Behavioral Targeting: A Web Analytics Approach to Segmentation- Part 2

In my prior post, I discussed using segmentation as a way to better understand key metrics by removing the noise of your non-targeted site audience. For this post I would like to discuss some guidelines for identifying segments and targeting them to help improve key performance indicators.

By using Web Analytics data, you can identify different segments based on specific actions that your site visitors are taking once on your website. Trying to remain broad here as there are many different types of websites; any action a user takes with your website, through a call center, or in-store, defines an opportunity to identify a behavior. That behavior can provide some very valuable information that can benefit marketers with re-targeting strategies.

For example, let’s say that you have a content site with lots of information that is separated into different categories. You could target your returning visitors with ads that are relevant to their interests based on the different sections of the site that they visited.

 Another example would include someone who visits a commerce site repeatedly because they are in the research phase of learning about one of the products that you carry. After the second or third visit to a specific product page, you could serve them a type of incentive to persuade them to purchase at that time. I hope your competitors haven’t thought of that yet.

Here are some guidelines to help with your behavioral targeting strategy:

1.       Clearly define the goals of your website

2.       Identify key segments (Note that additional research aside from web analytics data may be necessary to define)

3.       Understand the goals for each of your segments and the increased value they will provide

4.       Select the appropriate tools that will allow you to target your site visitors

5.       After implementation, analyze your segments and identify improvement opportunities

Behavioral targeting is not a one time initiative; a continuous improvement plan should be performed as segmented behavior may change over time depending on your website goals.