5 Creative Examples of eCommerce Personalization

This is a guest post by Nera Cruz. If you’d like to contribute to our blog, feel free to get in touch with us.

Tell me if you’ve heard of this story before. You are browsing a shopping website who just happens to greet you with your name and suddenly in the recommended items list, you see the exact pair of yellow underwear with the duck print that you were looking for since last week – and it’s on discount. You quickly whip out your credit card to buy it right away.

It’s personalization at work. You see, all your customers do not come from a single mold. Every one of them has their quirks that make them unique and that’s why you need to personalize to sell better. It’s also a good part of your marketing plan.

In any case, we collected some of the best examples you can use personalization to supercharge your website.

Being on a first name basis with your client

It is nice to get called by your first name. Try this when you are ordering at a restaurant. Speak to your waiter on a first name basis. Call him by his first name. More often than not, you will receive some great service.

You see calling someone by their first name is based on trust. Only people you trust, call you by your first name. It’s a psychological hack that makes your would-be customer feel at home.

Knowing the important dates

Treat your customers like your significant other. Your significant other surely likes it when you remember the important dates – birthdays and anniversaries. Everybody likes being greeted on their birthday. They like it so much that they will open any e-mail greeting them a happy birthday.

It’s a great time to give them an offer. These life events usually make people want to make a purchase, sort of like a birthday present for yourself. You see it working in buffets all over the world.

Selling only what they want

Big stores have huge inventories and they are all trying to sell it to you. That is a huge problem when your customers get overloaded with all the choices. Personalization allows you to put only the items they want in front of them.

Analytics can do this for you by seeing what your customers are looking at and finding possible items that they might want based on their behavior. It may seem a bit Big Brother but at the end of the day, it makes for a good shopping experience as almost always, this leads to another sale.

Ask the right questions

Sometimes it is best to ask your customers outright what they like. It’s less invasive this way. By using filters and questionnaires, you can narrow down the options to what your customer will probably buy.

This allows you to filter a unique basket of goods for your customer. It’s like having your own personal shopper with you.

Make it a group thing

It may sound counter-intuitive, but being part of a group is actually a very personal experience. If you are part of a group, you tend to take on the qualities and behaviors of that group. Call it a version of group-think or herd mentality.

This also makes a great opportunity for “exclusivity” and making your customers feel like they are special, except of course for the fact that your group is essentially open for everyone.

What to do next?

That is a pretty good list of some personalization hacks you can do for your website. Remember that if you make it a personal experience, the more likely it is that your customer will buy from you. Treat it like being a friend to your customer. You would rather buy from a friend, wouldn’t you?

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About the Author

Nera Cruz is a technical writer and a web merchandiser for different online marketplaces around the globe since 2011. Nera gained tons of experience working with several e-commerce platforms. She spends her free time selling her fashion products and gadgets on Facebook (Nera Shoppe). You can also connect with her on Twitter @nera_joy