What Is Personalized eCommerce (and How Can It Be Implemented)

Personalize ecommerce is something that everyone is discussing.

Yet few businesses understand the concept or how to implement advanced personalization on a doable budget.

What is personalized ecommerce and why care?

Personalization in marketing and selling is a must have, allowing you to target individuals rather than casting too wide a net. It is the difference between getting that first lead and turning that lead into a sale.

In 2016 Saleforce found that around 60% of consumers were eager to share their personal data in case they were offered a personalized shopping experience. Furthermore the majority of the polled consumers revealed that they expected brands to send them personalized emails based on their past purchasing decisions.

In other studies, Deloitte discovered 37% of surveyed consumers were happy to get personalized products, which use personalized data and were more willing to purchase from a brand that provided them.

What does this tell us? That personalized ecommerce works and it’s what is expected from brands.

According to Red Search, artificial intelligence is the future of content marketing, and according to SwiftERM, AI-driven personalization is the future of ecommerce.

However that half-formed efforts does not equal true customization and consumers know the difference. It isn’t enough to slap someone’s first name in the subject line of a drip email. It is all about offering something of value that uses accessible data to achieve.

So what personalized ecommerce is and how to implement it? Here are a few ideas:

Think relevance, not options

You might think that having a wide array of choices will give everyone something they can go for. But the opposite is true and having too much to browse through will lose you commissions, not gain them.

Instead, customize those options and provide a select few that are most likely to appeal to each individual. When starting an online store, make sure to select technology that offers personalization options.

Likewise, when creating your brand name, make sure it will be available on other channels:

Get the right tool for the job

To do the above (or anything else on this list) you need to have the information at your disposal that will help you to make up those personalized lists. That means learning who your target is, what they want and what you can give them.

Know Your Customer is a fundamental concept in all marketing. Build yourself a heavy toolbox.

Demographics feature inside PayKickstart gives you a lot of insight into your site visitors and current customers, including:

• Your customers’ age
• Gender breakdown
• Average purchase amount
• Positions and income and so much more…

Further reading: Gathering Customer Demographics & Intelligence

Using PayKickstart’s “Surveys” feature is another great way to better understand your customers to create more personalized experiences for them:

Further reading: How to set up an automated survey with PayKickstart.

Incentivize first time visitors

You want every first time visitor to be a first time buyer. So give them a reason! Invite them to sign up to the newsletter to get personalized offers and perks. Give them free shipping if that order is over a certain amount. Make them want to take advantage because it is such a good deal.

Multiple research has shown that consumers are willing to give companies their personal information, as long as they see the value in it for them (e.g. tailored experiences, ability to customize products and personalized deals).

Using personalization to incentivize email signups can boost both your email list growth and brand loyalty.

In exchange, you get more than a sale… you get access to their inbox and that first time data that tells you what they were looking at, what they bought and – almost as importantly – what they almost bought. Even if they don’t make the sale but sign up, you can use it as a launching point for engagement.

Personalize your communication

Many marketers tend to get email marketing personalization completely wrong: All they do is personalize the customer’s name. However you can (and should!) do so much more. From personalized abandoned cart reminders to failed payment notifications – advanced personalization can revive many of your sales.

PayKickstart can help you with most of email notification personalization and help integrate even more.

PayKickstart handles all of your cart abandoned notifications. It uses advanced personalization to remind your customers what they were trying to purchase and let them continue from where they left off:

PayKickstart also handles personalized failed payments notifications that get sent out 5-10 minutes AFTER a new customer’s payment fails. This is one of the most effective ways to revive an almost lost recurring customer.

On top of that, PayKickstart easily integrates with major email marketing providers including Mailchimp, Getresponse, ConvertKit and more. All of these allow to set up even more personalized campaigns to reach more of your companies at the best moment when they are ready to buy.

Personalize your CTAs

While new customers are important, your return visitors are GOLD. They already know your brand and they are much likelier to convert.

Give your return visitors even more reasons to buy from you by personalizing your calls-to-action and creatives based on their past interactions with your site. You can easily do that with Finteza that helps you create re-marketing campaigns and set conversion goals to better target your past visitors.

For example, you can set up a separate advertising campaign to those of your customers who previously read at least half of your free guide:

The recent technology – including AR & VR – offers even more ways to create and diversify sales channels.

Conclusion

While the demand for personalization is growing, most brands are still falling behind relying on mostly basic personalization tactics, and hence failing to engage consumers.

To satisfy demand for personalization, create customer quantified personas and embrace advanced personalization in email marketing.

The good news is, personalized ecommerce can be embraced through existing and growing third-party solutions without the need to invest into the in-house technology.

On top of all, find a personalization technology partner that is best for your brand. If you are into selling digital goods, PayKickstart should be your top choice.

Do you have any ideas for personalized ecommerce? What about a tool you have found to be a necessity for your campaign? Let us know in the comments.

Ann Smarty

Ann Smarty is the Brand Manager at Internet Marketing Ninjas, as well as co-founder of Viral Content Bee. Ann has been into Internet Marketing for over a decade, she is the former Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Journal and contributor to prominent search and social blogs including Small Biz Trends and Mashable. Ann is also the frequent speaker at Pubcon and the host of a weekly Twitter chat #vcbuzz

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