Personalisation lets you tailor what visitors see on your website based on who they are. Whether that's a school group booker, a gold-level member, or a first-time donor. The result is a more relevant experience for your audience, and a smarter way to use the content you're already creating.
This guide walks through the core tools, then gives you ready-made scenarios you can adapt and use straight away.
Before you start
Personalisation in CultureSuite is built around Visitor Tags and content visibility settings. It helps to understand both before diving into the scenarios.
For a full breakdown of how each works, see:
What is a Visitor Tag?
A Visitor Tag is a label attached to a visitor's account. Tags can come from two places:
- Your ticketing system: These sync automatically when the visitor logs in.
- The CultureSuite website: Tags you create in the CMS, based on actions or groups defined within the platform.
To view and manage Visitor Tags, go to Marketing > Visitor Tags.
What is content visibility?
Every part on a Stories page has visibility settings. You can set a part, or an entire page, to only show to visitors who have a specific Visitor tag. Visitors without that tag simply won't see it.
This means you can create one page with multiple parts, each targeted at a different audience, without needing separate pages for every group.
Three keys to personalisation success
Almost every personalisation scenario in this guide uses some combination of these three actions.
- Check your Visitor Tags are active: Go to Marketing > Visitor Tags. Tags that are greyed out are not active and can't be used for personalisation. Activate any tags you want to use.
- Set visibility on a part: Open any part on a Stories page, go to the Visibility tab, select Advanced, and choose which Visitor Tag(s) should see it.
- Use Dashboard notes: When you have multiple parts on a page with different visibility settings, use the Dashboard note field on each part to record what it's for and who it's shown to. Your future self will thank you.
Scenarios
Scenario 1: Schools booking page
The situation: You want a dedicated page for school group bookers with tailored event listings and practical booking information – without it appearing in your general What's On for everyone else.
What you need first:
- A Visitor Tag for school group bookers.
- Create this in your Ticketing System and add to your account and login.
- This creates it in the Culture CMS. Update in Marketing > Visitor Tags.
- It's also worth thinking about how your schools-relevant Productions are organised before you build. If they're already grouped by genre tag, theme, or location, you may be able to pull them in using existing filters. If not, the simplest approach is to link them directly using a Related Productions part (see step 3 below).
How to set up a Schools booking page ⬇️
- Go to Stories > Pages and create a new page (or open an existing one you want to use).
- Add the parts you want all visitors to see:
- A hero image and a general introduction work well here. This acts as your landing page content for anyone who arrives without being logged in.
- Add a Events part for the school-specific event listings or information.
- Events (via Themes) > Select the relevant theme
- Events list > in Configuration use either the genres or theme parameter to filter the Events part, depending on how you have tagged your Productions.
- Related Productions > on the Page details tab > Other select the Related productions from the searchable drop down
- Open that part, go to Visibility > Advanced, and select your schools Visitor Tag.
- In Details add a Dashboard note to the part, for example: "Visible to: School group bookers only."
- Save.
- Share the page link directly with school contacts. They'll need to be logged in to see the personalised content.
What the visitor sees:
- A logged out visitor or logged-in visitor without the schools tag sees the hero and general introduction only – enough context to understand the page and log in.
- A logged-in school group booker sees the full page, including the tailored event listings and booking information.
Scenario 2: Membership upsell page
The situation: You want to encourage members to upgrade their membership, showing each person only the levels above their current one and not the tier they already have or below.
What you need first:
- Visitor Tags for each membership level (e.g. Bronze Member, Silver Member, Gold Member). These will come from your ticketing system.
How to set up a Membership upsell page ⬇️
- Go to Stories > Pages and create or open your membership page.
- Create a separate content part for each membership upsell:
- one for none members (Bronze)
- one for Bronze-to-Silver
- one for Silver-to-Gold
- one for top-tier members (e.g. an exclusive offer or thank-you message).
- For the Bronze part: go to Visibility > Advanced and set it Hide from visitors with the Silver or Gold Member tag. Save.
- For the Bronze-to-Silver part: go to Visibility > Advanced and set it Hide from visitors with the Silver or Gold Member tag. Save.
- For the Silver-to-Gold part: Visibility > Advanced and set it Hide from visitors with the Gold Member tag. Save
- For the top-tier part: set it to show only to visitors with the Gold Member tag. Save.
- Add a Dashboard note to each part, for example: "Shown to: Bronze Members only – upsell to Silver."
What the visitor sees:
- A logged-out visitor or logged-in visitor without any membership tags sees the whole page.
- A Bronze member sees the Silver and Gold upsell content only.
- A Silver member sees only the Gold upsell.
- A Gold member sees a thank-you or exclusive offer – nothing below their level.
