an encyclopedia entry or a nutrition label where everyone expects to see the same information. But broad topics often involve many details that aren’t relevant to everyone. Readers would rather have the content they view be customized to their needs. They only want to see what’s relevant to their situation. They don’t want to wade through lots of material searching for what matters to them.

Customers won’t settle for one-size-fits-all content. Enterprises won’t win customer attention with generic content. Content teams need to customize content to address specific customer needs.

With CaaS, content teams can structure content so that some parts are “swappable”—different parts can be used for specific situations or audience segments. Sections of content can change depending on who is viewing it, or when someone is seeing it.

Tailor Content to the Needs of Different Audience Segments

What’s special about your audience? How do audience segments vary in terms of what they want to view? Many factors can influence the relevance of content to specific audience segments, for example:

• Do they work in a specific industry? 
• Do they have different life-stage concerns?
• Do they own different product models? 

CaaS makes it possible to customize content for different audience segments. Content teams can structure and design their content the way they need to.

Bring Context to Content

The precise content an individual wants to view depends a lot on their context. Two of the most basic contextual factors are:

1. Where someone is viewing the content
2. When they are looking at it

CaaS lets enterprises tailor information for audiences according to their context. If certain information changes based on where the reader currently is, this information can be customized so that it reflects their current location. Publishers can provide customized content to indicate:

• The closest location where products or services are available
• Special offers for people in a location
• Eligibility information relating to a location

When someone is looking at content is also important. Customers go through a series of events and steps in their quest for information. If they have already done something, they don’t want to read about it again. Publishers need to show the right content at the right time to them. They can choose how much information to present at different stages and in what order to present information. 

In many situations, people want to see a few highlights first before they wade through lots of details. They want to preview the information before committing to viewing it in depth. If they’ve already viewed the details, they may only want to refresh their memory of the highlights—or see what has changed since they looked at it last. With structured content, enterprises can separate highlights (the summary or the changes) from the specifics (the detailed description). By structuring content into distinct items, enterprises can present the most appropriate item of information depending on what the customer has done already. 

Build a Foundation for Personalization

Many enterprises struggle with personalization because their CMS doesn’t offer the ability to tailor content in the right way. Customizing content with traditional CMSs is time intensive and hard to modify. Their out-of-the-box configurations don’t deliver the level of customization that’s required.

Customers expect firms to offer more personalized—and relevant—content. CaaS gives enterprises the freedom to decide how to customize their information so that customers get content that’s truly relevant to their needs. 

In the next post in this series, we will look at how CaaS supports the governance of content.