Why Don’t You Deliver Targeted Content?
by chris maddock

Not long ago I rewrote the Universal Studios Orlando site. I noticed that their website was treating all prospective online ticket buyers the same. That’s was a real problem because unlike Disney World, Universal Studios gets a lot of twenty and thirty somethings visiting to party and have a different type of experiences than family sought to have. To address this, we created personas reflective of the different types of customers and delivered targeted content to each before we asked them to buy tickets. We quickly doubled online ticket sales.

Why? Because we anticipated the questions and concerns of different types of visitors and delivered targeted content based on their behavior.

The right content, delivered at the right time, can help solve the widespread problem of the ‘stupid robot’ that says something like, “Welcome to our site. Is this the first time you’ve visited?”

A lot of web sites ask such questions of their visitors – even if not directly. Some do it by routing folks to the same introductory page every time. Which would be fine if all visitors were first timers. But if many aren’t, it’s redundant. It’s like a robot that does not learn and just performs the same action over and again. That approach is a sure way to lose hard-earned visitors.

But I’ll assume you know that. It’s why you probably cookie someone so you know to hit them with something different when they return. Or maybe you don’t. If not, check out these introductory thoughts on serving quality, targeted content.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Delivering your content in ways that anticipate the desires of your users can lower bounce rates, increase conversions and just plain seem smarter and more genuine.

Are you doing the same? If not, I’m guessing it’s for one of a few reasons

1) It’s too hard
2) It’s too time consuming
3) It’s too expensive

I’m going to spend some time over the next few posts showing you that delivering intelligently targeted content doesn’t have to be any of the above.

About Chris Maddock:
Chris Maddock is a writer, speaker, trainer, and marketing consultant. He teaches multi-media writing at Wizard Academy in Austin, TX, and on the road with Book Publishing 2.0. He also works with Promote-a-Book Media , helping to create and utilize online platforms to consistently build non-fiction bestsellers and build more profitable businesses.