The right content, delivered at the right time, can help solve the widespread problem of the “stupid robot.”

“Welcome to our little 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.  Its like a stupid robot.  Which just might bounce a hard-earned visitor.

Godaddy.com and  amazon.com have for years targeted at least minimal content for registered users.  This simple, and increasingly unnoticed practice is just a start.

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.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  Altering your delivered content in cooler ways that anticipate the wants of your users based on prior activity can lower bounce rates, increase conversions and just plain seem smarter and more genuine.    Its something the folks at getsmartcontent.com know all about.

For example, when I rewrote the Universal Studios Orlando site, I noticed that their big fancy 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 thirtysomethings visiting to drink and party.  So we created personas reflective of the disparate parties, and others for the kids and families going on vacations, 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.

Are you doing the same?  Probably not, huh?

Why?  I’m guessing its for one of a few reasons

1)    its too hard

2)    it s too time consuming

3)    its too expensive

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

Fun & Stupid Idea: know of a site that acts like a stupid robot?  Maybe yours?  Please share so the rest of us can chuckle about it and avoid adding that stupidity to our own.

Now go be not quite so stupid.