by Matthew Pitts
For the last couple of days I've been thinking about ways to implement an effective personalization schema for an e-lawyering application. I do believe that personalization and customization are two of the most important ingredients to any e-lawyering application mix. During my brainstorming sessions, I concluded that it would be necessary to include these personalization points strategically throughout the e-lawyering application.
What is a personalization point?
A personalization point is a strategically placed action to ensure the client/potential client that they are in fact dealing with a living and breathing professional at the other end of the application. For example, a personalization point might be placed at the end of an automated case review process.
Personalization point basics
At a minimum, the personalization point should include a message from the individual performing the bulk of the legal work for the client. The best way to think about a personalization point is to think about face to face encounters. When you conduct a face to face case review, you'll usually end with a message of assurance, strategy, additional information, etc. Your goal in an e-lawyering application is to artfully integrate this behavior into the overall process.
How many personalization points?
My approach to personalization points in e-lawyering applications is to include them directly before or after major required actions. The example I discussed earlier involved a personalization point after the case review process. Personalization points can also be intertwined with customization points. An example of a customization/personalization hybrid could be based on return visits to the application. For example, you could use some means to record the visitors actions on the first trip to your application. When that visitor returns, you could detect whether they had been to the application previously and subsequently display a custom personalized message.