Allowing for Personal Choice -- HTML or Text E-Mail

When you ask readers whether they want your e-mail newsletter in HTML or text e-mail, be sure to honor their preference.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2001). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email

Anonymous Personalization: Part I

Personalization versus privacy. It's not a question of which will ultimately prevail. But rather, how can we have both?

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2003). Design>Web Design>Personalization>Privacy

Anonymous Personalization: Part II

Personalization doesn't always require that you obtain personally identifiable information about a visitor -- many times you can personalize your Web content by only knowing their interests and preferences.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2003). Design>Web Design>Personalization

Applying Personalization to the Purchase Decision Process

The idea of personalizing Web and e-mail content is becoming well accepted because most of us already personalize the person-to-person communications that we use every day. However, planning a personalized web site has proven to be more of a challenge than many marketers had imagined.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2003). Design>Web Design>Personalization

Ask Once And Remember

Have you ever tried to place an order with a salesperson or waiter and found yourself answering the same questions over and over again? There are many sites on the Web where this occurs, such as those with product locator searches, shopping carts, and other functions that are supposed to make Web sites more interactive.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2003). Design>Web Design>Personalization

Be Open to Closed-Loop Marketing

Though it's sometimes tough to implement, making marketers feel as if they're going in circles, closed-loop marketing can help you adjust marketing campaigns to deliver highly targeted content and advertising.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2001). Design>Web Design>Marketing

Bimodal Distributions Contain Clues

One of the most unusual aspects of data about people and nature is its uneven distribution. Explore the non-normal distribution called bimodal distribution.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2001). Design>Web Design>Statistics>Log Analysis

Building Relationships With Personalization

Understanding what personalization is all about regarding potential customers. Variables that can affect how fast a relationship can be developed.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2003). Design>Web Design>Personalization>CRM

Conversational Web Sites

Web technology makes it very easy to quickly communicate with so many people that it's easy to forget the overriding purpose of creating a powerful Web site.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2003). Design>Web Design>Community Building

Correlating Web-User Data

The statistical term 'correlation' has found its way into popular business language. Often, though, no measurement of correlation has actually taken place. That's too bad. Because there's probably a correlation between measuring correlation and increasing revenue.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2001). Design>Web Design>E Commerce>Log Analysis

Correlating Web-User Data

Everything served to a visitor -- from the first page through marketing, sales, and product fulfillment -- generates data about the customer. Web marketers can tap into this 'free' source of profile data for just the cost of converting existing data into a format that can be used by a data-analysis program.

Allen, Cliff. ClickZ (2001). Articles>Usability>Web Design>Log Analysis

CRM: A Way of Thinking About Customers

Marketers have many ways to influence customers' purchasing behavior and decisions. They start with advertising aimed at acquiring new customers and continue through sales and customer service that generate repeat orders. Until recently, it was normal for many of these functions to be performed by a company's different departments, which did not act as a unified team.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2003). Design>Web Design>Marketing>CRM

Customer Service In Good Form

Online product registration forms can make customer service easier for the manufacturer and more valuable to the customer.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2001). Design>Web Design>Forms>E Commerce

Do Web Enhancements Pay Off?

It's commonly thought that investing in loyalty-building features such as personalization is a sure-fire way to increase profits. This is because it costs less to keep a customer than to attract one in the first place. However, a deeper look into the economic value of Web site enhancements might have you changing your priorities.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2001). Design>Web Design>Marketing

Emotions Trigger The Right Moves

We pump out a lot of information about product features and benefits on the Web, but have you taken a look at how much -- or maybe how little -- we use emotional appeals to help customers buy our products? Take a look at how customers make purchase decisions.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2001). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing>Emotions

Guiding Visitors Through Your Site With Profiling

Have you noticed how few Web sites give special treatment to people who return numerous times? Fortunately, there are tools and techniques that can help you guide visitors through your site based on their interest profile.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2003). Design>Web Design>Personalization

Higher Quality Content Means Higher Quality Prospects

The quality and amount of content are major factors in the success of a site, because it's the content -- text, photos, and illustrations -- that helps customers determine whether they want to do business with that company.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2003). Design>Web Design>Personalization

Less Is More: The Magic of Personalization

I recently delivered a talk about using profile data to personalize Web site content. A question from the audience was: 'Do personalized pages take longer to download than static pages?' A good question because some people think the extra processing time of personalization will slow the creation and delivery of pages. The answer turns out to be a case of both 'less is more' and 'more is less.'

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2003). Design>Web Design>Personalization

Making Sure Words Communicate

Words, graphics, and photographs are the tools used to communicate with customers, and a Web site is one way to deliver that message. We need to choose our words carefully.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2001). Articles>Web Design>Writing

Personalization vs. Customization

The concept of personalizing for customers is certainly not new. But the Web elevates it to a near art form. The Web is the perfect marketing environment for precision marketing, because individuals can be uniquely identified, and a message can be tailored specifically to them.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2003). Design>Web Design>Personalization>Marketing

Planning for One-to-One Web Marketing

The key to a successful advertising campaign is repetition. The same is true for a successful Web site. Marketing managers know that repeat contact with prospects develops an affinity for your products and services - and therefore, greater revenue.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2003). Articles>Web Design>Marketing>Writing

Segmenting the Market

Profiling individuals on the Web allows us to not only select which message to deliver to each individual, but also helps us learn about the needs and interests of each person. This can be used to segment an audience in ways that traditional direct marketers have only dreamed of.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2001). Design>Web Design>Marketing

Tailoring Your Site to Your Visitors

Consider using one of the technologies to tailor the look of the home page and recognize each time a visitor returns to your site.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2003). Design>Web Design>Personalization

Updating Visitor Profiles

Changing needs means Web visitors need to have their interest profile updated.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2003). Design>Web Design>Assessment

Web Personalization for One-to-One Web Marketing

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.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2003). Design>Web Design>Personalization>Marketing