AI and machine learning play a crucial role in analyzing data and automating personalized experiences. Sitecore Personalize incorporates native artificial intelligence algorithms for experience optimization. It is also possible to bring in external customers' AI-powered models to enable next-best actions, personalization, and optimization decisions.

Website personalization is about tailoring the experience based on user behavior and trends within a single channel (the website), while omnichannel personalization takes a holistic approach, aiming to provide a seamless and personalized experience across all marketing channels and touchpoints where a customer interacts with the brand.

Sitecore is positioned as a “Leader” for Personalization Engines in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant MQ for 2023.

While Personalize focuses on real-time customer experience optimization, CDP offers a centralized platform for unifying and analyzing customer data.
Personalize and CDP go hand in hand. While the customer data platform collects and unifies first-party customer data from multiple sources to build a complete 360-degree view of customers, Personalize builds targeted and personalized campaigns to improve the customer experience.

Sitecore’s decisioning engine is an advanced, user-friendly tool that gives organizations the ability to create decision strategies using a flexible drag-and-drop canvas. The decisioning engine in Sitecore Personalize uses a combination of machine learning and AI-driven models to determine various propensities for each customer profile, and based on these findings, figures out the next best action for this customer on the customer’s most relevant channel.

Example of decisioning: A pop-up message on an ecommerce website offering a special discount on a product that a returning customer has shown interest in or banners showcasing travel updates targeting customers traveling to a particular country/city.

Personalization is a powerful tool for driving conversions and guiding users through marketing funnels. By tailoring content and offers to individual user preferences and behaviors, personalization enhances user engagement, increases the likelihood of conversion, and streamlines the customer journey.

It's particularly effective in targeted digital marketing campaigns, where personalized messaging resonates more deeply with each segment, leading to higher engagement rates. Additionally, personalization can significantly improve the overall user experience on digital platforms, making interactions more relevant and satisfying for the user, thereby fostering brand loyalty and repeat business.

There are various digital commerce use cases for web templates in Sitecore Personalize including posting banners and pop-ups about limited time offers or operational status updates.