• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, October 13, 2010

Vegas.com is on a path to deploy opt-in behavioral targeting technology to support Las Vegas casinos.

Mike Brown, vice president of optimization at Vegas.com, wants to tap into GPS and local-based functions that today's technology and smartphones offers. "We don't want to creep out people like in the 'Minority Report,' where the billboards jump out and say your name," he says. "Most casinos, however, are interested in targeting, but not all know what to do with it."

The idea to serve up coupons and specials based on opt-in processes, location and discounts could have Vegas.com deploying some sort of behavioral targeting technology within six months. Most major casinos have mini cell towers distributed throughout their properties, so serving up specials and coupons isn't a problem.

Brown and I got on the subject of casinos targeting consumers based on behavior and location after talking about SiteSpect, a tool that detects key mobile device capabilities that marketers can use for content targeting, enabling them to discover how varying types of mobile-optimized content influence user behavior.

Initial tests using SiteSpect optimized the top of the purchase funnel. This week Vegas.com will launch "the hardcore technology purchase steps" for most of its products. This means all pages on the mobile platform, from the home to the confirmation pages, become fully optimized.

New targeting capabilities gives Web marketers and analysts the ability to test, measure, and deliver the content, layout, and promotional offers geared toward each mobile device category.

Vegas.com ran an A/B test campaign using SiteSpect, targeting only mobile users. Half of the mobile users saw the original desktop-oriented site, while the other half saw the mobile-specific test content. Brown's team used SiteSpect to measure dozens of performance metrics to find out exactly how the two versions of the site influenced mobile user behavior.

In the mobile A/B test, Vegas.com's mobile content outperformed regular non-mobile content across a number of key metrics. Some improvements that Vegas.com achieved include 22% reduction in bounce rate, 16% increase in page views, 14% increase in hotel searches, and double-digit lift in conversion rate.