Targeting Visitor Segments for Experiences in VWO Personalize

Overview

In VWO Personalize, apart from applying campaign-level segmentation, you can also apply target-level segmentation. While creating a Personalize campaign, the Targets page allows you to create visitor segments (targets) and assign them multiple experiences. This allows you to reuse experiences for various visitor segments. Furthermore, you can use the Personalize Holdback feature to reserve a portion of your website traffic as a control group and hold back the personalized experience for this group. If enabled, the control group would see the default experience, while the remaining traffic would see the personalized experience. The Target Qualifications page allows you to define how visitors are assigned when they qualify for multiple targets. This ensures that the visitors are viewing the most relevant experience that you have tailored for them. Furthermore, when certain cohorts qualify for more than one segmentation condition, you can also configure the prioritization of the targets as you desire.

Configuring and assigning experiences to the targets in your Personalize campaign is a three-step process:

1. Define targets and assign experiences
2. Randomize or prioritize targets in case of multiple qualifications
3. Configure multi-target mode for your visitors

Define targets and assign experiences

To define targeting conditions for your experiences, perform the following steps:

1. Log in to your VWO account.
2. From the main menu, click Personalize.
3. Set up the campaign URLs and creating experiences. For more information, refer to Create a VWO Personalize Campaign.
4. Navigate to the Targets section. Here you can define visitor segments and assign them experiences. Visitors who do not match any segment, are not part of this campaign.
5. Click Add target.
6. On the Create Target Audience panel, enter a suitable name for the target, select the audience, and click Create. For more information on configuring visitor segments, see Using Segmentation in VWO.The target is created and displayed on the Targets page. To add more, click Add target and follow the same process.
   
   Note: This segmentation is applied as a layer over the campaign-level segmentation that you have applied under the Configuration > Pages section. This means that the campaign-level segmentation condition will be checked for the visitors that land on the campaign URL, while the target-level conditions will be checked after that.
   Use the three dot menu against each target to update, remove, or disable it. Disabling the target does not delete it from the campaign, it ensures that the target is not considered in the campaign. Use the same menu to enable a disabled target.
   
7. Once you add the first target, the Holdback option becomes available.
   
   If you enable Holdback, this option reserves a portion of your campaign traffic for a control group. By default, 5% of the campaign’s traffic is assigned to the holdback group. Visitors assigned to the holdback group are excluded from all personalized experiences and consistently shown the default experience, irrespective of their target segment qualification. Switch the toggle to enable holdback for your campaign. To update the percentage of visitors for whom you want to hold back the personalized experiences, click the pencil icon. Enter the holdback percentage or use the slider to modify the percentage.
   
   VWO recommends you begin by allocating a small percentage of traffic to the holdback group and gradually increase it as needed.
   Note:

   • You can enable holdback only before you start a campaign.
   • You can enable or disable holdback only for campaigns that have not yet started. Once a campaign is live, you cannot change the holdback setting.
   • Holdback traffic can not be more than 50% of your campaign traffic.
   • You can adjust the holdback percentage at any time (even after the campaign has started), but keep in mind that changing the configuration of a running campaign may affect the accuracy of your results.
   • As soon as you configure the holdback value, it is automatically applied to all existing targets in the campaign. The holdback is defined at the campaign level and cannot be customized per target—every target inherits the same value by default.
8. You can assign multiple experiences to each target. To assign experiences, click the Assign experiences dropdown and select the experiences you want to assign to the target. Use the Traffic split dropdown to select and define how you want to distribute the traffic for each experience. You can set it to Equal distribution or Custom distribution. Based on your selection, VWO configures the traffic split for each experience accordingly. If you select Custom distribution, you can allocate the traffic for each experience as needed. However, you cannot modify the holdback value from the custom distribution panel. You can modify it only through the master control on the Targets page header.
   
