Personalization – Getting Closer to Your Customers

Posted by admin on April 2, 2015

Nearly 13 years ago, Amazon was the first to introduce personal recommendations to the world of e-Commerce successfully. The revolutionary event which allowed Amazon to become Amazon, also transformed online retail into which it’s now - a booming industry offering a convenient way to do shopping. Since then, the competition for customers’ dollar has become even more fierce. If your e-store still doesn’t use any of the advantages of personalization, it’s slowly dying.

The ultimate aim of personalization is to show your customers you “get” them - each and every of those, who entered your site. If the traditional shops can take the use of the army of obliging assistants who would skillfully smell out what are you looking for, e-stores doesn’t have such an opportunity. Thus, online merchants need to look for another creative way of guiding the customers right up to checkout page with the carts full of products. And personalization is the one to work it out.

The point of personalization lays in tailoring of a unique shopping experience for every customer by making the site content dynamic and suggesting the products he or she might be interested in. The display of an individually generated set of products becomes possible thanks to the users data collected previously - their site actions, search inquiries, social network actions, type of device, location etc.

Thus, using personalization you’ll know exactly it’s what the customer might want to purchase, instead of hoping that the same default set of suggestions (or a random one) will eventually interest anyone. It’s estimated that 75% of consumers like when brands personalize messaging and offers, because it makes them feel special. Naturally, such approach leads to conversion rate and average order value increase. That makes personalization mutually beneficial - shoppers get better service, merchants - more revenue. So why not implement it?

Besides already traditional product suggestion boxes (just as Netflix or Amazon does it), there are quite a few other methods of personalization.

Dynamic Greeting Content
Make your customer the feel you know it’s him - a simple “Hello, Joseph” bar for a subscribed visitor would be a good start, though it doesn’t make any purchasing suggestions. But various landing pages that differ depending on the source of backlink or actions taken during the previous shopping session would be even better.

Pre-checkout Questionnaire
Give your customer a chance to make a better choice. Offer him to customize the product or complement it right before the checkout page. If a customer doesn’t mind, suggest a personalized variation - starting from a different product color, ending with its more advanced (and expensive) model. Give it a try - even if the consumer refuses the possibility of any modifications, he is still determined to make a purchase.

Retargeting Ads
How many times did the customers visit your site, filled up their carts but then abandoned them?  Bring the shoppers back with the help of personalized ads! Start a retargeting advertising campaign and remind your consumers to fulfill their “duty” and finish the checkout process.

Personalized Emails
There's hardly a need to discuss the effectiveness and importance of email marketing, considering that almost every consumer check his inbox every day. But emails with personalized suggestions can contribute to your revenue increment even more greatly. If the customer purchased a printer 3 months ago, offer to buy two cartridges and get a free stack of paper.

New times set new demands, new demands require new solutions. When the customers are willing to get more personalized shopping experience, you can’t help but react. Thankfully, there are plenty of personalization services and special software developed to satisfy those needs. So, roll up the sleeves and shock your customers with the “mind-reading” product suggestions!

Author Bio
Taras Kopchak is a hard working, ambitious and open-minded Marketing Manager at Cart2Cart. He does everything possible to broaden the frames of his comprehension and to enrich the knowledge he already obtains. Taras is interested in the e-Commerce industry, technical innovations, self-development and sharing his discoveries with others.

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