Personalization

Without personalization, the Web is a 'static' environment where every user is presented with the same content and users will select which content to view based on navigation and search results. As a result without personalization Web Experience Management is predominantly a low engagement 'pull' relationship that a user has with content.

Personalization changes this relationship into an environment where the web assists the user in their voyage of discovery by pushing content to the forefront in a manner that is specific to their 'journey' or interest.

In this way the web content is deemed to be managed and the content provided in context to the user.

'Personalization' is not a new term. It originally became popular in the mid 1990's with products such as ATG and Broad vision as a means of elevating a website to a level of functionality that enhances the visitor experience. However, the first time around the complexity involved in deploying such technologies was such that only the 'richest' websites could afford to deploy and maintain the technologies required. Early pioneers of personalization would be companies like Amazon and Ebay.

It can help your visitors maximize their experience whilst on your site and ensure they re-visit in a way that is simply not possible with a 'non personalized website'.

Is personalization for every organization? Probably not. If your website does not have enough content to personalize then there is little point in trying to fragment it into profiles or tracked experiences and change how content is displayed as the technical and business overhead and cost of managing content in this fashion would simply out way the benefit - but if your site is large and you are struggling to ensure users get presented with appropriate content - then it would be one very powerful way to improve the user experience.