The Personalised University Clifford Sanders Online Projects Manager Gareth McAleese Web Development Manager

Presentation Overview  Customisation and Personalisation what are they?  Why Personalise?  Personalisation Components  Visitor Relationship Marketing  Privacy Concerns  My University of Ulster  Some Summary Points

What is Customisation  User driven process  Gives the user the control over the interaction  Allows the user to change the appearance and importance of information  Allows users to define their interests using a questionnaire approach  Information is ‘remembered’ between visits  UU ‘Who am I’

What is Personalisation?  Knowledge driven experience  Behavior – based  Is an ongoing incremental process  Content tailored to individuals based on knowledge about their preferences and behavior  Enables you to quickly and easily tailor the experiences of your visitors and customers across all your interaction points  Customer Profile - Leverage History to Push “The Right Information at The Right Time”

Why Personalise?  Get to know your visitors  Treat them as individuals  Deliver more appropriate content  Provide added value  Improve your customer service  Make the site easier to use – we’ll tell you what you need to know  Large websites - makes information easier to find (or more correctly target information)

“Users of personalized sites view at least 10 times more pages then the four to five page views common on a non-personalized site” Source: Internet.com

“Sites who fail to provide relevant content and helpful functionality drive away approximately 40% of repeat traffic” Source: Forrester Research

Personalisation Requires  A different approach to website design and implementation – content separated from design and its delivery method/channel  Content to be tagged at a granular level  Closer interaction with the complete business – integration with your offline activity

Personalisation Components  The Key components  User Profile  Preferences  Platforms  Processes

User Profile  Information on Visitors and customers (e.g. registration data)  Information on their browsing behaviour and purchases (e.g. click streams)  Events (searches and data/form feedback)  Use of Data Mining / Artificial Intelligence to deduce new rules  A rich profile is The Key to personalisation

Platforms  Information on delivery channels, www, wap, call center (call me) etc  User preferences for each channel (call work number during day, home in evenings)

Business Rules  Explicitly defined rules  Constantly evolving (or should be)  Can sometimes be hard to express electronically

Rules Engine  A system for applying the rules either online or offline  Adaptive, using Data-Mining/AI techniques to deduce new rules based on other visitor patterns

Visitor Relationship Marketing  Establishing relationships  Two way information flow - feedback on product range  Enhanced service elements/response times/ one-to-one contact with customers  Mutual rewards and commitment (loyalty scheme)  Customer Retention  Less running costs once established

Privacy Issues  Key principles of consent, fairness and transparency  Shopping with a ski mask on  Driving without license plates  Big Brother is watching you  Data Protection / Freedom of Information Acts  When it goes wrong  Intel, DoubleClick, Amazon buying circles...  The Key is to “Remember information for people, not about them”

Some Example Sites   

My University of Ulster  Driven From Marketing Perspective  User ‘Portals’  My Intranet  My StudentWeb  My Visitor  Implementation of a Content Management System (probably Zope)  Data Warehouse – User Profile  Rules Engine

My University of Ulster…  All courses held in a central database  Searchable by selecting options  Response given on screen, sent by or printed  University gathers information on customer preferences  Register for updates / new course info etc  Problem: will service element be matched by conventional approach?

My University of Ulster…  Campaign Management  Integrating offline marketing activities  News and Events  Integration of with website (weekly update)  Alumni Portal  Student Recruitment Portal

My University of Ulster…  Customisation (done)  Content Management System (done)  Custom DB (done)  Moving towards ZOPE (next 12 months)  Profile Data Warehouse (50%)  Simple profiles developed – will develop as personalisation system develops  Personalisation (next big step)

Summary  Requires  a clearly thought out Internet policy  Highly competent technical team  Benefits (Visitor)  Saves Time & Money  Better Information

The Future  Integration of other mediums – Call Centre, WAP, Digital Televisions etc.  Delivery of mass open and distance learning programs  Technology watch – what's around the corner