A relatively new technique that is becoming increasingly more cost effective is the use of an avatar to guide users.  An avatar is an animated image, either a real video clip of a person talking, or an animation.  It is triggered when a user mouses over, or clicks on certain information.  In some cases the avatar might be a video clip of a business owner who walks onto the front of his homepage and welcomes new users, or it could be a 'shop assistant' who pops up during the selection stage of an ecommerce website to help the user make product choices.

Avatars always need to have a clear 'off' button so users can remove them if they find them annoying or do not have sound turned on.  Studies in 2007 found that users of major ecommerce websites thought avatars were helpful and improved their shopping experience.  This is a technique that is only going to become more popular, more sophisticated and more cost effective as marketers try to engage with web users at a more personal level and make their own web sites convert more traffic.