Success Hacks — 09 May 2023
Best eCommerce Personalization Campaigns
What inspires you to buy from an ecommerce site? According to Accenture, 91% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company that remembers them and provides relevant offers based on their previous sessions. Of these, 83% are willing to share data in return for a personalized experience.
Whether traffic is driven to your site by social media, email campaigns, or partnership marketing, keeping them coming back for more is key. Personalizing User Experience (UX) is a powerful way to engage customers and make them feel catered for.
Read on to discover how to use your site data to create a truly engaging experience, which will encourage repeat custom and increase revenue.
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Personalization is the next big thing in marketing; from product personalisation to tailoring websites based on user preferences. The aim is to create a bespoke experience, which speaks directly to each person who visits your site.
From little touches like automatically converting currency based on a user’s location to larger gestures such as personalized recommendations, these tactics strengthen loyalty and increase conversion rates.
Not only this, but the data derived from each personalized experience will build a comprehensive picture of your prospects and customers, allowing you to take an even more targeted approach to your marketing strategies.
Before you start getting excited about the different avenues of a personalized shopping experience, you need a thorough understanding of its core: data collection and analysis.
Using Google Analytics or your ecommerce platform’s built-in tools, you will be able to find rich data on your visitors and their behaviors.
This practice will help you build target segments, categorizing each website visitor into a particular group. The way you divide your segments depends on your business goals – but here are some of the most commonly used methods of segmentation, along with tips on how to make them work for your brand.
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Make a clear distinction between new visitors, returning visitors who have not previously made a purchase, and returning visitors who have made a purchase. This differentiation will form the cornerstone of many personalization strategies.
For example, returning visitors will feel welcomed back by a section showing their previously viewed items.
First-time visitors on the other hand could be greeted with a modal popup, offering a discount on their first order.
Divide your traffic into those sent from social media, email marketing, paid search, organic search, referrals, or brand partnerships.
Segmenting visitors based on the channels they linked from will inform you about their intent and interests, as well as where they are in the conversion funnel.
For example, click-through rates from your own email marketing campaigns show potential customers who are already aware of your brand. These customers are further down the sales funnel and could be quickly converted by a limited-time offer or free shipping.
Segmenting users based on location can form the basis for a variety of small details which make a big difference. From a customer’s location, you can learn about their language, currency, and even local weather conditions. After all, there’s no point promoting winter coats to someone in Hawaii!
Customers will feel seen when your homepage automatically loads in their language, and with prices listed in local currency. It saves them from having to make these changes themselves, streamlining their journey toward conversion.
This can also help with the checkout process, automatically inputting information about shipping costs, customs fees, and taxes on shipping – so there are no nasty surprises for your international visitors.
You’ve already divided your visitors into returning and new customers – but your analytics tools can give you further insight into user behavior. You can segment customers by number of visits, or days since their first or most recent visit.
A loyal customer who makes frequent purchases could benefit from a message about your rewards or referral program, while someone who last visited many months ago may be charmed by a warm welcome.
UTM tags allow you to segment your site traffic by the campaign, content, or referral source that led them to your site. These are ideal for A/B testing, as you can quickly devise which ad or campaign is most successful, and apply more of your budget to promoting the top performer.
However, this data also allows you to personalize your landing page based on the campaign that inspired consumers to click through. This can help to create a seamless customer experience – from the imagery and messaging of a particular ad to that of the onsite journey itself.
Create an easy-to-browse experience for traffic using mobile, tablet, or desktop. Your mobile site ought to operate differently from your browser-based experience, with mobile responsiveness and adaptive screens. This segmentation will dictate which version of your site users click through to.
Consider unifying browsing history between multiple devices, so that returning shoppers using a mobile device will see recommendations based on their desktop browsing.
Mobile users may also prefer the option to log in via their social accounts with the click of a button, rather than filling in a registration form on their smaller screens.
Now you’ve got to grips with your data, it’s time to apply it. Here are some of the core components for building a scalable personalization strategy that meets your needs and your customers’.
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Once you’ve started tracking trends in user behavior, you can see how your customers fall naturally into “types” of shoppers.
For example, some customers may exclusively view new content, while others may browse based on the most popular or highly-rated products. Some might look around your site generally, building a picture of your brand, while others will head straight to the section they’re interested in.
The goal is to use this information to trigger particular content or personalized offers. Build your strategy around factors such as numbers of previous visits, most frequented categories, and purchase history to create truly bespoke recommendations and relevant content.
