5 Ways to Build E-Commerce Personalization at Scale

For e-commerce businesses, personalization at scale has never been more important. Right now, nearly 70% of consumers are unhappy with impersonal shopping experiences and expect tailored, relevant content. In order to appeal to shoppers and build customer retention, knowing what to say–and how to say it–is pivotal. Translate that in terms of dollar signs, and that equates to higher conversions and revenue. 

If your online store hasn’t yet mastered the art of creating engaging experiences for your customers, don’t worry, we’re here to help! In this article, we’ll share practical ways that online retailers can elevate their customer’s personalized shopping experience, while also accelerating the growth of their business.

Understanding Personalization at Scale

Before we reveal ways to create personalized content at scale, let’s unwrap what this means and why it matters. 

Every shopper who visits your site has unique digital body language that reveals their specific shopping behaviors and habits. 

Personalization allows online retailers to provide everything from messaging and images to specific offers and product recommendations, based on these distinct identifiers. Essentially, it’s all about knowing your customers, and then serving them in a way that fulfills their wants and needs. 

Personalization at scale ensures your e-commerce store is equipped to optimize every single customer touchpoint, based on real-time activity and previous behavior. By having the right tools in place, you’ll be able to engage more personally with every customer, not just a select few. This will make your customers feel like their shopping experiences are tailored specifically to their needs—which in essence, they are. 

5 Strategies for Scalable E-Commerce Personalization

From initial acquisition to the sale (and beyond), personalization is necessary across the entire customer lifecycle. And with consumers expecting more in their online shopping experiences, understanding their needs and desires is vital for scaling brands. In fact, nearly 80% of consumers agree that businesses should collect their purchase history and preferences so that they can offer personalized experiences. Here are some ways to make that achievable.

1. Dynamic On-site Product Recommendations

Did you know that 45% of online shoppers are more likely to shop on a site that offers personalized product recommendations? By showing other products that are either complementary or similar products to the ones they’re interested in, you’ll not only appeal to more shoppers but also compel them to increase their cart size. This will ultimately drive up the average order value of each session (studies show a sales uplift of 112%!)

Show relevant products on various pages of your website, including product pages and on the cart page. You can also include product recommendations in personalized emails to elevate your online conversions even more

Related: Why Do Product Recommendations Matter?

2. Personalized Lists

Sometimes, personalized content doesn’t need to be specifically created for each individual. Many shoppers want what’s trending, what’s hot, or what’s selling out fast. Use this to your advantage by implementing a “What’s Hot” or “Best-Seller” section on your site that provides real-time information on items that are selling quickly. This is a simple but effective way to create urgency for shoppers who may be on the fence about making a purchase. 

Tip: Up the Buyer ante by segmenting your lists by location or gender, which can result in higher conversions.   

3. Trigger Messaging

When done correctly on e-commerce sites, personalization is virtually guaranteed to increase engagement and customer retention. With almost 90% of consumers influenced by personalized content, it’s imperative to find ways to anticipate and then meet their needs. The more data and shopping behaviors you’re able to track, the more in-depth a customer journey you’ll be able to create. Machine learning technology (like Granify!) is an extremely useful way to predict customer behavior that can then be used for triggered messaging. 

These messages typically include some type of value to the customer—an offer, recommended product, or anything else that sparks them to take action. Eventually, you’ll be able to test various triggers to see which ones perform best, allowing you to provide the highest level of personalized content possible for each customer. 

4. Continued Shopping for Returning Customers

Not all personalization needs to be super obvious. Sometimes, it’s the subtle gestures—like bringing up a returning visitor’s previous store interactions—that provide the most value.

This approach uses the same personalization widgets as product recommendations, and basically shows customers the products they looked at during previous shopping sessions. Not only is this tactic simple to execute, but customers will appreciate how easy it is to continue where they last left off, making it easier for them to buy the items they were interested in, and in turn driving conversion rates and, ultimately, customer loyalty.

5. User-Generated Content (UGG)

Chances are, you already have images on your site that showcase the items you’re selling. But adding other types of UGC, like product reviews, allows your customers to make decisions based on their peers. And, like it or not, this matters to them. Studies show that 84% of consumers trust peer recommendations above all other sources of advertising.

If that’s not enough incentive to add some product reviews and ratings to your product pages, how about this: Featuring user-generated content on your website will increase conversions by an average of 29%

Related: Types of Social Proof That Drive Customers to Buy 

Final Thoughts

When e-commerce personalization is applied properly, it can produce growth for your business and better shopping experiences for your customers. However, scaling personalization will only be achievable once you understand who your customers are, and what it is they want (and expect). This can be attained through data collection, implementing machine learning tools (again, like ours!), testing, and automation. 

Apply these five steps to create meaningful experiences and manage your capabilities as you grow. Not only will you appeal to customers’ wants and needs, but you’ll also increase your bottom line.  

Fast Track Your E-Commerce Personalization

Granify combines human expertise and machine learning technology to deliver a scalable personalization strategy that gets you results in no time.