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Web Personalization for One-to-One Web Marketing
Today's World Wide Web market is becoming more competitive,
so it's more important than ever to provide customers with an interactive, personal
Web experience.
According to a Forrester Research
report, "As the general content of the Web gets broader,
individuals will cease aimless surfing activity and gravitate
toward sites that deliver products and services customized to
their needs. Sites must plan now to respond to this expectation
or risk being left behind as the Web changes to a personal medium."
Web personalization allows you to have a Web
site that tailors Web content to a Web user's preferences and
other profile information. In addition, a personalization system logs every
Web page displayed to every user so you can develop a "clickstream"
view of what they saw, when they saw it, and for how long. Just
imagine what you could learn about your audience with a complete
understanding of their Web usage.
The personalized Web site provides benefits for your
customers and your company. For Web users, they will enjoy receiving
information that fits their unique needs. In this very competitive
Web marketplace it is easy for users to comparison shop and switch
back and forth between Web-based organizations. With personalization
you are able to form loyal and long-lasting
relationships with each individual. Today, Web personalization is cost-effective
that is easy to implement, so you can provide this special
service to your Web customers rapidly.
Whether you provide products, information, or produce
an on-line multi-player game,
A personalized Web site gives you the freedom and flexibility
to gather information about each individual in
your audience and present them with custom Web pages
- created in real-time "on the fly."
Benefits of Personalization
- Form lasting and loyal relationships with customers
by profiling individualized content, information, offerings and
services. As it has been stated many times before, it is more
profitable and easier to sell to existing customers.
- Learn more about customers--learn and understand
the why and how they prefer to do business with your organization.
This type of customer information is key to success in business
today and into the future.
- Web personalization coupled with tracking provides
you with a powerful tool to monitor the performance of your Web
site--what works, what doesn't. Personalization can help your find
out what makes your audience "click."
What Personalization Can Do for You
In addition to being able to store and retrieve information
in an individual's profile "on the fly,"
you can also create "wizards" - software
that can analyze information in the profile database
and make recommendations or comments specific to
the individual.
Data from the profile database and clickstream log
files can be used by content creators to
understand which material is used more than others,
how long material is viewed, and in what
order material is accessed. Producers of television
programs use similar audience data based
on samples (diaries, interviews, set monitors, etc.)
to understand the viewing habits of the
audience. With personalization, you can gather detailed
information about every member of your
audience -- and tailor the presentation to each individual.
Cliff Allen is the co-author of the book One-to-One Web Marketing; 2nd Ed., published by John Wiley & Sons, and has consulted with companies on strategic marketing for 20 years.
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