[{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/11\/09\/e-commerce-personalization-definition-benefits-examples\/#Article","articleBody":"E-commerce personalization is nothing new, although it\u2019s evolved greatly from merely being about personalized product recommendations.\nFor years, it\u2019s been common practice for retailers to use technology and tools to determine the affinity that a customer has towards a particular category, product, or subject in an effort to put the right products and content in front of those customers, based on that affinity. So far, it\u2019s been met with varying degrees of success.\nNormally, when we talk about this e-commerce personalization, most people think about product recommendations and content, but rarely do we see someone go much further than that.\nWhat is e-commerce personalization: Definition\nE-commerce personalization refers to the process of how brands offer customized experiences for visitors on websites.\nInstead of one single experience, holistic e-commerce personalization helps brands provide visitors and customers with unique experiences to meet their desires and preferences.\nPersonalization in e-commerce uses previous activity by users, browsing behavior, purchase history, and other data to dynamically deliver:\nPersonalized product recommendations\nContent\nSpecial or specific offers\n \nHow omnichannel and personalization make retail profitable\n   Omnichannel strategy encompasses the type of channel used for selling and customer needs, making omnichannel and personalization a must-have for retailers.  \nFlash point: Benefits of e-commerce personalization\nPersonalization done right means: Customers will be more likely to buy from your brand \u2013 and become repeat customers. Consumers are also willing to pay more for personalized experiences.\nThe right products at the right time\nPersonalized product recommendations are usually what comes to mind for many people when talking about personalization.\nIn its most simple form, we see this in product carousels that can be placed in different areas of a website or in an email. The carousel will contain a set of products that an algorithm has determined a customer may have an interest in, based on data about the customer that\u2019s been collected.\nThis may be as simple as basic gender and geographic information, and what they\u2019ve previously purchased. It may also include data on which products they look at, content they consume, and even what they post about the brand on social media.\n \nTypes of customer data: Definitions, value, examples\n   Types of customer data serve distinct purposes. Identity data, descriptive data, attitudinal data, behavioral data defined with examples.  \nFUN FACT: No matter how much data they use and despite how sophisticated their personalization engine is, brands will only see a limited uplift using product carousels alone.\nMost carousels contain up to 10 different products, and the likelihood of one of these products being the one the customer wants to buy at that point in time is relatively low \u2013 even if curated by an algorithm. It\u2019s certainly worth doing, but if it\u2019s the only personalization that\u2019s done, let\u2019s just say it\u2019s not going to change the world.\nA step further in product personalization is where search results \u2013 including catalogue browsing \u2013 is personalized. This means that product listings and search result pages are personalized, ensuring that the products for which a customer has affinity (as determined by the personalization algorithm) are pushed upwards in the pages, or that a different set of rules are used when determining the order of products shown on these pages.\nThis technique is less specific than a product carousel, as it\u2019s effectively adding weightings to certain types of products to ensure that they\u2019re pushed further towards the top of pages.\nHowever, a retailer utilizing this technique can expect to see a larger uplift than when introducing product carousels, as the customer will consistently see products that they have a closer affinity to more often.\n \nMaster omnichannel with product content management\n   Take control of the customer experience with a powerful product content management that allows you to deliver engaging and consistent product information across all channels.  \nE-commerce personalization: Seeing the right content\nContent is another area where brands personalize, and a great number of retailers are using rich content to give them an edge over their competitors.\nE-commerce isn\u2019t just about a product catalogue, it\u2019s about an experience, and rich content is often an important part of that experience.\nFor example, it\u2019s very common for a brand to have a large hero banner on their home page; often pointing to a particular category or product range.\nMany brands now personalize this by creating multiple copies of a banner and showing the most relevant one to each customer based on the data that\u2019s been collected about that customer.\nIt makes complete sense to show customers the content that\u2019s most relevant to them rather than just showing the same thing to everyone.\nThis technique has been proven to increase KPIs like conversion rates and is almost always worth doing but, on its own, is not going to have a dramatic impact.\n \nB2B content marketing: An intro to making your customer the hero\n   Why is B2B content marketing so important to business? It increases sales, brand awareness, brand trust, and customer loyalty.  \nBeyond personalized product recommendations: Getting holistic with the experience\nWhile many brands are focusing on personalizing product recommendations and content, very few are focusing on personalizing the holistic experience.\nInteracting with a website is an experience that has many different aspects. As well as products and content, a user is interacting with:\nNavigation\nSearch\nFilters\nA cart\nA checkout, and many other areas\nOn most e-commerce websites, these aspects tend to be exactly the same for every customer. While the products and content a customer sees may be personalized, all of the other parts of the experience tend to be the same \u2013 this is where holistic experience personalization comes in and can deliver big returns.\nLet\u2019s think of a very simple scenario where a multi-category retailer sells clothing as well as homeware. While they\u2019ll have customers who purchase from multiple categories, they\u2019ll also have others that will primarily purchase from a single category.\nMost brands will decide which category to display first within the main navigation based on many factors \u2013 usually focused on which product category generates the most overall revenue \u2013 but this is most often the same for everyone who visits the site. However, if the brand knows that I mainly purchase from the clothing category, there\u2019s a strong argument to show that category to me first in the navigation. This, alone, isn\u2019t going to have a dramatic effect on KPIs but, combined with other changes to the experience, it can start to make a big difference.\nA more sophisticated example of holistic personalization could be changing the order of the faceted navigation (filter options that sit on the product listing and search result pages) based on a user\u2019s behavior.