As the web continues to evolve and expand, it’s hard to ignore that users are getting pretty used to the idea that their web experience should be tailored to their unique tastes, interests, and even the devices that they are using. After all, ads and search results are based on search history, responsive website designs serve up the best format based on the device of the visitor, and online consumers are offered personalized buying recommendations based on what they and their connections have purchased before. The next logical step is that a website’s content itself should be tailored to the individual.
The truth is this is far from a new concept.
Sites like Amazon.com nail it when it comes to personalizing the customer experience and providing content and product recommendations to match the person’s history and profile. But, Amazon is well, Amazon. They’ve got more than enough money to spend on developing and implementing such a system. What about the average small business with a website?
Enter: dynamic website personalization. Dynamic website personalization (DWP) is the ability to dynamically change the content, messaging and offers displayed to a select visitor based on a set of criteria, such as website behavior, actions, the stage of the buying process, and the person’s interests.
Now Hubspot, the popular inbound marketing platform, is one of the first services to offer DWP functionality for the small business market. Users are able to create what Hubspot calls, “SMART Content” and “SMART Call-to-Actions,” which would further work to dynamically change the content based on a set of criteria.
We’re probably looking at a few years before this becomes the mainstream user experience across the web. “Static” web pages will become a thing of the past as users get more comfortable with the idea that various parties and entities are watching their online behavior and deciding what content and messages they see. Chances are pretty good that users will even come to expect the personalization and customized recommendations.
Whether this is good or bad, this is where the web is heading, and business owners would do well to pay attention to it as it happens.