Artificial intelligence is becoming a recognized and even expected part of the consumer experience, with smart chatbots involved in everything from product selection to customer service.
Machine learning takes personalization to the next level, using background data to automate user experience, and learning more about the nuances of user behavior. AI can instantly process vast amounts of marketing data, find patterns, and make informed suggestions.
AI-based tools can segment users into the most useful categories for your goals, and use this as the basis for cross-selling, upselling, and onsite and offsite messaging. This technology is particularly critical at scale, analyzing thousands of user journeys in real-time.
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The consideration stage of the sales funnel is a crucial point for targeted messaging, which can tip the balance in favor of conversion. However, without taking shoppers’ particular contexts into account, these attempts can fall flat.
With audience segmentation and advanced targeting capabilities in your toolbelt, you can build an array of messages which are personalized to particular shopper types, ensuring that each popup or banner meets its mark rather than providing an unwelcome distraction.
Dynamic content blocks are the parts of your page that can be replaced with relevant content based on the user type. These are often at the top, side, or bottom of the screen, where they can add value to the shopping experience without distracting from it.
For example, many ecommerce sites feature a banner offering free shipping beyond a certain order value. Based on a shopper’s geolocation, this messaging could shift to discuss a standard shipping offer, or an international shipping offer, each with its own value threshold.
Overlays are an increasingly common aspect of the online shopping experience. Rather than the classic popup, which opens in its own window along with immediate fears of a virus or scam, modal notifications appear within the browser tab over the existing content. This reassures users that their browsing has not been interrupted by the messaging.
These new wave popups are most commonly used to request an email address in return for a single-use discount code or to promote a new product or special offer. You may also see an overlay as you click away from a site, reminding you of unsaved items in your basket.
One of the most effective ways to drive additional revenue with your personalized experience is by creating a dynamic space at the bottom of each product page for personalized recommendations.
These can be generated based on user behavior, including recently viewed items and items already in a user’s shopping cart. For example, if a shopper has added a particular scarf to their cart, they may see recommendations for the matching hat and gloves.
These suggestions are designed to lead shoppers to add more items to their cart, driving up the average order value of each session. It can be particularly effective when placed at the bottom of the cart, as shoppers may be looking for one last relevant item to push them over the free shipping threshold.
Your visitors’ experience of your brand doesn’t start when they land on your site – and neither should your personalization. Streamline UX from start to finish by personalizing ads, emails, and partner content with the same segmentation as you use for your website.
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With Facebook boasting 9 million active advertisers as of 2020, social media needs to be a key channel for bringing in customers. From paid ads on Facebook to inspirational content on Instagram, social platforms are home to billions of users with the intent to browse products.
It’s therefore essential that the same data driving your onsite personalization is used to create custom audiences for social media channels. You’ll need to integrate data from across your digital marketing channels to create a single personalized experience.
Social media marketing tools use algorithms to create audiences based on user behaviors. These range from product page visits and on-site searches to cart contents and purchases. However, when it comes to Facebook at least, ad campaign data goes one step further:
With product page level IDs tagged to each campaign, Facebook ads can automate retargeting messages based on behavioral data from each page. So if a site user engaged with a particular product page for a long time but didn’t purchase the product, they’ll be reminded of that product the next time they use Facebook.
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Used correctly, your mailing list should be a powerful driving force for customer loyalty and retention. Given that only 21.3% of marketing emails are opened, however, you need to add value from the very beginning to get potential customers to engage.
Personalization holds the key to this: when compared to general email marketing, emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened, and personalized emails with segmented campaigns lead to a 760% increase in revenue.
Ensure that your email campaigns gain high open rates by gathering subscriber data at the point of signup. All email list subscription prompts ask for a name and email address, but true personalization lies deeper.
Request subscribers’ birth dates with the promise of a birthday treat – this will not only allow you to automate birthday messaging with appropriate discount codes but also help you tailor product recommendations in future emails to specific age groups.
While nobody wants to fill out a lengthy form for email signup, many users consider personalization a reward in itself and are willing to share information in return for better recommendations. Therefore aim to send new mailing list subscribers a welcome email, telling them how to edit their preferences.
This could also be achieved via drip emails, each asking a quick question in the form of a multiple-choice survey. This means subscribers won’t be overwhelmed with requests for data but will feel that their input is valued.
Now you’ve got your data segmented and your core strategies in line, it’s time to fill in the blanks with creative personalized campaigns that leave site visitors feeling seen, heard, and inspired. Here are a few of our favorite ways to win shoppers over with personalized content.
