Читать книгу Low-Budget Online Marketing - Holly Berkley - Страница 22

In case you have never purchased a book or cd on Amazon.com, here’s a rundown of how their personalization technology works. When you search for a product on www.Amazon.com, the website records this, then uses that information to target ads and messages to you.

I recently purchased U2’s newest cd online. At the virtual checkout stand, the website suggested more products related to my purchase and provided a list of cds purchased by other people who like U2. Before my purchase was completed,

Amazon.com directed me to one last page encouraging me to send a coupon for my same U2 cd to my friends and family. This is a great example of viral marketing. Rather than Amazon.com soliciting new customers, the email coupon (and product endorsement) would come directly from me — a trusted family member or friend.

A few weeks after my purchase, I received an email telling me about a new cd. The email said, “Hi Holly. As someone who just purchased U2’s latest cd, we thought you’d like 10 percent off these cds.” The message included a list of cds by artists similar to U2, along with direct links for more information about each cd.

Amazon.com goes so far as to customize its home page based on products a customer has purchased recently. Each time I visit Amazon.com from my home computer, the top of the screen says, “Welcome Back, Holly! Here are some recommended products for you ... ” When I visited the home page of Amazon.com recently, it listed a biography, poster, and other items I might like based on my recent purchase.

Now this is personalization at its best. From tracking a customer’s movement and purchase patterns, it comes full circle through follow-up emails and a personalized home page. This may be a perfect use of personalization, but it’s also a multimillion-dollar technology.

On a limited budget, you won’t be able to achieve personalization on the same scale as Amazon.com. However, there are some basic and very effective things you can do with little to no budget that will give your customers the illusion of personalization and ultimately make them think, “This website is for me!”