Understanding the Internet of Behavior (IoB) technology without understanding the Internet of Things (IoT) is not possible. IoT is known as the network of interrelated devices that share and gather information with the support of the internet. It is continuously getting advanced and enhanced in its complication.
Also, the data present on the cloud is evolving with each passing period of time.
This collective data helps provide information about a person’s interests, behaviors, and preferences. The entire process of analyzing and studying the data from the behavioral point of view is known as the Internet of Behavior (IoB).
The analysis of the data helps businesses find answers to how to market, promote and develop products from the behavioral point of view of their target audience.
Technically, the Internet of Behaviour (IoB) execution process is simple, but physiologically it is challenging. For legal and ethical reasons, it is compulsory to record the daily behaviors and routines without revealing the customers’ privacy.
IoT is witnessing substantial development across several different industries. Agriculture is one such sector where farmers use other IoT-based technologies for better and more effective crop production.
Earlier, monitoring the crops and protecting them from the disease were challenging tasks. But today, with IoT technologies, farmers can monitor crop growth accurately and in less time.
Using the data captured by IoT devices, the farmers can quickly scan the problems and threats and take the necessary steps to safeguard their cultivation. In addition, IoT solutions in this sector also have automation devices like fertilization, robot harvesting, and automated irrigation system.
Another global challenge in agriculture is the rapidly rising population, which is pushing the demand for quality food.
Meeting such high demand using the traditional way of farming is difficult.
However, a greenhouse based on IoT technology can be a possible solution. Using IoT technology applications, farmers can grow more plants in less space and fulfill organic vegetables’ demand.
How does the internet of behavior (IoB) help businesses?
A device such as a smartphone can easily track and note a user’s movements and obtain their real-time geographical positions. With the help of advanced technologies, companies can connect smartphones to devices like cameras, laptops, and voice assistants.
Today, smartphones can even record the text and voice of the users. In addition, brands can get information about the users with the help of IoB, such as likes, dislikes, and interests.
Companies can use this data for better sales and marketing planning of their products. In addition, behavioral data collected through the internet of behavior technology can be used for various other reasons.
- Companies can use this data to test campaign effectiveness. With the help of the collected data, a unique campaign message can be created for clients.
- Policymakers can alter their regulations and laws as per the data of customers’ behaviors.
- Companies providing cab facilities can use behavioral data to improve their customers’ experience. As a result, it can help them increase the demand for their services and generate better overall revenue.
Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet of Behaviour (IoB) together can provide a lot of important information to the companies for making better decisions related to their marketing and branding efforts.
A report on the industrial IoT market suggests that the global market value generated by IoT in 2018 was $72.34 billion. Furthermore, it is expected that the market value will increase at a CAGR of 8.67% during 2019-2024.
The lifestyle and behavior of the customers are constantly changing and vary from one region to another. The number of people preferring online shopping has also increased in the last few years.
E-commerce companies are using several IoT devices to understand and provide better services to their customers.
Benefits of internet of behavior (IoB) technology
- Understanding consumer behavior:
Many digital marketing agencies are using various types of tools to understand the behavior of customers. However, the data provided by the IoB can help in better analyzing buying habits of the customers for making targeted sales plans.
- Enhancing user experience:
Businesses can use the data extracted through IoB technology to make the user experience better. As the behavioral data helps get a better understanding of the consumers toward the services or products, companies can benefit a lot from the information extracted.
- Converting data into useful information:
The internet has got a lot of information and facts about the online activities of a consumer. But this information is meaningless until it is not studied and analyzed in a channelized manner. The internet of behavior technology helps in executing this channelized analysis.
With all the information that comes from the collective IoB data, agencies’ capabilities of understanding their consumer psychology become better. In addition, this data helps them handle the overall performance by understanding what exactly goes inside their customer’s minds.
Having all this data about their customers helps the agencies better focus on real-time and commercial notifications for better sales. Further, it provides the agency with a unique tool to reach their clients.
Working of internet of behavior
- How is information collected?
