AirForce.com was designed to listen and learn about each user in order to customize a personal journey for every person that visits the site.

Using both traditional and interactive site elements, the site is able to learn and adapt to several key areas that collectively make each person unique: gender, education level, life goals and personal skills, interests and strengths. Every new piece of information allows the site to streamline pathways and update headlines, copy and imagery in a way that we’re able to speak specifically to each user. With every click, interaction and page visit, the site becomes smarter and is able to intuit every person’s needs while simultaneously helping them learn more about themselves and how they fit in to the Air Force’s story.

The user data collected personalizes the website experience in real time and is also passed to Google Analytics so that KPIs can then be evaluated separately by user group, like career interest or life stage. This allows us to make changes and improve individual personalization paths.

We also A/B test what we call “conversion satellites” on many of the most trafficked pages. These conversion satellites include prominent browser width banner-like calls to action like Apply Now, FAQ and Live Chat. By determining the best calls to action for each user path, we increase the rate of completed applications.

Since launch, we have seen massive increases in applications and a more efficient user experience. The website conversion rate of applications to the U.S. Air Force improved by 60% since we’ve implemented personalization.

AirForce.com was developed entirely based on user data. It’s a site that learns and adapts to serve each user with a unique site customized to their interests, life stage and motivations in real time.

To ensure the site met business goals for both universal and the personalized users, we relied heavily on both analytics and behavioral data from the current site as well as an advanced approach to customizing the new experience based on site behavior as users navigated through the site.

Every interaction on the site is designed to gather data and learn more about each person, their needs and their motivations. With every new question they answer or page they visit, we’re able to tag their profile so we can update the imagery, adjust copy and suggested pathways in a way that speaks to them more personally.

The personalization data is stored in browser local storage and will persist until it is cleared. So whether or not they’re logged into their profile, all of the tags associated with them will continue to personalize the elements of the site and help guide the user’s pathway to pages that are relevant to them and their interests.

As one of the most high-tech entities in the world, the success of the Air Force is dependent on their ability to continually recruit the brightest young minds. The problem? Today’s youth are paralyzed by career options and desperately searching for their place in this world. They are not interested in becoming just another cog in a wheel but are looking to express their individuality and have options tailored to their interests. The brief was clear: to reinvigorate and reinvent AirForce.com to be a platform that inspires, informs and helps recruit the next generation of Airmen for years to come.

And to do it with a narrative that is customized just for them.