Identifying Key User Groups

Identifying Key User Groups

Most portals have several types of users, each with different needs. Every portal has administrators whose requirements differ from those of the bulk of the user population. You have to decide which user groups to target. For instance, if you were building an enterprise portal, you would optimize for the needs of your employees and not consider anonymous Internet users, suppliers, or outside groups. Similarly, you could build an Internet portal targeted to anonymous users, at least up until the point that they cross a threshold, such as by making a purchase, which redefines the relationship. In the latter case, you could use techniques to personalize content on the fly so you meet these users' apparent preferences as exhibited through prior navigation or searching during the current session. To implement persistent personalization, which lasts from one session to another, you must prompt users to register with the site or use techniques such as cookies to identify users on subsequent visits .

The first step in determining the roles you will profile is to ask some questions about the business goals of the portal:

• Who will be using the portal? Will anonymous users be allowed access?

• What are the key business goals? Increasing sales, delivering a message to constituents? Providing a forum for online collaboration? Increasing employee productivity?

• For each of the business goals, what are the metrics that will measure success?

• How does each group currently do business? Is there an existing procedure that can or should be copied ? How would users benefit from new approaches?

• Will additional groups be brought into the fold, now or in the future? What about suppliers, employees, or customers?

You use the answers to these questions to identify key user groups along with their business goals and associated metrics, such as is shown in Table 7.1.

Table 7.1. User Groups and Business Goals

User Group	Business Goal	Key Metrics
Anonymous users	Provide easy access to company information and catalog.	Page views, searches, shopping basket activity.
Suppliers	Reduce cost of goods. Generate orders to maintain optimum inventory. Streamline orders and payments.	Inventory levels, out-of-stock situations.
Employees	Simplify access to benefits and corporate services.	Page views, transactions entered on site rather than on paper, employee satisfaction surveys.
Customers	Create high customer satisfaction and repeat business. Allow quick and easy ordering. Target campaigns based on past purchases. Allow customers to check on order status.	Customer satisfaction surveys, repeat business, average revenue per customer, returned orders, on-time order delivery.
Customer care representatives	Allow representatives to check on order status. Provide quick correction of order errors. Handle returns expeditiously.	Customer satisfaction with customer service representatives, time per call, call productivity.
Webmasters	Streamline site and content administration.	Reduce time spent on routine maintenance. Increase uptime of site. Minimize overtime of webmasters.

Now that you have defined these groups, you can take a closer look at the information you need to track in their profiles. Tie the information you select to the business goals of your organization. For instance, a consulting firm places a great deal of value on the knowledge and skills of its people; therefore, storing the areas of expertise for each employee in the portal profile would be important so users could search for colleagues based on their areas of expertise. In addition, companies with a small number of large clients may need to gather more detailed profiles than a mass market company with a broader customer base but lower average sales per customer. The latter type of company typically cannot afford the investment of getting to know each and every customer really well.

To start the ball rolling, you must prompt the user to register. This section describes alternatives for user registration.

NOTE On public web sites, users are reluctant to provide personal data. You must provide compelling reasons, such as exclusive content or quicker transactions, to persuade them to share this information with your site.