Brave notes that the psychology of personalization is about human instinct and intelligence to reach the right decisions - and that is at the heart of good personalization technology. To that end, he suggests brands would be better served by trying to influence potential customers, or building a base of influencers to help engage other shoppers than by attempting to predict how any one shopper or group of shoppers will perform.

He also suggests that brands who approach personalization as a needed part of their strategy will fare better than those looking at personalization as a 'nice thing to have'.

"Personalization must be seen as a business imperative, not a feature. As the number of web users around the world increases, and web content continues to see exponential growth, the personalization imperative will only become more important. Consumers are awash in information and options and they are going to go where the content most easily meets their needs," said Scott Brave, CTO and Founder, Baynote. "This connection between what the consumer needs and what is shown to them is the core goal of personalization. For perspective on the size of the opportunity, consider the recent Forrester study that projects online shoppers in the United States alone will spend $327 billion in 2016. Companies that develop and implement strategies to organize web content into relevant, meaningful experiences will be the ones that truly connect with consumers and boost their bottom lines."

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