Personalization: The Game Changer in Ecommerce

Personalization has become a game-changer for eCommerce sites. It helps store owners proactively engage with visitors and provide them with what they want. Customers also expect e-commerce systems to provide unique experiences based on their preferences. Studies prove that personalization has increased customer engagement and sales to a great extent.

JD Sports, a sportswear dealer in Bury, England, states1 that implementing a personalized product recommendation feature in their website Millets.co.uk in 2014 has constituted an increase of 332% in user conversions. It also accounts for 19% of the total revenue generated by the website.

E-commerce platforms collect as much information as possible from customers based on their interactions in the portal. Here are some ways in which e-commerce portals can deliver a personalized experience to customers:

Call to Actions Targeting the Customer

Specific calls to action can be displayed based on customer behaviour. For instance, show a pop-up advertisement for a product the customer viewed on her previous visit and offered a discount. Or prompt the user to input their email address to get a discount coupon for the specific product she is looking for if the user is a first-time visitor.

Engaging Returning Customers Through Customer Portals

Encourage users to sign-up by giving them special offers. If customer identity is known, engagement will be more robust. It also enables the portal to engage with the customer even though multiple devices are used to access it. For example, suppose the customer searches for a specific product on her mobile device and later visits the portal from her laptop. In that case, the site can identify the user and show the products she is looking for.

Intelligent Predictions

Based on the data collected from various sources, personalization systems can make intelligent predictions on the probability of purchasing a specific product. Based on this information, different automated actions can be taken to increase conversion.

Informed Chat Agents

Integrating personalization systems with chat systems allows informed chat agents to communicating with a visitor accordingly. Suppose a customer accesses the site via a unique advertising campaign email. In that case, the chat agent will get a real-time notification and can initiate a conversation with the customer with that information.

Enhancing User Experience with Virtual Reality

Due to the availability of multiple channels for product purchases, customers now tend to go with platforms that deliver them the best user experience. Virtual reality is the trend nowadays. People expect eCommerce platforms to have a real-time understanding of the products using their VR devices. E.g., For a clothing store, if an option is provided to try a shirt virtually using VR devices or even on their web platform, it will certainly deliver a good experience for users. Another one is allowing users to explore the interior of a car using their VR device. This will give them a feeling that they are sitting inside that car.

Personalization will not only increase revenue but also will build brand loyalty among customers. We have outlined the high-level structure of the website personalization engine with some sample use cases. If you are interested in trying this out, please let us know.