Have you been at your favourite store trying on clothes, and the sales associate brings you a few more shirts to try on based on the items you picked out? This action would be considered in-store personalization. This method is also treasured online.
Just as they do in a store, your users expect some form of personalization when they are browsing your eCommerce website.
This personalization can come in many forms: advertisements, content, or products. One simple touch of personalization can go a long way, as it increases user engagement and in turn, can increase your sales when done right.
Shockingly, only 62% of retailers are incorporating personalization on their websites, according to eConsultancy. There is an opportunity to personalize something in every phase of the sales funnel, so there should be no reason that you are not personalizing the user experience for your customers.
Why you should be Personalizing your UX
According to Mojn, 75% of consumers are delighted when merchants personalize their offerings and messages, 74% of consumers gain frustration when a site’s content is irrelevant, and 61% prefer personalized offers, even if it means losing some privacy.
By giving your users a more personalized experience, you are increasing the chance that they will make a purchase on your website. When a UK-based mobile app started personalizing travel deals for their potential customers, they increased purchases by 210%.
If a user comes across your website, and initially does not see anything they like, chances are they will bounce, and will not be back. However, if a user comes across your website and sees a few items on the homepage that they love, just there you have increased the CLV (customer lifetime value) of that user.
Findability is a crucial part of user experience. Even if your website has that one item that the user loves; if it does not personally appear for them, it does not matter.
Amazon does personalization perfectly. Every time I log on to Amazon, it shows me things that I would probably like, based on items that I have browsed, and books they suggest that are similar to my past reads.
Essentially, Amazon is just giving me a list of everything that I want to buy from them and compiling my wishlist for me!
Since Amazon knows what I like to read, and knows my style of clothing, it truly makes me purchase from them more and more, and makes me enjoy being on their site. I am sure that you can relate. While a multi-billion dollar company does my above example, and you may not have the tools and resources to personalize as well as they do, there are a ton of alternative options for personalizing the experience for your users.
How to get started Personalizing your User’s Experience
The personalization can be anywhere and everywhere on your website. You can personalize the content, advertisements, products, and emails. This all can be done at each subsequent part of the sales process, or just one.
For example, Amazon personalizes the experience as soon as you hit the homepage. However, some eCommerce stores may only personalize the site after something is in your shopping cart by attempting a cross / up-sell of items, or by sending out emails after an initial purchase has been made.
While you can hire a UX design agency to set this up completely custom for you, you might be able to do some of it yourself by utilizing third party tools.
Here, we will go over the basics:
Dynamic Content
Dyno is a tool that you can use that allows you to segment out your website visitors into groups, and cater specialized content to that group. Setting up dynamic content on your website will improve the overall UX, and perpetuate your users’ engagement.
Personalized Products and Product Recommendations
Many sites will recommend products to you based on your browsing history, whether it be on or off their website. This recommendation is done either by taking advantage of an on-page algorithm that catalogues your clicks, scrolls, and buys, or by purchasing off-page browsing data from third parties like Google or Bing.
Personalized Emails
If you are using an eCommerce platform, like Shopify, sending personalized emails is not difficult. There are many third party apps that you can use to send extremely personalized emails. A few apps to check out to add a personal touch to your emails are Soundest or Klaviyo.
With consumers receiving so many emails a day, your email marketing efforts need to stand out, and personalizing the emails is the perfect way to do so.
Retargeting
Retargeting is a trending marketing topic right now, as it serves advertisements to the people that have already engaged with your store. Personalized ads to your past users will encourage them to come back for more!
You can set up a retargeting campaign using Google AdWords, AdRoll, Retargeter and even Facebook.
Conclusion: Do not Fall Behind the Trend
Website personalization is something that is not going away anytime soon. It is a trend, which users both want and expect. As such, other personalization can ruin your chances of engaging with a customer in ways that will entice them to return again.
Personalization is an unavoidable part of a modern user experience. It is too prevalent in other areas of a user’s life to be left by the wayside. Think about the heavy-handedness with which Facebook, Google, Twitter, Amazon, Instagram, and nearly every other major digital experience implements personalization. Do you want to go against the standards set by these titans?
Everything is a part of the user experience of your website: the content, the colors, the products, the recommendations, the advertisements and even what happens after you make a purchase. Personalize as many aspects of your site for a higher chance of success.
Want to learn more?
Are you interested in the managerial and strategic aspects of UX? The online course on UX Management and Strategy can teach you the necessary skills on the subject and earn you an industry-recognized course certificate to advance your career. If, on the other hand, you want to brush up on the basics of UX and Usability, the online course on User Experience might be a better fit for you (or another design topic). Good luck on your learning journey!
(Lead image: Magnascan – Creative Commons)
