Why Website Personalization Matters

By Matthew Guay

So here's the issue: it’s 2022 and searching the web is far from a new activity that goes on in today's society. More and more everyday users are choosing to save their own time by moving from website to website instead of from store to store. Amazon and social media prove tailored offers and experiences create results and generate growth. 

It can be intimidating for an organization to utilize its website to max potential because of some still very real hurdles that were prevalent even a decade ago:

1. Understanding the technical skills involved in maintaining a website to optimize growth.
2. Understanding the proper resource allocations to achieve goals and benchmarks.
3. Utilizing the very precious and valuable data at one's disposal.

There are solutions to these hurdles that don’t require the use of sophisticated algorithms that companies like Amazon use, and that also don’t require IT specialists to build a unique infrastructure. It just requires a little bit of creativity and the drive to generate growth. If the new digital giants have taught us one thing it's that a tailored user experience generates growth and creates value, and this can be easily accomplished with simple website personalization.

Website Personalization at its Finest: 

Amazon uses data to help personalize the user experience. This tailored experience is assisted through the company’s advanced algorithm but at the core, the principle is executed by seeking the perfect customer relationship.  tailored experience allows Amazon to acquire rich amounts of customer data. They are the kings of implementing the 80/20 rule. 

Let’s address the elephant in the room. Amazon is a world-renowned corporation with assets to accomplish its personalization goals. As true as this statement is, it didn't happen overnight.. Amazon for a long time relied on satisfying their current audience.. They started by offering books conveniently, then moved on to inform their audience of new tailored recommendations, and finally encouraged the same audience to explore more options by experiencing entertaining book reviews (a modern-day triple threat if you will). The secret is website personalization.

The easiest solution is often the best. : 

Let's create an easy example: you’re the owner of a hardware store with locations in Chicago and L.A and you want to increase 1st quarter traffic and retention. On your website, you would want to make that experience tailored for Chicago to show more snow management products as compared to L.A which would show moister control related products; a potential user in L.A has no use for a snow shovel. But in Chicago, it’s prime shovel season!

The ability to personalize your website content in an elegant way is how the big players became big, but now being able to do so in a non-intrusive way is what is holding the average business

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX0UXvdPmMU