Imagini is probably best known as the company that created ‘VisualDNA’, a tool which built personality profiles based on responses to images rather than requiring data entry from surfers. The company has now taken this technology one step further with the launch of its VisualDNA Shops widget in beta, which the company says will enable every blogger and Web publisher to provide personalised product recommendations and start generating detailed demographic, psychographic and behavioural analytics of their visitors.

Imagini says VisualDNA Shops will also provide a new way to monetise traffic, since a percentage of every purchase made through the widget is paid directly back to the site or blog. NMK caught up with Imagini’s managing director, Charles Wiles, to find out more about VisualDNA Shops and website monetisation.

Introduce us to VisualDNA Shops. What is it and how does it work?

VisualDNA Shops are free widgets that allow any blogger or Web publisher to easily add personalised product recommendations from Amazon.com to their sites, based on responses to a series of simple visual questions.

On top of this, the Pro version generates advanced analytics that allow bloggers and Web publishers to view the types of visitors that come to their webpage, as well as who they are and what appeals to them.  Site owners can also insert their own recommendations for each type of visitor, as well as view other sites they have looked at.

How does the pay side of VisualDNA Shops breakdown?

The blogger or Web publisher receives all of the affiliate revenue and Imagini receives $2.99 per month from those using the Pro version.

You say it provides ‘behavioural analytics’ – is this something those surfers will be aware of and will have approved?

We strongly support user privacy and have designed VisualDNA Shops from the start with a focus on doing the right thing for the end user. The extent of our behavioural analytics is that we aggregate user’s responses on each site and show the proportion of different user types to the publisher of that site.  We believe this provides useful insight to the publisher, allowing them to improve the content of their site and better match the diverse sections of their user base.  

We do not track users from site to site or build profiles of users from their browsing patterns, as is the case for Phorm or other behavioural analytics systems. And we do not keep a record of what products individual users have clicked, as is the case for Amazon.com. The only information we use to give users a personalised and relevant web experience is the VisualDNA that they have given us through clicking on images in our quizzes. We show users all the information they have given us and give them full control over this information on my.visualdna.com.

Does VisualDNA Shops work alongside existing Web e-commerce platforms or does this replace existing programmes?

Our intent is for VisualDNA to work with any e-commerce platform, though initially we have only integrated with Amazon. We will be integrating with Shopping.com and eBay in the near future and are developing an application programmer interface (API) so that any site can incorporate VisualDNA.

Is this aimed at any particular market or is it for anyone?

VisualDNA Shops are appropriate for sites of any size.

Have you any examples showing that using VisualDNA Shops has delivered demonstrable cash value or is it too early?

It really is too early. We believe that the biggest benefit to early adopters will be increased insight from the analytics. As our recommendation engine learns which products to recommend to each individual user based on their VisualDNA, the monetisation will improve significantly over time.  

Our recommendation is community-driven: shop keepers can improve the product recommendations by adding new products and users can do the same for other users with similar VisualDNA by voting on the recommendations they receive.  Over time we expect VisualDNA Shops to significantly outperform the monetisation of similar widgets, as users will get much more relevant product recommendations and therefore will be much more likely to click through and purchase products.

VisualDNA Shops is currently in Beta. When do you plan on the full version being available?

VisualDNA Shops will leave beta when we are confident that the product is delivering the quality of recommendations that publishers and users want.