Adobe Sensei – Understanding How Artificial Intelligence Works with Personalization

Personalization is the new standard for website content delivery. Customers have come to expect it, and some will even move on to other vendors if the website they visit doesn’t offer a personalized experience. That said, personalization can seem like an overwhelming challenge for many businesses. Marketing teams have limited resources, and, in most cases, it’s likely that one person does not have the bandwidth to deliver personalized experiences for every site visitor – much less in real-time. 

This leaves businesses in the lurch; how do they deliver personalized experiences with limited resources? They turn to artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, like Adobe Sensei, to allow for the real-time data processing that is necessary to provide real-time personalization. When you utilize Sensei’s machine learning to rapidly process data, you can remove the human element that is slower, has a limited capacity, and is more prone to errors. 

Think of Sensei as part of a digital machine. It works with Adobe Experience Cloud (AEC) platforms to collect, evaluate, and interpret the data, and then use that information to deliver a personalized experience to the user. Its role in this machine is to process the data and identify the appropriate content to serve to the user. 

Sensei processes the data in two different ways: a profile for every user and/or demographic personas. In the case of user profiles, Sensei uses the data to create a unique profile for every user. This allows the AEC platform to deliver highly customized experiences for the user to ensure they have the optimal experience on the website. In some cases, businesses also incorporate data from interactions the user has had in different channels – like an app, in-store, or over the phone. It’s worth noting that in some locations or countries, there may be legislation around the extent to which companies can collect or utilize data. So, be sure to evaluate the type of data you are permitted to collect and keep. 

In addition to individual data collection, Sensei can collect data to create and refine demographic personas. This data isn’t specific to any one person, but it is used to refine the characteristics of a demographic. The information is then used to personalize experiences for site users who fall within that demographic. This may also be an alternative to user profiles in countries where individual data collection is limited. However, laws around this vary depending on location, so before making any decisions about data collection, check the laws specific to your location. 

While data collection and processing are critical to today’s requirements for personalization, the businesses that will find the most success with an AI platform like Sensei will be the ones that are equipped for real-time personalization. These are the sites that collect and process data about the user in real-time and then deliver content to that user based on the way they are currently interacting with the site. 

However, in the case of Sensei, and many other AI platforms, they can’t operate in a silo; they need technologies to deliver the data for processing as well as technologies that can deliver the appropriate content (real-time or otherwise). For Sensei, the data can come in through a number of Adobe platforms like Adobe Target, Adobe Customer Journey Analytics (CJA), or Adobe Real-Time Customer Data Platform (RTCDP is necessary for real-time processing and personalization); this data is then used to identify the right content to serve back to the site user using Adobe Journey Optimizer. 

In the grand scheme of things, today’s AI technologies are just beginning to brush the surface of what’s possible. While AI as a whole might have a long way to go, platforms like Sensei are currently the best (and only) method for delivering real-time experiences to website users. If you need help understanding how your company can use Adobe’s Sensei to begin your journey toward personalization, reach out – we have experts who specialize in personalization using Adobe Experience Cloud platforms.