Executing Web Analytics

Sento today announced general availability of its Customer eXperience Platform (CXP), a new rules-based Web analytics solution. Designed to let a company tailor what customers view on its Web site based on their reactions, CXP is the company's latest on-demand offering. CXP analyzes customer Web behavior in real-time and alters the pages and messages a customer receives based on rules that are defined by the end-user. Consumers receive offers based on personal online auctions, buying history, geographic location, or demographics. For example, different offers can be presented for high-value versus low-value customers, as well as regional considerations, such as inventory levels. Though it is defined as a Web analytics application, Sento's vice president of marketing and business development John Sweeney says he sees CXP working in conjunction with Web analytic products like Omniture and WebSideStory. "Many of our customers already have a Web analytics platform in place," he says. "CXP is a complement to these other solutions." Sweeney says while Web analytic tools are great at identifying and reporting on numerous Web site metrics, CXP executes the suggestions that come from those reports. "For example, CXP will take into account a customer's shopping cart and deploy a pop-up window with a promotion," Sweeney says. Besides its usefulness for e-commerce, CXP comes equipped with customer support functionality. Companies can use the product in much in the same way they would for e-commerce by allowing CXP to tailor what a customer sees on a Web site during a self-service support query. CXP would show the consumer advice on how to solve technical problems, find required software to view pages, and more. Despite the Internet's increasing importance as a customer touch point, marketers and sales departments have long since grappled with taking Web analytic data and acting upon it. "Companies are beginning to utilize their Web channels strategically," says Bill Gassman, research director at Gartner. "Slowly but surely, companies are looking to integrate Web channel information with other channels to drive sales overall. Companies need products that let end-users drive the performance of their Web sites." Related articles: This Little SMB Went to Market E-Commerce Best Practices Make Perfect