Content Personalization And Web Scraping

In our globalized economy, consumers have a plethora of options online and in person. To stand out, companies must make products that are useful, accessible, and personal. One way to achieve these goals is with content personalization, which is the process of using user data to tailor content to individual consumers. Web scraping, the automatic extraction of data from a web page, is the perfect tool for collecting personal data. Through different personalization techniques, you will build brand loyalty, attract new consumers, and stand out amongst the competition. Using a highly developed scraping API, you can utilize data in real-time to strategize for putting the right content in front of the right eyeballs at the exact right time.

If you already know the basics of content personalization, use the table of contents to learn about why web scraping is the perfect tool for collecting data that can lead to more customized, targeted marketing.

Table of Contents

What is Content Personalization?

Content personalization is when an organization uses data from consumers to create an experience or content tailored to their interests. An entire world of data exists in various digital spaces, and web scraping is an incredibly useful tool to collect data with an efficient process.

User data includes

• Gender Identity
• Age
• Location
• Device and visitor frequency
• Purchase history
• Previous browsing sessions

In addition to demographic information, understanding where a consumer is in the process of buying is essential. This means determining their awareness of your brand, interest in products, how much your products suit their needs, and how often they engage with your websites. By analyzing how a consumer engaged with your brand in the past, whether or not they ultimately made a purchase, you can increase the chances of future purchases by showing them products best aligned with their interests. Common examples of personalized content are retargeted social media ads and personalized emails.

Web Scraping for data

Content personalization relies on data in order to function–the more data you have, the more personalized the content. Data is an investment in a resource, and so you need the tools to reach it and collect it at its various sources. Manually doing so would be possible, but grossly inefficient. Web scraping is automated to collect data online from social media, SERPS, inventories, forums, product listings, and virtually anywhere that data can be scraped.  Finding the most amount of data at the smartest cost can give you the best approach to content personalization. And if you’re looking for a scraping API that will allow your data sources to communicate directly with your own developments and programs, Scraping Robot has an API that will achieve that with reliability and efficiency (more on that later.)

Types of Personalized Web Page Marketing

While each method of creating web content personalization is different, each type is best suited to specific brand outcomes. Before using each of these techniques, you must collect personal data with the help of a web scraping tool. Once you’ve collected the proper data, there are different ways to personalize websites. Below are three different personalization techniques, apply the one most applicable to your organization or project.

Segmentation

One of the most popular techniques, segmentation is the targeting of specific ads based on demographic data. A makeup company like Glossier might show their ads primarily to young women online, ensuring they use their online ad space towards those most likely to make a purchase. Segmentation can also be based on behavior and interests, not just demographics. Ads can be shown more to previous customers or those consistently engaging with the brand’s website.

By combining these two kinds of segmentation, you’re likely to increase online conversions and sales. However, this technique has limitations as well. Since you still have to appeal to an entire demographic (kids, teens, athletes, etc), your content will not be as personalized as it can be. It will only be personalized enough to attract specific groups of consumers. However, segmentation is a useful first step for those looking to incorporate content personalization into their business model.

Persona-based

Persona-based personalization, as the name implies, goes a step beyond segmentation by incorporating detailed personal data into the process. This includes when you see online ads based on your search history or the other sites you’ve been visiting. Personally, I spend lots of time online looking at coffee or coffee-related products. As expected, lots of the ads I see on social media sites are for kettles, coffee subscription services, or brewing tools.

While similar to segmentation, persona-based personalization helps you win over consumers that might spend time searching through your site without buying anything. They are more likely than those unfamiliar with your brand to finally make a purchase due to an ad showing them the right promotion or product after being partially aware. Over time, this technique becomes more refined as you collect more data on loyal customers.

Individual-specific

One of the most custom forms of personalization is individual-specific personalization, which takes all of a person’s data into consideration. This usually manifests in the form of personalized emails with specific product recommendations. Most useful for previous customers with purchase data, individual-specific personalization makes a consumer feel understood by a brand and that they are being updated on the latest promotions and new products.

