Email personalization has gained importance to marketers for quite some time. Personalizing subject lines and address lines has been shown again and again to lead to an increase in open and click rates. But website personalization can be just as
important. In fact, 74% of web users get frustrated when websites don't offer them pages based on their interests and behavior.
Yet, a recent study revealed that currently, only 23% of marketers use website personalization in their web design efforts, with only 5% noting they were using it extensively. What is their challenge, and how can the situation be improved?
Unlike email personalization, which can be done easily with many of today's email marketing tools, website personalization is much more intricate. Instead of simply adding naming codes to your email, personalizing a website means tracking viewer's past web behavior and actions. For e-commerce companies, that means tracking past purchases to recommend products. For everyone else, cookies may be needed for tracking purposes.
SEE ALSO: Why your website should be mobile friendly.
Either option requires extensive technical knowledge, which many companies do not have readily available. In fact, according to our report, a lack of in-house expertise was among the top challenges online marketers face today. A lack of necessary budget funds is also among the top challenges, and often comes into play.
Fortunately, better days are on the horizon. Automated personalization is all the rage in the field of web design, promising one-on-one marketing on a large scale without the headaches that often accompany personalization for the less tech-savvy marketing professionals. Many services now offer Customer Relationship Management software that automatically customizes individual web pages based on the user's past web behavior.
According to the report, 36% of web marketers utilizing personalization take advantage of automated services, and that number is expected to increase as the importance of personalization becomes common knowledge. Website personalization is here to stay, shifting the question from 'why' do 'how'.
At EnvisionIT Solutions, we'll be happy to provide you with the ideal web design for your needs. Contact us to find out more!
