Websites that adapt to users
June 16th, 2008 | Published in Analytics, UXD
Researches at MIT’s Sloan School of Management claim that morphing a website to suit different types of visitors could increase the site’s sales by about 20 percent, Erica Naone writes in this recent article on MIT’s TechnologyReview.
The idea of having the website to automatically adapt to each visitor and display slightly different pages for different users is, of course, not new. That’s what numerous sites, like Amazon, do by pulling information from user profiles, stored cookies, questionnaires and surveys. But the Sloan School system would adapt to unknown users within the first few clicks on the website by analyzing each user’s pattern of clicks. Websites running the Sloan system would detect a user’s cognitive style and morph to complement that style. The changes would be subtle and the users shouldn’t even realize that the website is personalized.
Well, of course. A site that would manage to adapt to every individual user’s needs would sell better – that seems like a no-brainer to me. And the changes should be so subtle that the user shouldn’t even realize the changes. But when I think of whether it’s possible to do that really, really well, I can’t help not to think of the infamous Office Assistant. Guessing what the user wants or needs next is hard in any case, even if the “guessing” is based on scientific formulas and research. I personally believe more in allowing users to do their own personalization rather than try to do it for them automatically. Emotionally I prefer a system that gives me the tools to make changes myself (if I choose so) instead of having the system try to automatically adapt for me, even if the changes are very subtle.
Nevertheless the Sloan School system sounds very interesting. In addition to guessing at users’ cognitive styles by analyzing their click patterns, the system would track data over time to see which versions of the website work most effectively for which cognitive styles. That’s what we try to do now by using site metrics and analytics, then manually study them and apply them to site revisions.
About the author
I’m an interaction designer, information architect, strategist and creative lead, multi-skilled and versed in creative, strategy and technology. I’m also known as an electronic musician who has traveled the world from Tampere to Tokyo. I earned my experience as art director, concept designer and creative director in Scandinavia, praised for its award-hoarding digital agencies, then went on to work in the Middle East, the United States, and Canada. Currently, I work as Interaction Design Director at R/GA as well as a freelance interaction designer and information architect. My work has been awarded with national and international awards.
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