Behavioral targeting isn't a project, it's an ongoing process. Creating targeted experiences for discrete audience segments is only the beginning. The opportunity to improve comes when the campaign is live and your customers start reacting to the experiences you're providing -- and give instant feedback in the form of clicks on your sites. Their responses are more valuable for your business than any industry forecast, focus group or conference room brainstorm. Don't let this vital information go to waste.

Pay attention. Track their behavior and use website testing and optimization software to learn exactly what's driving the best business results. Test your assumptions, replace gut instincts with real-world data and then optimize your content to put every bit of new intelligence to work. Which customers prefer casual clothing to business attire? How much detailed product information does each segment need before getting the call-to-action? What colors and layouts work best for different audiences or geographies?

Then do it again. Each time, your offers and your content get more relevant and specific. And each time, your customers move more surely and efficiently through the conversion funnel to drive the sales that make it all worthwhile.

Citibank Direct used BT for an interactive marketing campaign promoting savings accounts. Copy, offers, creative and targeting were all optimized weekly or daily based on a continuously refined set of customer data.

In only nine months, Citibank became one of the premiere players in the U.S. high-yield savings market, attracting billions of dollars in deposits -- far exceeding its goals and expectations.

The ideas behind behavioral targeting aren't necessarily new. But now the interactive industry is finally in a position to put them into practice. The processes and technologies are now readily available to deliver a complete, targeted experience for all customers -- one that extends all the way from the ad that attracts them to the site content that engages and converts them. It's about time.