Mining the Web: Transforming Customer Data into Customer Value (Paperback)

~ Gordon S. Linoff (Author), Prof Michael J. A. Berry (Author), (Author) "Two centuries of the Industrial Revolution have radically changed the way we live, at least in the developed world..." (more)
Key Phrases: customer value calculation, customer interaction component, advertising fitness, United States, Northern Light, Hey Bulldog (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Introduces business and technical managers to the exciting new frontier in database technology
Web sites gather a lot of detailed information about customers. Unfortunately, most companies lack the means to use that information to improve their marketing and customer support functions. Considered by most experts to be the new frontier in the database and data warehousing fields, Web mining solves that problem. Coauthored by two bestselling data mining authors, Mining the Web explains, for corporate decision makers, IT managers, and database marketers, how data mining principles and techniques can be applied to various types of Web sites. More importantly, they describe techniques for using the resulting goldmine of business data to develop more effective advertising campaigns and better customer service.

From the Back Cover

Learn how data mining can help achieve your business goals–from the leading author team writing on data mining today!

Web sites gather a lot of detailed information about customers. Unfortunately, most companies lack the know-how to capitalize on this information in order to improve their marketing and customer support functions. Considered by most experts to be the new frontier in the database and data warehousing fields, data mining can help change all this. Data mining techniques can be applied to the Web with results that can lead to more efficient and successful advertising campaigns, better customer service, and, ultimately, increased profits.

Written by two bestselling data mining authors, Mining the Web shows you how to identify your most profitable customers, attract them, and, most importantly, keep them coming back. Linoff and Berry review specific data mining and analysis techniques for monitoring customer behavior and explain how to conduct marketing tests to better understand customers.

They begin with a look at how the Web can create new opportunities and challenges for data mining, and then offer a basic overview of different approaches to mining the Web, including a summary of those data mining techniques that work best for Web mining. The remaining chapters then demonstrate how to apply data mining to specific types of online businesses, including:

• Click-and-mortar retailers
• Online retailers of digital content–including sites that sell music and others that sell information
• Advertising-driven sites that need to find new ways to attract the right audience
• Auction sites and B2B trading exchanges that need to predict the best prices for items
• Subscription sites that want to sell content to specialized audiences

Wiley Computer Publishing
Timely. Practical. Reliable.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1st edition (February 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471416096
• ISBN-13: 978-0471416098
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #947,132 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mining the Web, January 17, 2003

By	"camille661" (Los Angeles, Ca USA) - See all my reviews

I found this book to be most helpful and thorough, I was immediately inspired to practice these useful tips and easy to intuit instructions.

I continue to use it for reference as a resource manual. I highly encourage anyone just getting interested in the concept of data mining, anyone in sales, marketing, public relations, and analytics to start with this book first. After reading this book you will have a strong foundation into data mining applications and a vivid sense of direction on how to make it work for you personally!!!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive book about web mining, although not technical, May 5, 2009

By	Sandro Saitta "www.dataminingblog.com" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Since I started a new project on behavioral targeting in online advertising, I decided to buy Linoff and Berry's book: Mining the Web (Transforming Customer Data into Customer Value).

The book starts by briefly explaining data mining with a marketing point of view. The next chapter describes the three different approaches to mining the web: mining structure, mining usage patterns and mining content. In my case, I was mostly interested by mining usage patterns, for example web logs. The following chapters are very general and give an overview of online retailing, digital content, advertising, customer value, customer tracking, etc. One good point of the book is that it contains several short industry case studies. Although not technical, they help understand how things work in big industrial projects.

To conclude, Mining the Web is an interesting introduction for people interested in applying data mining techniques to the web. Altough this book answers the "what" question, it doesn't answer the "how". Since it is a non-technical book, you will definitely need other resources for a deeper understanding of the field. The advantage is that the book is easy and pleasant to read from the beginning to the end. If you are interested by the field, you should also consult Jesus Mena's book: Data Mining Your Website (although a little older).

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another winner from a great team, March 6, 2002

By A Customer

I own Berry and Linoff's first two books on data mining (Data Mining Techniques and Mastering Data Mining); they're the best, and this book lives up to their standards. All three are great for not just teaching the technical stuff, but how and when to apply it to solve problems I really face at my company.