Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - Personalizing a Web Site
http://builder.cnet.com/webbuilding/pages/Business/Personal/

The information offered by C|Net demystifies CRM and offers methods that can be used by anyone from the personal web site owner to the corporate consumer. Personalization Software is divided into the Over and Under $25,000 price bracket which may be a reasonable figure for the large corporate client but is "way out there" for the general business owner that seeks to meet the particular needs of individuals. Fortunately, there are many types of personalization techniques that can be used to achieve the goal of encouraging repeat visits, user loyalty, and a healthier bottom line. Be sure and check out the links in the side bar on the C|Net page listed above for how to accomplish some of these methods using javascript and forms.

Providing Personalization through Affiliations / Partnerships

internet.com
http://www.internet.com

Dice.com
http://www.dice.com

INT Media Group, Incorporated designs the content of various areas of their site to provide links to information and relevant advertisements. The home page contains 16 channels that use a JavaScript to open a menu to more specific areas of their web site. The angled words with the small connected buttons beneath is an elegant design to lead the user into the menu while offering this incredible number of links on a single line. This resolves the navigation problem demonstrated at the Satrun Site which was discussed on the Usability Testing page . . . but let's get back to the subject of CRM . . .

The company goal is to be the portal for those in the Internet Technology business, such as web designers. One of the channels offered is Careers which the user may choose to follow to a sub-domain of their site titled jobs.internet .com (http://jobs.internet.com). The links here lead directly to an organization they have a partnership with that provides online employment employment services dice.com (http://www.dice.com/help/tour/).

1. The five page tour allows the user to choose their level of interactivity beginning with the use of a very sophisticated search engine to see if the company measures up to providing job opportunities the user may have an interest in applying for. The user may search by metro area, job type, keyword, state and more. This demonstrates the web site's ability to provide information in response to specific customer inquiries. In the process they have included an interesting yet unobtrusive technique to ask the user for their opinion/ comments about the search tool which responds to the Cluetrain Manifesto theses discussed in another page on my site. The frame system used to provide the tour is even customizable and clearly labeled. You will br truly impressed by your tour of this well designed section of their site.

2. Upon registering with dice.com, the user has access to Free Job Tools which allows for online posting of the user's resume. Dice.com caters exclusively to the IT professional which will most likely have a custom designed html formatted or scannable, text-based resume already created. The resume is easily submitted by the user doing a copy and paste of their personally created resume into a blank form field. No long forms with Name, Address, Duties . . . et cetra to fill out and forced layouts of your presentation. This is not a resume bank. You are provided with a URL such as resumes.dice.com/YourUserName or you can have dice.com generate a random number. You then provide a potential employer with your URL for them to see the resume. This security feature allows dice.com to offer an exclusive feature beneficial to both potential employers and the job seeker. The service is called Announce Availability. If you are ready to go to work with 4 weeks notice, you submit some basic information including where you would like to work and information you provide (is made available to the employers that are members of their service. The CRM feature demonstrated here is user control of the layout/ content of their personal resume as well as who has access to their resume.

3. Opt-in e-mail service is provided which will allow the user to create a customized profile of the job they are seeking. Dice will send daily listings of jobs that match the description. Relocation information is available from the site as well as links to certification training, resume writing, salaries and other services that are of interest to those seeking work in the IT field.

Techniques used here are very effective in marketing the site to IT professionals on both sides of the equation. While the site has a few, unobtrusive advertisements, they relate directly to services that are of interest to the user. The web site is primarily paid for by employers who use their service to list jobs. The CRM features for employers (from what I have read at this site) are outstanding. They offer three levels of services including a one time listing of 3 jobs for the smaller firm. Cost for this listing is less than $500 which seems very reasonable when you consider what headhunter employment agencies charge to find qualified technical personnel.

The affiliation of internet.com and dice.com is a perfect example of how two companies with the same target audience can benefit one another while providing valuable services to the Internet community. At the following link you will find information regarding partnership with internet.com and a listing of their current commerce partners, which serves as an introduction to the subject of affiliations discussed in the next link of this lesson.

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