The data and information from the consumers are collected from different websites, sensors, telematics, beacons, social media platforms, health monitors (like Fitbit), and others. Each of these collects additional data from consumers while indulging in doing online activities.
Everything is captured by the IoB technology, from the time spent online to all that a user searches for.
For example, with the application of IoB, websites can capture the information on the amount of time spent by the customers while searching the website. This data can be highly profitable for the marketing and advertising activities if analyzed accurately. It can help in raising sales and increasing product demands.
- What happens to collected data?
The collected data is analyzed and studied by businesses to make business decisions, change marketing techniques, and develop services products.
The data given by the IoB technology have all the information related to each user. So now, this data can be studied correctly to get an understanding of each user’s preferences.
Companies corroborate and compile all the information collected from various sources and use them to understand the behavior pattern of different users. Therefore, it provides an advantage for the marketers and advertisement companies to make better strategies as per the user preference.
For example, let’s say a user comments on a picture of a brand on Instagram. The next day, the same person visits the brand’s official website. Then, after a few days, the same person visits the YouTube channel of the brand.
Meanwhile, the brand keeps a note of the user’s activities as the person shows interest in the brand. Finally, the brand will use all this information about the user’s behavioral activity in making the strategy to convert the user into a loyal customer of the brand.
The example mentioned above is the way how IoB works. It can help in better decision-making with the customer’s data in hand. It also helps reach the targeted audience with effective offers and sales as per their online behaviors.
There can be several different kinds of data that businesses can collect and use as per their business requirements. Essentially, the collected data types can be divided into four segments:
– Personal data
Personal data broadly defines the user. This includes information such as name, genders, IP address, devices, browsers cookies, and many others.
– Engagement data
This type of collected data usually helps identify the mode of interaction of a user, such as text messages, mobile apps, emails, and social media pages.
– Behavioral data
This category collects all the data related to the transaction been done by the specific person like purchase history, usage information about the products, qualitative data (information about the mouse movements).
– Attitudinal data
This category collects consumer satisfaction, product desirability, purchase criteria, and more data.
Risks involved
Cybersecurity is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges one has to face while using IoB technology to collect consumer data.
IoB application helps businesses create a gigantic database that is highly vulnerable to cybercrimes. Moreover, the exclusive information collected about the customers can also be misused if it falls into the wrong hands.
However, many agencies are working towards solving this issue. Several protocols related to cybersecurity are being taken to make the IoB technology much safer.
Privacy is a right, and businesses are well aware of it. So, while using the IoB technology for collecting data about the behaviors of the person, have to be extremely cautious in keeping all the information safe and secure.
IoB best practice example – Netflix
Netflix is a handy example to demonstrate the best practices using IoB technology. With the use of IoB, Netflix is reaching its target audience with suitable suggestions. For every customer, Netflix provides a different set of movie suggestions layout.
It is generated with the help of behavioral data collected by IoB, which means different users of Netflix have different tastes and preferences over movies and shows. So as per their taste, Netflix prepares a unique carousel of shows and movies.
Conclusion:
Internet of behavior technology is applied at various places to understand the consumers’ activities and upgrade businesses. This technology is still improving and getting better. If used properly, this technology can understand each consumer in a better way and help not just private businesses but also the governments to improve public services.
Today, several fortune companies are taking the help of the internet of things and the internet of behavior technology to understand their customers and their needs in a better way.
Since IoB and IoT are interlinked with each other, the development of both is being done at the same pace. In the coming years, IoB will act as an ecosystem, that will be responsible for defining the behavior of humans in the modern world.
But despite many advantages of using IoB, this technology will be responsible for raising several questions related to the privacy and security of the person. Therefore, companies need to set up awareness programs to educate stakeholders about cybersecurity for the IoB technology.
Internet of behavior is still in the nascent stage and has immense potential and possibilities in turning into more than just an algorithm to collect information.
IoT helps convert data into useful information, but IoB helps convert that information into real knowledge.
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