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Personalization is when a site is adjusted to respond to the personal characteristics of the visitor. In 1 to 1 Marketing, this is done either automatically through systems or manually by the site administrators, to force certain information to the visitor based on collected characteristics. In what is called customization, the user has control and selects "channels" of information they desire to receive. another method, and perhaps hardest to implement successfully, is collaborative filtering, whereby group behavior and preferences are used to provide recommendations to individuals.
To quote a paper by Argus Associates: "In general, we will define a personalization system as any piece of software that applies business rules to profiles of users and content to provide a variable set of user interfaces." We will use this same definition through out this publication.
Examples of simple personalization technologies include weather information provided to users based on their ZIP codes, remembering a users name so that they are greeted to the site when they return, providing other local information, etc. More sophisticated examples include the sort of recommendations for purchases used at Amazon and other large retailers.
Why personalize?
Is personalization useful? Personalization technologies are becoming separated from other content management solutions due to expense and specialization... Are there affordable technologies for providing personalization or customization to users? How do you determine if personalization is right for your site and your users? How does personalization and customization technology impact other technology choices? When should personalization technologies be implemented?
This area of the site contains articles, notes, and links to other resources that will help you answer these questions. |
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Resource Links
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Everything You Need to Know About Personalization - in depth at what personalization means for internet developers, why it's important, and how to implement a good strategy for personalization on the internet (+info)
IBM on Web site personalization - This paper introduces current and future techniques for personalizing your Web site. Techniques for maximizing the performance of personalized Web sites, such as content caching, are also discussed (+info)
Is website personalization counter-productive? - Tim Oren's notes and opinions on technology, venture investing, Silicon Valley, life, the universe and everything.
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Meaningful personalization - Websites, software, and consumer products should be customizable, but that customization must be more than mere "coolness". Personalization should make users more effective by helping them reach their goals (+info)
Personalization and the Power to Control - Academic Weblog on Information Privacy and the Relationship Marketing concept (+info)
Personalization is Over-Rated - Jakob Nielsen says Web personalization is much over-rated and mainly used as a poor excuse for not designing a navigable website (+info)
Personalization: Stickiness in an etailing environment - Simply stated, website personalization means that the website caters to different users differently (+info)
Report slams Web personalization - update Companies trying to get personal with their Web site visitors in hopes of increasing sales are wasting more money than they're earning, warns a new report (+info)
Survey: Website Personalization - from CIO magazine... Cyber Behavior Research Center (+info)
What is Personalization - On a Web site, personalization is the process of tailoring pages to individual users' characteristics or preferences (+info)
Why personalization hasn't worked - Personalization hasn't worked because most people don't have a compelling reason to personalize (+info)
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Personalization/Customization