Benefits of Web Content Personalization

With all the emphasis on meeting the customer where they’re at, it takes a concerted and coordinated effort to implement the personalization of content. There are several benefits for both consumers and the organization when personalizing a website, and below are just a few.

Build brand loyalty

One of the more obvious benefits is the brand loyalty that personalization fosters. By incentivizing multiple purchases and reaching out to new customers, content personalization is most useful for organizations interested in increasing brand awareness and loyalty. Helping consumers feels that their needs are being met and that they are only seeing relevant product information creates the sense that your brand can be trusted again and again.

Attract new consumers

By segmenting your advertising approach, you will find many new customers that went previously unreached. This is especially true when segmenting by interests. When you segment by demographic (gender, age, etc) you risk leaving out potential customers based on what you believe a certain group is interested in. If you combine this approach with segmenting by interests, then you’ll consistently attract new consumers.

It is best to use a web scraping tool to combine these two approaches. Scraping social media profiles gives you data on interests and online behavior as well as basic demographic information. Using this combined data helps you cross-reference different groups of consumers.

Beat the competition

Another key aspect of personalization is being unique compared to competing brands. Personalizing websites or ads makes it clear to consumers why your brand is unique. Referencing these qualities in your advertisements (eco-friendly, subscription-based, low price, product curation, etc) builds your brand identity while highlighting key aspects. Ideally, personalization helps you find customers before they go searching. For example, targeting ads towards those who’re actively searching coffee keywords is a method of keeping your messaging relevant. Use data to put your brand in front of customers who are inherently invested in your product before they get lost in online lists full of other options.

Using an API to Scrape Data for Personalized Content

Web scraping is the perfect tool for collecting data that can be used in the personalization process, from demographic data to online behavior and customer activity. Not only will web scraping give you access to valuable resources of information with speed and efficiency, web scraping structures data across the digital sphere into actionable structures.

A web scraping API is even more suited for taking data and funneling it directly into your software and programs for immediate use, fueling whatever processes you need with vital and reliable data. Whether you want to collect data for further analysis with web scraping or use an API to collect data to work directly for your own programming, Scraping Robot has the infrastructure to optimize your results. Here are just a few instances of web scraping tactics that Scraping Robot can optimize:

Social media

Social media is one of the easiest ways to collect individual data. Scraping a social media profile provides you with information on who someone is following, being followed by, and what they spend time looking at.

Using social data to define your target audience and define interests helps you personalize web pages and other online content for your consumers. Building your online following is a key aspect of increasing your brand presence. When you understand what online content consumers are looking for, it is easier for you to create it.

Online retail

Scraping online retail sites like Wayfair, Amazon, and eBay gives you access to tons of product data. You’ll see what kinds of materials and designs appeal the most to consumers by scraping the trending products page. Without being in touch with the aesthetic and functional values that attract new customers, you won’t be able to find those new customers. Combining product data with the consumer sentiment data present in reviews will help you create a product that will be loved for both form and function. Online retail data is essentially an easy way to gather the kinds of data focus groups typically provided in the past without needing the financial and labor resources to conduct such groups.

The advantage of Scraping Robot API to funnel data streams

Scraping Robot offers a range of scraping modules that collect data from prominent data streams for further analysis. Through our Scraping Robot API, data can also be funneled directly into programs to provide the necessary data to fuel your software processes. We work with your organization so that your unique data needs are met. If this sounds useful for you, check out our process page to learn more.

When software connects directly to data streams through our API, you can optimize the entire process. Scraping Robot has the technological infrastructure to guarantee that data is collected efficiently, quickly, and reliably–with the technical experience to even help you strategize your efforts for the greatest returns.

Conclusion

As the market becomes crowded with online options, it can be hard for your brand to stand out and continue attracting new customers. Content personalization, the use of personal consumer data to generate relevant ad content, is a great way to increase your brand awareness, build your consumer base, and stand out amongst the crowd. In addition to finding new consumers, you’ll have a better sense of the types of people most interested in your products or services. Web scraping helps you collect the data necessary to create more personalized web pages. As you continue to collect personal data in the future, these customer profiles only become more specific and successful.

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Hannah Benson