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This is a guest post by Jimmy Rodela, a freelance writer and the owner of the GuildofBloggers.com.
Old school businesses ran on personalized service.
When a customer would come in, the owner would greet them with a vibrant “Hi Joe” or a “Hi Helen.”
The customer’s attitude would then perk up, even if they were having a bad day.
According to a brain study performed by Dennis Carmody and Michael Lewis, people like hearing their own name… a lot!
So, is personalization the key to your Ecommerce success?
Can you actually reference your customers by their names and get the same response?
Yes!
If you haven’t started incorporating personalization into your visitors’ experience, your visitors could be ignoring your marketing, therefore, you lose the opportunity to close them as paying customers.
In fact, according to Matt Janaway, CEO of Marketing Labs, “Personalization is powerful. Not only does it encourage relationship building between brands and their audiences, but it also reassures the customers that they’re buying the right item — making it easier for them to take out their wallets.”
Here are a few ways to add personalization to your ecommerce site.
Name personalization
Web designers and marketers are constantly trying to reach customers through all types of engagement tactics.
And, as we said before … people like hearing their own name. But, they also like seeing their name too.
So, why not find a way to include their name on your website?
Which one looks more personal?
Of course, the one that says “Hi Helen!”
And while this may seem insignificant, you could increase your sales by 20% just by mentioning “Helen.”
But, what if you could make Helen’s experience even more personal?
History tends to repeat itself
We make children study history so they’ll know where we came from, what we overcame, and so we can learn from our successes and failures.
Why?
Because history tends to repeat itself.
And, your customer Helen, is likely to look at some of the same things she looked at during her last visit.
Do you know what Helen looked at the last time she visited your website?
You don’t?
Then you aren’t maximizing her customer experience and your store profits are suffering because of it.
A little over 11% of customers feel frustrated due to a lack of personalized content. In fact, Helen might feel a little frustrated since you aren’t customizing your website to her.
Now, let’s say that you do know what Helen looked at the last time she visited your website?
Did she buy it the last time she visited?
If not, can you have that displayed on the front page, along with a few other similar suggestions?
Do you think this might nudge her to buy it this time?
Maybe you could display a message that says …
“Hi Helen! Last time you visited, you looked at this Maxi Skirt. Would you like an extra 10% off today? Here’s a special coupon – HELEN10 that expires today.”
Notice that even the coupon code is customized to her name … BONUS!
Now, there’s a good chance that Helen will buy from you today because you personalized the website to her.
By using her name and remembering what she last viewed, she feels appreciated. Plus, you gave her a little extra incentive – 10% off – for being a repeat visitor.
Can you see where this could lead to greater Ecommerce success yet
Predicting The Future
No, you can’t consult your Magic 8-Ball and know what Helen wants to buy, but you can make some educated guesses.
In fact, Amazon and eBay use predictive suggestions and/or recommendations and this accounts for up to 30% of their sales!
Going a step further, 50% of consumers are likely to go to another brand if you don’t learn to anticipate their needs.
And while you aren’t Amazon or eBay, personalizing your recommendations to Helen can make your relationship with her stronger.
People just like Helen want to buy, otherwise they wouldn’t be on your website.
Are you making the most of your time with Helen when she visits?
Since you already know that Helen:
- Is a female
- Has looked at maxi skirts
- Likes red colored skirts
- Is a size 14
Couldn’t you make a few recommendations by showing her all the most popular red-colored maxi skirts that are size 14?
A perfect example of predictive recommendation can be seen using Oberlo — an e-commerce solution that Shopify website owners use to find and seamlessly integrate products into their stores within a few clicks.
Look at the screenshot below, what do you see?
“Recommended for you” …
The last time we visited we looked at watches and jewelry, and Oberlo took notice. Now, getting back to Helen.
Maybe she didn’t like the length of the first one she saw, but the next one is the perfect length. How would she know it was there unless she continued searching?
Through your predictive recommendations.
Now you’re starting to see where the extra 20% we discussed earlier comes from.
Since Helen can see more skirt options, she doesn’t have to keep looking at other competing websites. And she won’t, because she’ll end up buying from you.
Grouping your subscribers
As you can see in the illustration above, Helen and Jane like skirts. But Joe likes watches.
If they were all subscribed to your mailing list, you could send them special alerts on product closeouts, one-day sales, and more.
But, what if you only had a sale on maxi skirts?
If you haven’t grouped your subscribers, then Joe is going to get an email that he doesn’t care about, while Helen and Jane will.
If Joe gets overloaded with too many emails from you, he could unsubscribe and/or stop using your company completely.
To avoid this, you should learn to group your subscribers.
This is another area where you can use personalization to meet the subscribers needs.
By using their name, their history, and predictive recommendations, you can increase your bottom line when sales are “weak” through special promotions.
The key to eCommerce success is personalization
As you can see, personalizing your website to each customer can definitely help to increase your overall profits.
In fact, personalization can actually add up to 20% more in profits per customer purchase if performed properly.
And, there is a better chance that your customer will feel valued and stay.
Do you see how personalization can be used to increase your Ecommerce profits now?
Make each visit personal and watch your profits soar!
