Imagine this: you own a retail store. You know the name of every shopper who walks in, what they’re shopping for, what language they speak and so on. Now imagine if you could take that information and provide a truly unique shopping experience to that individual. Do you think they’d buy your product?
Chances are, they probably would.
Personalization in social media marketing and e-commerce is the new norm. Seventy-five percent of consumers are more likely to buy from a retailer who recognizes their name. On top of that, 81 percent of consumers want brands to get to know them and understand their intent.
Why is personalization important in marketing?
If you think personalization is just a buzzword, then think again. As marketing has evolved, so has the need for user data to offer truly unique experiences to buyers. Personalization has also emerged as a key component in the e-commerce industry to not only increase brand loyalty, but boost overall revenue.
In today’s digital world, personalization is expected. With the use of data analytics, brands are able to determine things about consumers to help them along their buying journey.
Remember the incident with Target a few years ago? It sent a young woman baby product ads because based on her individual consumer data, Target had determined she was in fact pregnant. That’s just one example of many.
We are overloaded with information on the internet, and personalized content attracts attention. When it comes to e-commerce, understanding customer behavior is now the norm. Websites need to understand why shoppers land on their page and what the intent is.
There are a myriad of personalization tools available to improve the customer experience and boost e-commerce sales:
Salesforce Commerce Cloud
This e-commerce personalization tool completely transforms the act of shopping into unique experiences to fit customer needs. The Salesforce Commerce Cloud comes with a suite of tools to personalize email outreach and your e-commerce website. As of 2023, Salesforce Commerce Cloud now hosts 5,401 active online stores.
Retailers are able to tailor the content of emails to each individual, displaying unique products, offers and even the messaging to boost the effectiveness of campaigns. Website personalization through Commerce Cloud similarly helps you tailor content to consumers based on their individual needs and desires.
Evergage
To cater shopping experiences to your customers, you must first know a few things about them. Evergage is a powerful machine learning tool tracking customer behavior on your website or mobile store. As a retailer, this helps you understand what kind of products the consumer is interested in and how they’re engaging with your website. In turn, you can cater your messaging and product incentives to customers when it matters the most.
Cxsense
Like Evergage, Cxsense is a data collection tool to help you understand customer intent. The key takeaway with this tool, however, is it offers real-time personalization updates to improve the customer buying journey. As a result, conversions and sales go up.
ATTRAQT
It isn’t always about the messaging. It’s also about how you present your e-commerce store. ATTRAQT is a visual merchandising platform that personalizes the overall look and feel of your online store including product organization. For example, you wouldn’t showcase fur jackets alongside spring attire. ATTRAQT essentially personalizes your “digital aisle” to display the most relevant products to your customers.
LiveChat
Like many chatbots, LiveChat introduces a new level of personalization: conversational marketing. There really is no better marketing tool than providing a human touch to the online buying journey. LiveChat focuses on B2C, though there are many other chat tools like Drift which caters to B2B businesses. LiveChat operates off canned responses tailored to customer needs on different pages of your e-comm website. Humans can also jump into conversations to add that extra human touch, perhaps even helping someone find a certain product.
Whether you’re a small online store or a corporate retailer, it’s not enough anymore to offer stagnant shopping experiences. Consumers are interested in brands that pay attention to them and understand their needs and wants. Use some of these tools to expand upon your product offerings and you’ll see a boost in overall revenue.