\nMaybe a specific visitor uses the price slider much more often than they filter by color. If so, the retailer should consider pushing the price slider towards the top of the faceted navigation. Many brands will have a large number of facets that a customer can filter on, but will always show the same facets in the same order to every customer. Why not show the facets that each individual uses most at the top?\nYou could do the same for sort options, or even automatically show a certain number of products in each row on the product listing page based on how each individual has previously interacted with the website.\nHow about delivery preferences? If a user most often chooses click and collect, show that option first ahead of other delivery methods.\nThe same goes for payment methods. If they always use PayPal, make that prominent and the first choice. When you start to think about it, there are many distinct parts of the e-commerce personalization experience that could be altered to perfectly match an individual.\nThis level of experience personalization is a step beyond content personalization and personalized product recommendations. It\u2019s adapting the holistic experience of the website, based on the perceived preferences of the user; making all aspects of their journey personalized to provide an experience that\u2019s entirely tailored to the way they want to interact with the brand.\nAs with product recommendations and content personalization, personalizing the experience alone will not suddenly and dramatically your conversion rate but, done together, brands should expect to see significant gains.\n \nReduce shopping cart abandonment with customer data management\n   Believe it or not, shopping car abandonment is another thing that a solid customer data management approach can resolve. Shopping cart abandonment is a major challenge for online retailers. As shoppers, we\u2019ve all been guilty of it from time to time. We browse online, add items to our cart, and for one reason or another\u2026  \nHow to deliver holistic e-commerce personalization\nSome of the best tools a brand can use to deliver a holistic, personalized e-commerce experience are ones that started life as A\/B testing tools, but have evolved into experience personalization platforms. Tools like Dynamic Yield, Monetate, and Optimizely work by intercepting the HTML before it is loaded by a user\u2019s browser, manipulating it based on certain rules, and then showing the altered experience to the user.\nThis technology allows these tools to change almost any aspect of the website, from the products, the content, the navigation, and almost any part of the experience. A brand can test multiple different experiences at once and measure which delivers the best results.\nWhen they were first developed, these tools knew very little about the individual users and would randomly select which users were shown which experience based on the percentages the brand would configure.\nHowever, over time, they\u2019ve evolved into personalization platforms where they gather data on each user\u2019s behavior; which products and categories they view, what content they consume, what they search for, what they buy and many other aspects of the user\u2019s behavior. They then user artificial intelligence and machine learning to calculate a user\u2019s affinity to a certain category, product, or any other aspect the brand may want to consider. The system will then dynamically segment customers based on this behavior and affinity, then the brand is then able to define which segment will see which experience.\nIt\u2019s even possible to combine this with data from other touchpoints such as product returns, social interactions, and even purchases from physical stores.\nAll of this data can be used to provide a 360-degree view of the customer and can be further used to provide personalized experiences, like ensuring online and email product recommendations take in-store actions into account.\nUsing this technology will allow a brand to deliver an online experience that is wholly personalized to each customer, putting the right products content and overall experience in front of everyone \u2013 and having the maximum positive impact on KPIs.\nPersonalization: It\u2019s not magic. It\u2019s method. Find out who does it best HERE.","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/11\/09\/e-commerce-personalization-definition-benefits-examples\/#Article_Person","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/11\/09\/e-commerce-personalization-definition-benefits-examples\/#Article_Person_ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Branwell-Moffat-e1497890164339-150x150.jpg"},"name":"Branwell Moffat","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/branwellm?lang=en","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/branwellmoffat\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/branwell-moffat\/"},"dateModified":"2021-11-09T03:37:54+00:00","datePublished":"2021-11-09T06:01:55+00:00","description":"E-commerce personalization extends beyond personalized product recommendations. Holistic efforts allow brands to optimize for every user.","headline":"E-commerce personalization: It's more than product recommendations","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/11\/09\/e-commerce-personalization-definition-benefits-examples\/#Article_ImageObject","height":"630","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/e-commerce-personalization-ftr-1200x630.png","width":"1200"},"mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/11\/09\/e-commerce-personalization-definition-benefits-examples\/","name":"E-commerce personalization: It's more than product recommendations","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/","additionalType":"https:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/wiki\/Q1193236","description":"Relevant, timely information & analysis on commerce trends, both consumer-facing and B2B.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1","height":"96","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1","width":"500"},"name":"The Future of Customer Engagement and Experience","sameAs":["https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/a-call-for-a-better-experience\/id1479742201","https:\/\/twitter.com\/FutureOfCEC","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/4844282","https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/feed\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/"},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/11\/09\/e-commerce-personalization-definition-benefits-examples\/#Article"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2021","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"11","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/\/11\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"09","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/\/11\/\/09\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"E-commerce personalization: It’s more than product recommendations","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/11\/09\/e-commerce-personalization-definition-benefits-examples\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]