Jul 14, 2006
May I make a suggestion?

MINEOLA – Persuasive Content Centric Applications may sound intimidating, but think of them as maitre d’s for your computer – tiny helpers suggesting just the right Web page to choose as your next course.

Using rules that match your user profile and clicking behavior, PeCCAs decide what page will be served after you click a particular link. Marketers expect PeCCAs to explode as “the next big thing,” and already, two industries – health and travel – are transforming the way they present Web pages to their customers, according to John Murcott, vice president of product and strategy for Mineola-based FatWire Software.

“Most owners of hotels and destinations want to move away from the Travelocity model and cut out the middleman for better profits,” Murcott said. “Marketing people set up the software to make recommendations based on visitor profiles. Their site becomes an electronic version of a travel agent.”

Murcott added that hospitals are also implementing PeCCAs to jumpstart better user experiences for their customers and patients.

Where in the past it would take six to nine months to develop a rules-based system, out-of-the-box PeCCAs can be ready to go within three months. And while the time savings can bring a nearly instant return on investment, hospitals hope to attract a new group of customers that will bring in bigger dollars.

“Most hospital patients are on Medicare and Medicaid,” Murcott said. “Hospitals want to attract patients that are privately insured. Instead of patients going to their Web site, looking around and leaving, persuasive apps can suggest they make an appointment with a doctor.”

For example, in the case of a patient searching for diabetes information, an appropriate doctor who treats the disease will be suggested, with links to that doctor’s booking information.

B.J. Fogg, director of the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University, said the healthcare example sounds disturbing, but the ethical basis of right and wrong falls on the provider, not the technology.

Mark Fasciano, chief executive of FatWire, said PeCCAs are all about providing relevant information to the user. Without that, he said, the goal of PeCCAs – making websites more profitable – will fail. And to do it right, organizations need enterprise-level systems.

“In the last 10 years, content management systems have gone from serving static HTML pages to a level of sophistication that allows for personalized delivery of content,” Fasciano said. “But when you need sophisticated personalization, there is a very steep curve and you need to go to an accountable firm.”

Jean Paul Vellotti