• by Paige Mantel , August 7, 2007

Every day we read about the latest and greatest in behavioral targeting. With an additional $4.5 billion pouring into the online space this year, according to the latest IAB numbers, and consumers more jaded than ever by advertising, it's no wonder that companies are focused on new ways to break through the clutter.

What I find interesting is that despite all these efforts to customize advertising, content is rarely targeted or tailored for a visitor once they show up at a brand's Web site.

Don't believe me? Try searching Google for "flights to New York City." When I did, one of the top paid links took me to Delta.com, where I was greeted with a big promotion on trip planning ... for Boston. No specials or other content about New York, no auto-filled fields in the booking engine, nothing at all to reflect my stated interest in the Big Apple.

Orbitz didn't get me any closer to JFK; despite their "A Step Ahead" tagline, they served up a page telling me that "Prague is Calling Your Name."

In both cases, the landing page was a jumble of unrelated promotions and canned, one-size-fits-all content for an overwhelming experience that made me want to stay home.

Contrast this with the paid link from JetBlue. This time, I was taken straight to a customized landing page that was all about my trip to New York. Not only was the booking engine pre-populated with JFK as the destination airport, the page also highlighted the latest rates to NYC from other major cities, all-inclusive getaway deals, and activities to enjoy once I'm there. And nothing else--no unrelated, irrelevant content--in sight.

Which airline do you think is getting more out of their paid link?

There's no excuse for failing to greet customers with a more personalized, relevant experience when they arrive at a Web site.

Tools to create, deploy, and deliver customized content--designed for use by businesspeople, not developers--are readily available, and the bottom line impact can be considerable. It's leading-edge, but it's hardly rocket science.

From the moment a visitor arrives at your Web site, you know several things about them: their location, their browser type, the site they came from, and any search terms they may have used to find your site. Based on this information, you can easily define several distinct customer segments, create a customized experience for each, and deliver it dynamically based on simple targeting rules.

Take a home finance website, for example. If the visitor searched for a basic term like "home loan," there's a good chance that they're new to the market, and maybe a little nervous. Instead of scaring them off with complex details and big words, greet them with an easily digestible offer or a simple-to-use quote engine.

On the other hand, if the customer searched for "30-year fixed mortgage," they already have a good idea of what they're looking for. Don't waste their time with a generic landing page and multi-layered navigation; just take them straight to the relevant product page, perhaps with contact information for local offices in their region.

Even this basic level of audience segmentation and targeting can move the needle, but it's only the beginning.

Everything the customer does on your site--from the links they click to the questions they answer--tells you more about the online experience they're looking for. Use this online behavior to further customize and personalize the experience you deliver, from content to applications to navigation.

Divide your traffic between two different versions of a given page and track which one performs better. Test variations of online forms to reduce abandonment and increase customer acquisition.

As both consumers and advertisers spend unprecedented amounts online, there's too much at stake to treat your Web site visitors like just another pair of eyeballs. Listen to what they're trying to tell you, and give them the personalized treatment they're asking for.

It can make the difference between an unimpressed prospect and a loyal customer.