Predict the future and stay on top with dynamic conditional content

Blog Post | Aug 30th, 2021

If there’s any chance of rain, I’m bringing a poncho on my hike. If I’m packing a suitcase for a trip and there's a possibility that we’ll dine out, I’ll throw in a nice shirt to wear to dinner. If there’s a chance for delays in my travel plans, I’ll pack some extra water, a snack, and a battery back-up in case I need to charge my phone.

We’re constantly preparing for future conditions that may or may not happen. It’s easy to pack a clean shirt and a pair of nice shoes even if you’re not sure you’ll need them. A poncho is a no-brainer. You just stuff it in the bottom of your backpack on your way out the door.

Anticipate future events

But what about when we write and produce media that’s designed to inform and persuade? Are we always prepared for future conditions? Usually not.

Do you ever anticipate a range of possible future conditions that could influence your buyer’s behavior?

Do you have information you’d like to immediately share with customers if certain external conditions are met?

The web is an interactive medium. With basic JavaScript programming, we can add all kinds of conditions to our media. A few ideas:

Write out multiple headlines that change according to predefined conditions

  • A news event
  • Business conditions
  • Inventory changes
  • Price changes
  • Shifts in public opinion
  • Survey results
  • Market segmentation decisions
  • Change in the weather

Use live data in your copy

Inserting live statistics will improve the relevance of your mostly static content. Hook your page up to your API of choice to use real-time statistics in your copy. You can even insert formulas into your code that evaluate the data live so you can present it however you wish.

Add or remove specific content according to conditions

When it's raining, my local pharmacy chain always moves the umbrellas to the front of the store near the register. On sunny days, the umbrellas move to the back of the store so they use the high traffic area for more relevant promotions. You can do the same with your content, product descriptions, data visualizations, and so much more. This can be as granular as you think will be effective, from changing the featured image to switching out sentences or even specific words within a sentence.

In-page A/B testing

Test one page, not multiple pages. You no longer need to create multiple pages for A/B testing. Instead, just make one page that changes dynamically based on your algorithm. You can make changes to the layout, the copy, images, data visualizations, and more.

Interact with APIs

Any imaginable API can trigger our updates. A few examples:

  • Stock ticker
  • Weather service
  • Business application API
  • Amazon Prices
  • Auction bidding
  • Your inventory
  • Your special offers
  • Your competitor's special offers
  • Traffic surges at your page or app
  • News service
  • Automobile traffic conditions
  • Sporting event outcomes
  • Online gambling data
  • Sentiment analysis engines
  • Web scraper results and findings

Conditional sharing and promotion

Further, we can interact with delivery systems to immediately share and promote updated content the moment conditions arise. Imagine always being the first to break news because you anticipated it in advance. How might that improve your business?

Use with predictive analysis

Machine learning is awesome. Why not create conditions based on predictive algorithms? Your content can be as interactive as your level of comfort with predictions to change. For example, you could try using a combination of actual events with predictions.

Example: Fight Tees

Here’s a simple hypothetical example for a tee shirt vendor using live data from a boxing match. Imagine you own a tee shirt design business:

  1. Before the match, your designers create several designs in anticipation of the outcome. Some designs enable dynamic captions based on twitter keywords that another algorithm picks up and selects based on your predefined criteria.
  2. Use a combination of data sources to create a simple decision making algorithm
  • Gambling data
  • News feeds
  • Live event data, like number of punches
  1. Predict the future. Match looking good for one of the fighters? Dynamically promote designs that favor this specific athlete.
  2. Dynamically insert copy within the design based on twitter keywords
  3. Upvote designs live
  4. Use dynamic hype to promote upvoted designs

Planning

Of course, it’s essential to know what events are important to your audience. We all need to make smart resource allocation decisions. A few questions to consider:

  • What information is important in your unique situation?

  • What data sources could you tap to trigger meaningful dynamic changes?

  • With all these choices, what content is most essential? What content should I prioritize?

  • I like this idea, but I'd like to test it first. What would make a "doable" small project?

Make it happen

Did this post inspire you? What ideas come to mind? Send me a message if you'd like to discuss how we can make it happen!


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Written by brian kerr
"Existentialism Is a Cyborgism"
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