Scenario 3: Exclusive member events (fundraising)
The situation: You're running events exclusively for donors at a certain level – a private concert for £2,500+ donors, an open dress rehearsal for £1,000+ donors. You don't want lower-tier donors or the general public to even know these events exist.
What you need first:
- Visitor Tags corresponding to each donor or membership level.
How to set up exclusive member events ⬇️
- In Events & Productions, open the relevant Production and in the Properties dropdown select Hidden from overviews and homepage. It won't appear in your general What's On or on the Homepage, but it can still be linked to from a page.
- Go to Stories > Pages and create a Stories page (or add to an existing member portal page).
- Add a Description part explaining donors need to log in.
- Set the visibility of that events part to Advanced, selecting to Hide from the relevant donor-level Visitor Tags.
- Add in any content parts for your donors for example Description.
- Add a Related Productions part to the page.
- Set the visibility of that events part to Advanced, selecting only the relevant donor-level Visitor Tags.
- Go to Page Settings scroll down to Other and select the exclusive Productions in from the Related productions searchable dropdown.
Walk through of adding Related productions and setting visibility to only donors
- You can also set the visibility of the entire page to Advanced if the whole page is exclusively for members.
- Save.
What the visitor sees:
- A visitor without a qualifying donor tag sees no trace of the exclusive event – it doesn't appear in What's On, on the Homepage, or anywhere on the member portal page.
- A visitor with the qualifying donor tag sees the event listed on the member portal page and can click through to book.
Scenario 4: The Welcome banner
The situation: You want a simple, warm touch, greeting logged-in visitors by name or membership level on your Homepage.
This is the quickest personalisation win and a great starting point if you're new to the feature.
How to set up the Welcome banner ⬇️
- Go to System > Routes & Parts > Homepage.
- Look for the Welcome part
- The Welcome part will display a personalised greeting to logged-in users. For example, "Welcome back, [visitor name]" using the visitor's account information automatically.
What the visitor sees:
- A logged-out visitor sees the homepage as normal, with no personalised greeting.
- A logged-in visitor sees a welcome message using their name or membership level. For example, "Welcome back, Gold Member" – in the banner area and in the account drop down.
No Visitor Tag setup needed for this one. It works as soon as a visitor logs in.
Scenario 5: Members-only events using presale settings (Advanced)
The situation: You want an event to be available exclusively to members, with it never going on general sale, so that only visitors with the right Visitor tag can purchase tickets, regardless of how they find the page.
This goes a step further than page visibility: it restricts purchase access at the event level using group presale settings, in combination with your ticketing system's sale processes.
What you need first:
- Visitor Tags for the relevant member group(s)
- An understanding of how your ticketing system handles presales or restricted sales
How to set up Members-only events ⬇️
- In Event Metadata > Groups, configure the presale settings for the relevant group so the event remains in presale indefinitely – meaning it never moves to general sale.
- Turn on the Presale option of the Group in the Groups module.
- In Event Metadata > Statuses, set an appropriate event status (e.g. Members Only or Onsale for members) to communicate availability clearly to visitors who do see the event.
- In Events & Productions, on relevant productions and events:
- use the Hidden from overviews and homepage Production property so the event doesn't surface in general listings
- In the event set your members group and status or you can do this from the Groups and Status modules.
- Surface the event on a theme page or member portal page where visibility is already controlled by Visitor Tags (see Scenarios 1–3 for how to set this up).
What the visitor sees:
- A logged-out visitor or non-member sees no trace of the event anywhere on the site.
- A logged-in member with the qualifying tag sees the event on the member portal page with an active booking link.
- If a non-member somehow reaches the event URL directly, the ticketing system's controls prevent them from purchasing.
Quick reference: Building a personalised page
Step | Where to go | What to do |
Check Visitor tags are active | Marketing > Visitor Tags | Make sure relevant tags are enabled, not greyed out |
Create your page | Stories > Pages | Add parts for all audiences, including a visible landing section |
Set part visibility | Part > Visibility tab > Advanced | Select the Visitor Tag(s) that should (or should not) see this part |
Add Dashboard notes | Part > Details tab | Note who the part is for and what it does |
Test it | Log in with a test account | Verify the right content shows and hides correctly |
Things to know (recap)
Visibility works at Page level and Part level. You can hide a single content block, or lock down an entire page. For most scenarios, part-level visibility gives you more flexibility.
Tags sync on login. Visitor tags from your ticketing system are pulled across when the visitor logs in. If a visitor's tag has changed in your box office, they'll need to log in again for it to update in CultureSuite.
One page, many audiences. Rather than creating separate pages for every audience segment, a single page with multiple visibility-controlled parts is usually easier to manage – especially with good Dashboard notes.
Dashboard notes are your best friend. When you return to a page six months later, clear notes on each part will save you significant time working out what's set up and why.
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