Using the SundaySky Video Platform, you can either create one video version that all your viewers will see or personalize the video so that viewers receive a version that is customized especially for them. Personalization can take many forms, from addressing viewers by their first name to displaying messages to viewers according to the audience segment to which they belong.
The purpose of this article is to present the process of personalization in the platform. Below each step you'll find a short description of what needs to occur to accomplish the step, together with links to articles that provide detailed guidelines.
Step 1: Determine Which Data Fields are Required for Personalization
Personalization begins by deciding which data fields you need for personalizing your video. Data fields define what aspects of your video can be customized, such as a viewer's name, location, or preferences.
SundaySky supports the following two methods of personalization:
| How is it used? | The token represents data that is passed to SundaySky for each viewer. The token, created with a data field, is populated with actual data passed to SundaySky when the video is rendered for the viewer. With this method, you can personalize the on-screen text, the narration, or even show each viewer a unique media asset according to the URL in the data record that you provide to SundaySky. |
| Example | Hi {first name}! |
| How do I implement this in the data library? | In most cases, you'll only need to create a data field that represents the content that you want to personalize. For the example above, you would create a data field called First Name. |
| Special guidelines | If you are implementing this method in a narration, you'll need to create a data field and the possible values that the data field can have. For example: To narrate Thank you for purchasing the {plan name} plan you would create a data field called Plan Name together with the possible values that this data field can have (gold, silver, platinum). |
| How is it used? | The video is personalized for a specific audience segment according to a value that exists in the source data record. |
| Example | The on-screen text displayed to the viewer is based on the age group to which the viewer belongs. |
| How do I implement this in the data library? | You'll need to create a data field that represents the audience attribute, together with the values that this attribute can have. For the example above, you would create a data field called Age Group together with the possible values that this data field can have (Gen Y, Gen Z, Baby Boomer). |
In deciding which data fields you want to use, you will want to make sure that your company records hold the data that you want to use for personalizing the video. If you create a data field for a viewer's first name, the first name of your viewer needs to exist in the data source that you will connect to your video.
At the end of this step, you should have a list of the data fields that you want to use to personalize your video. Here's an example:
- First name
- Plan name
- Location
- Age Group
Step 2: Select a Data Library
Note:
If your account does not yet have any data library, you'll need to create one in this step.
After deciding on the data fields that you want to use for personalization, you'll now need to connect your video to a data library that contains these fields so that you can use them for configuring the content. In most cases, your account will have several data libraries that are used for personalization. Before making your selection, make sure that:
- The data library is connected to the source in your company that holds the data set pertaining to your audience.
- The data library contains the data fields that you want to use. In case the library is missing a few fields that you require, these can always be added.
If a description has been added to the data library, this will provide you with more information regarding its usage. You can take this information into consideration before deciding on which data library to select.
Data libraries are designed to serve multiple videos, thereby saving you time and effort needed for creating and setting them up. We highly recommend not creating a new data library when the fields you require already exist in an existing library. Also, if a data library is connected to a source holding the data that you need and is only missing a few data fields for personalization, the recommended action is to add the data fields and not create a new library.
To learn more about implementing this step, see the following articles:
Selecting an Existing Data Library
Creating a New Data Library
At the end of this step, you will have either selected an existing data library for your video or created a new data library. Inside the data library, you will also have selected a data connector and mapped the data fields.
Step 3: Configure the Data Fields in the Scenes
You're now ready to configure the content in the video's scenes using the data fields in the library that you selected.
On-screen text, narration, and media can be personalized using either a personalization token or audience messaging. In addition, you can also define that a specific scene will not be shown to viewers who belong to a specific audience segment.
In the example below, a personalization token is used to customize the text according to the first name of the employee watching the video.
In the following articles, you'll find step-by-step instructions to configure the different types of content:
Setting Up Personalized Text Using a Personalization Token
Text: Message by Audience
Setting Up Personalized Narration Using a Personalization Token
Narration: Message by Audience
Configuring Media According to Data Feed
Media: Message by Audience
Showing or Skipping a Scene by Audience
At the end of this step, you will have completed the configuration of all the relevant content in the video.
Step 4: Approve the Video
After you've finished creating your video—including the configuration of all the personalized content—we recommend that you preview the video using viewer profiles to make sure that it looks exactly as you want.
When you're happy with the result, you will need to approve the video in order to lock in all the edits that you've made. Approving is always a prerequisite to sharing a video with your audience.
At the end of this step, you will have approved the video successfully.
Step 5: Share the Video
In this last step of the personalization process, you're ready to share your video with your audience. The SundaySky Video Platform enables sharing a video via a wide variety of options. All users, from tech novice to tech-savvy, can implement the sharing option best suited to their technical expertise and resources.
To learn how to share, see Sharing a Video.
At the end of this step, you will have shared the video successfully.