   Note: 

   • You can start a campaign only if at least one target is properly configured and its traffic split totals 100%. If a target’s traffic split doesn't add up to 100%, the system disables it and excludes it from the campaign. The campaign includes only those targets that have a split total of 100% traffic distribution.
   • If you modify the campaign-level holdback value after configuring traffic distribution for individual targets, the holdback value at the target level is also updated automatically, and the traffic distribution across all targets is adjusted accordingly.

Once you have defined the targets, control how visitors are assigned to targets when they qualify for multiple targets in a campaign. To learn more, see Randomize or prioritize targets in case of multiple qualifications.

Randomize or Prioritize Targets in case of Multiple Qualifications

Sometimes, there are chances where a visitor may qualify for more than one target. This happens for those targeting conditions that share an intersection. From the Target Qualifications page, you can define how visitors are assigned when they qualify for multiple targets.

For example, consider the following targets in your campaign:

• Cart Abandoners – visitors who have added items to their cart but haven’t completed the purchase.
• Loyal Customers – visitors who have purchased more than three times in the past.
• First-time Visitors – visitors who are new to the site.

Now, imagine a user who is a returning customer (loyal) and has also just abandoned their cart. This user qualifies for both the Cart Abandoners and Loyal Customers targets.

For such cases, VWO lets you configure Target Qualifications. From this section, you can configure how visitors are assigned to targets when they qualify for more than one target. You can also determine whether VWO should reassess a visitor’s eligibility on each visit.

To resolve such conflicts, use the options available in the Tiebreaker for Multiple Qualifications section. Using these options, you can decide which target to assign the visitor to, because each target is mapped to different experiences. Choose one from the following options:

• Random Selection - VWO assigns the visitor to one of the matching targets randomly.
• Priority - This option displays the relevant target based on the priority that you set up. Clicking on this option displays the targets in the order of creation. You can drag and reorder the target to prioritize them. If you select this option, VWO assigns the visitor to the first matching target based on the target order in the campaign.

Configure Multi-target Mode for Your Visitors

VWO's multi-target mode enhances Personalize campaigns by allowing visitors to qualify for and be part of multiple targets within the same campaign. You can choose to run the visitor’s target evaluation for every visit so as to serve different experiences based on their qualification. If you decide to evaluate the targeting conditions for every visit, the system rechecks the visitors’ targeting criteria each time they land on the campaign URL. Based on this evaluation, VWO displays different experiences depending on whether the visitor meets the targeting conditions.

For example, imagine a returning visitor who has previously made five purchases (qualifying as a Loyal Customer) and has recently added products to the cart but exited without completing the transaction (also qualifying as a Cart Abandoner). This visitor meets the criteria for two targets simultaneously.

To enable multi-target mode, check the Assess visitor eligibility for targets on each visit checkbox. If enabled, this option ensures that the visitor's target segment is reassessed each time they visit the site. If you leave it unchecked, visitors remain part of the same target every time they visit the campaign URL.

Configuring this setting ensures a visitor’s personalized experience reflects their latest actions, not just the behavior from their first visit. As a result, visitors always see relevant content, which can improve engagement and conversions.

Before you start the campaign, set up the metrics you want to measure through the campaign. Define and track KPIs to get a sharper view of your conversion success. For more information, see Working with Metrics in VWO.

You can also leverage VWO Personalize’s third-party integrations to enhance the analytics. Use these integrations to:

• Push campaign data from VWO to external tools for advanced analysis.
• Pull audience data from third-party platforms into VWO to power more targeted personalization.

For more information, see VWO Integrations.

After your campaign has collected sufficient data, navigate to the Reports tab to view and analyze the Personalize campaign report. It consists of the statistical data of the campaign outcomes such as Date Range Graph, Current Traffic Split, Expected Conversion Rate, Expected Improvement Graph, and Conversions/Visitors numbers. You can view reports grouped by experience or by target. VWO provides detailed reports that allow you to compare the performance of each experience within a target, as well as the overall performance of the campaign against the holdback group. For more information, see Interpreting your VWO Personalize Campaign Report.

Need more help?

For further assistance or more information, contact VWO Support.