As mentioned, product-detail page recommendations show site users similar or adjacent products to those they’re already interested in.
A fashion retail site might note that a potential buyer is only clicking on black clothes – it will therefore tailor its recommendations to suit this color choice. At its most effective, AI can pull together complete outfit recommendations from across product categories.
Likewise, an office supplies shop might show a range of ink cartridges to a user who has been browsing printers. This is often seen as a helpful gesture rather than a hard sell, as shoppers may not have thought to stock up on complimentary products themselves.
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As much as personalization is based on users’ individual tastes, the power of popularity is still a significant incentive to buy. Shoppers still browse the bestseller lists on Amazon for music and books, or trending titles on Netflix, hoping to stay on-trend with their choices.
Personalization allows you to display even more specific bestseller lists, such as the most popular products over the past month, the most popular products in the viewer’s local area, or the most popular products on a particular social platform.
Targeted to the right segments, these lists can pique the interest of browsers who don’t already have a specific product in mind or convince shoppers to add a little something extra to their baskets.
UX personalization leaves plenty of room for creative content ideas, delivering personalized messages, adverts, blog posts, and even videos to users based on their interests and behaviors.
User-generated content, or UGC, provides social proof by giving potential customers a chance to see your product in the wild. Start by collecting reviews and photos from satisfied customers – this could be done via a follow-up email, or incentivized with a discount or points-based reward.
Personalization takes this to a new dimension by showing users reviews and photos from customers similar to them. By targeting reviews to your customer base based on age group, location, and gender, you can serve a realistic and relevant vision of what their life would be like with your product in it.
Integrate social media with your product pages by encouraging shoppers to “shop the ‘gram” and scroll through user-submitted Instagram photos of the same product. This both encourages users to contribute their own content via a branded Instagram hashtag and provides a fresh and youthful alternative to the traditional written review.
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We have discussed retargeting adverts concerning Facebook ads, but these powerful prompts can occur throughout the customer journey. For example, triggering a modal popup window as shoppers are clicking away from your online store can help re-engage shoppers who would otherwise have left the sales funnel.
This could show images of their most looked-at items, or items in their shopping carts, along with a message encouraging them not to miss out. A similar tactic would involve a modal popup with personalized product recommendations as customers are nearing checkout.
Even once shoppers leave your site without purchasing, you can win them back with paid retargeting ads. To make the most of this investment, be smart with your segmentation.
Only retarget visitors who have viewed your site within the last 7 to 14 days, as beyond this they are likely to have lost interest in or actively decided against making a purchase. The customers who are most likely to convert are those who still have the product fresh in their mind and will have the same interest evoked by seeing it on another site.
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Email is the final and most effective way to remind users of the products they left behind, or similar products which will complement a past purchase. Make sure your messaging is aligned to the context of each user, and give them a personalized reason to reconsider buying from you.
The average shopping cart abandonment rate is 69.82%, meaning over half of the products added to carts don’t make it to checkout. A significant proportion of these abandonments are due to shoppers getting distracted and leaving a site before making a final decision on a purchase.
A well-worded email could remind them of their initial interest, and encourage them with the news that their abandoned cart contents have been saved, ready for them to purchase at any time.
Even once a consumer has converted to a customer, personalized messaging is crucial. Send a thank-you email, confirming their purchase and recommending adjacent products to compliment the item just purchased.
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Personalized marketing is a way to set your brand apart, making customers feel personally attended to, and therefore more likely to enjoy the same experience than take a gamble on another retailer.
Consider your ecommerce business as you would a physical shop: if shoppers are greeted at the door and helped to find just what they’re looking for, they will remember the experience fondly and recommend it to their friends.
This fondness is quickly shifting into an expectation: according to a recent survey, 63% of ecommerce shoppers now expect personal recommendations as a standard part of their shopping experience. With more and more consumers willing to share their personal data to create this experience, this could be a significant turning point for marketers.
There’s no time to lose: start analyzing and segmenting your customer data, and use this knowledge as a firm foundation for site optimization and countless unique visitor experiences.
Written by
Jo is the Head of Strategic Marketing at PureClarity— a fast-growing AI-based ecommerce personalisation SaaS solution driving revenue and conversions through personalised shopping experience. She is an expert with over 20 years experience in Marketing, Ecommerce, and Project Management. Jo dedicated her career to empower online retailers and propel their ecommerce growth.
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