Buying products online can be rewarding – in terms of time saved, convenience, variety etc. But at times it can get extremely frustrating. This is usually a result of encountering technical problems because of which the customer is unable to go ahead with the purchase of his chosen product.

This can happen with the best of IT infrastructure or web designing. The outcome of this is that the customer promptly shifts to another competitive site to buy whatever he had decided to buy and you lose that customer, maybe for good. Strengthening the technical aspect of the website doesn’t help because by the time matters are fixed, the customer has already moved away.

“Internet assistant” who knows

The possible answer to this could be a kind of “internet assistant” who knows what you want, and who will guide you to your destination without any waste of time or effort or without any frustration or annoyance. What is required for this is a specially designed IT tool that can “read your mind” based on your online behavior and then can assist you to do what you want to do by providing you with the best options available, in as short a time as possible so that your online experience becomes fast, pleasant and personalized.

How is this proposed technology to work? It involves studying individual consumer online behavior to establish patterns and trends in consumer behaviour, embedding predictive adjustments in the website and then using behavioural analytics to alter consumer experience positively. In other words, an interactive website or app that can modify itself depending on each unique consumer’s actions and behavior. This will enable each consumer to get what he wants without being taken through a host of unnecessary sites and without having to click on endless buttons which may or may not function at all times.

Enabling technology to function

What are the necessary steps to enable this technology to function successfully? The first step is to collect data regarding consumer behavior from every digital interaction – website, mobile, apps. There is a vast storehouse of data that companies can and do gather from their millions of customers. This data in many cases lies unutilized or underutilized. If the information contained in this data can be correctly processed and analysed it will yield rich dividends for businesses.

The next step is to analyse the data and interpret it sensibly so that you can get detailed information and insights into every aspect of consumer behaviour – which sites they visit, how much time they spend, what they buy, etc. This will tell you the how and why of their actions which can then be used to predict likely future behavior.

Test out your theories

The next step is to test out your theories and assumptions about consumer behavior and adjust them to reality. The final step is to develop your website and apps such that they alter themselves to the behavior and action of visitors to give them a great personal digital experience based on their specific needs and desires.