Tracking is the ability to update a user profile on the fly based on the Web pages he or she views. Tracking, used in conjunction with targeting, lets you personalize Web site content that accommodates the changing interests of site visitors.
This chapter shows how a visitor’s navigation habits influence his or her profile information. You log in as an investor and experience tracking at work: Based on the number of high-risk funds you browse, your Aggressiveness index will increase or decrease. In this way, Quincy Funds determines a visitor’s investment strategy, which the site uses in combination with targeting to advertise only those funds of interest to the visitor.
To investigate tracking for aggressive investors:
Log in as
mary(user name and password).The “Quincy Funds – investor home” page opens.
Click the My Profile link in the navigation bar to view Mary’s profile information.
The Aggressiveness index is six. This index measures how many risky funds you view and for which you request information. For every aggressive fund, your index increases; for conservative funds, it decreases.
Click the Funds link.
Click the Quincy Venture Fund - QUIVF link.
Click the Send me the application and prospectus link to request sign up information and verify Mary’s mailing address. Click OK.
Return to your profile page; the aggressive index has increased to 10. Go to the Funds page.
Click the Quincy Venture Fund - QUIVF link again and then return to your profile page immediately.
View your profile: your index has increased to 12 because you viewed only the fund and didn’t request additional information. Return to the Funds page.
Click the Quincy Money Market Fund -QUISB link and then return to your profile. The Aggressiveness index has decreased by one to 11.
Log out.
Every fund and visitor profile is assigned a property called aggressivenessIndex. A fund’s aggressivenessIndex is a fixed number. A profile’s aggressivenessIndex accumulates the values supplied by the aggressivenessIndex of the funds viewed by a visitor. The profile gathers an index value through implicit or hidden means. You could also alter a profile’s aggressivenessIndex explicitly by opening the “My Profile” page and modifying the provided value.
Tracking is most powerful when combined with targeting. You can determine which investors prefer aggressive strategies (tracking) and tailor the images, articles, and fund information they view to their interests (targeting). See Targeting Content for an example.
A business user designs the tracking scenario; a page developer configures the Web pages to send a flag when a visitor views a fund. The programmer sets up related repositories.
