Which Personalization Tools Work For eCommerce — And Why

While Web site personalization has been a hot eCommerce topic for years, managers of online businesses know that executing Web site personalization is not easy. In spite of consumer affinity for personalization, few companies other than Amazon.com and Netflix execute it in a turnkey, efficient, and effective way. As evidenced by these success stories, eCommerce personalization can be very rewarding. However, most eCommerce sites that do personalize their experiences carry the process out manually. That no longer needs to be the case, as personalization is now easier then ever: Fast integration and a significant decrease in deployment costs mean that it is now time for eBusiness executives to reconsider off-the-shelf personalization tools. A slew of relatively new personalization vendors (and some older companies with new offerings) have created automated solutions to make eCommerce personalization easier and, in many cases, more affordable. While most of these tools are still young and evolving, clients indicate that personalization does lift key metrics such as conversion and revenue.