We released a new white paper earlier this month focusing specifically on how Content Optimisation can help improve the performance of travel websites.
Download Maxymiser's Website Optimisation White Papers Free Here
"The pressure on travel media buyers’ metrics seems likely to continue. While search is crucial to the travel industry there is some confusion around just what search inventory is cost effective. Search is great for high margin niches with low CPA and a good way of cleaning down distressed inventory. But what about the mainstream inventory which makes up the rump of business? Many airlines are moving toward zero commission which cuts the options. With more and more direct to client selling, competition for traffic can only go one way."
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
On-Site Behavioural Targeting and Consumer Privacy
In the US, the FTC recently published proposals for self-regulation in the behaviourally targeted advertising industry. We welcome moves towards protecting consumer privacy online and feel that a self-regulatory approach underpins the professionalism of our discipline.
Although the some of the principals published for the regulations are intended to govern cross-domain use of behavioural data primarily in the case of advertising networks, they also apply to our work providing people with more relevant and appropriate user experiences online.
Behavioural targeting has been a major part of offline business since the very beginning of the post-industrial era (queue the Ford Model T cliché). Online, our interest in user behaviour information is as a means to mathematically improve relevance and service.
By knowing the on-site content most effective at converting past visitors, we can make statistical conclusions about its relevance to future visitors with the same traits. These traits could include details of the referring site and other demographic details but we don’t process anything personally identifiable.
Robust opt-out mechanisms will provide reassurance to those concerned about online privacy and we believe that self-regulation is an important step towards protecting all consumers from any less than scrupulous operators.
In Europe, the IAB is leading the development of a set of guidelines covering best practice for the promotion and trading of behaviourally targeted media. Their standpoint on privacy issues is that current EU ecommerce and data protection directives cover this to an adequate extent.
We would support this view as behavioural targeting on-site does not leverage any personally identifiable data into the equation and this is one of the main precepts for data protection and privacy concerns to kick in. We acknowledge that there are new privacy concerns raised by behavioural targeting, particularly where behavioural data is shared across domains or in-depth “anonymous” profiles might become personally identifiable to some extent due to the nature of search terms recorded.
We would welcome a similar self-regulatory system in the UK to maintain good practice in this respect and ensure privacy is protected online.
The proposed US guidelines (60KB PDF Document)
Although the some of the principals published for the regulations are intended to govern cross-domain use of behavioural data primarily in the case of advertising networks, they also apply to our work providing people with more relevant and appropriate user experiences online.
Behavioural targeting has been a major part of offline business since the very beginning of the post-industrial era (queue the Ford Model T cliché). Online, our interest in user behaviour information is as a means to mathematically improve relevance and service.
By knowing the on-site content most effective at converting past visitors, we can make statistical conclusions about its relevance to future visitors with the same traits. These traits could include details of the referring site and other demographic details but we don’t process anything personally identifiable.
Robust opt-out mechanisms will provide reassurance to those concerned about online privacy and we believe that self-regulation is an important step towards protecting all consumers from any less than scrupulous operators.
In Europe, the IAB is leading the development of a set of guidelines covering best practice for the promotion and trading of behaviourally targeted media. Their standpoint on privacy issues is that current EU ecommerce and data protection directives cover this to an adequate extent.
We would support this view as behavioural targeting on-site does not leverage any personally identifiable data into the equation and this is one of the main precepts for data protection and privacy concerns to kick in. We acknowledge that there are new privacy concerns raised by behavioural targeting, particularly where behavioural data is shared across domains or in-depth “anonymous” profiles might become personally identifiable to some extent due to the nature of search terms recorded.
We would welcome a similar self-regulatory system in the UK to maintain good practice in this respect and ensure privacy is protected online.
The proposed US guidelines (60KB PDF Document)
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Welcome On Board!
Our partners can leverage our content optimisation technology to add value to and cement existing client relationships. Maxymiser can take the data and expertise that these organisations already do business with and use it to deliver quantifiable uplifts in conversion rates for clients.
The key driver for these partnerships is that client demand for onsite optimisation is growing as the cost of acquiring high quality traffic increases. This gives marketers greater reason to focus on getting more revenue from existing traffic. Gone are the days when acquisition efforts could be scaled up with simple budget increases; beyond a certain point, traffic quality becomes an issue and conversion rate suffers.
Maxymiser uses artificial intelligence to quickly deduce the campaigns that are having the best impact on response rates online. By monitoring live visitor response to web content, our technology serves the right campaign combinations to the right people at the right time in order to boost sales. Techniques including multivariate testing, visitor segmentation and behavioural targeting are supported in Maxymiser’s optimisation suite.
By trialling solutions to bottlenecks identified in analytics or assessing the impact that usability-led changes have on metrics, we close the loop on many other disciplines, making their expertise actionable and highlighting the value added to the bottom line.
Visitor segmentation creates additional synergies with our partners. We can optimise to find the optimal content for groups of visitors already defined in an analytics tool, by keyword group as inputted by a PPC agency or by traffic source from an advertising network.
Our partners in areas of online marketing as diverse as web analytics, search marketing and usability can now help their clients address this challenge. Take a look around our partner section to learn more when you have a spare moment.
MD (Services)
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