The Art Of Personalisation: Your Key To Success In E-commerce

5 min readDec 12, 2016

In the 1970s, people were exposed to approximately 500 commercials on a day to day basis, but with today’s technology those estimates have jumped to as high as 30,000 per day, according to Forbes. That amounts to about 21 messages every minute over a 24 hour period.

Quite crazy, don’t you think?

With the average person being exposed to so many commercials and digital media, it naturally follows that in order to succeed in such a competitive market you have to adopt certain strategies.

To begin with, let’s focus on your customer and the ways in which you can show them you are the best option for their shopping spree! The data that Internet users are leave behind is one of the most powerful and often underestimated strategic tools that an entrepreneur has at their disposal. We will tell you how to use this data to master the art of personalisation and show you some great examples.

Why is personalisation important?

Personalisation in e-commerce means providing your customers with a customized shopping experience tailored to their needs, and it is one of the most effective ways to attract new clientele by targeting consumer trends.

I, personally, really believe in this system and its benefits. Isn’t it much more effective to be offered items that personally suit you, rather than for example that XXL bra when you know you have nothing to put into?

But forget about my feelings and beliefs and let’s go to the facts.

Autopilot survey revealed that consumers expect timely, knowledgeable, and personal content, and 72% said they are frustrated when they receive generic marketing that doesn’t relate to their interests or past purchases.

Furthermore, the survey indicated they were more than four times likely to respond to an offer for something they needed if the offer was personalized and took their tastes into consideration.

Don’t personalize…

if you don’t have enough reliable data. Be aware of pretending you know your customers when you lack information on their spending habits, as this can be dangerous.

You can easily turn them off by just using their name and not personalising the offer, or in some cases getting it wrong.

Just last week one company that I like, trust, and have a 12 year long relationship with sent me an email addressing me by the WRONG name! I wasn’t angry, but I was a bit disappointed by this slip which, if it had been someone else, might have cost them a customer.

Utilize your data

The way you use your data influences your ability to offer tailored services that your customers expect. In today’s competitive market the ability to offer personalised solutions is the key to success. One of the first online retailers that began to use customer data was Amazon in 2004. They started to offer products based on preferences, previous purchases, and search history, and continue to do so to this day, still searching for new possibilities and opportunities.

And Amazon isn’t the only one. Almost all successful companies are using customer data and creating new ways how to get the most out of it. Have you ever played Pokémon GO? Yes? Well congratulations, you are part of the team that helps Google to improve their maps. Are you listening Spotify? Awesome! Don’t be surprised if in the near future your favourite singer comes into your city to play the songs you love. The data collected by Spotify is used by concert tour promoters to plan their season. These are just few examples of how easily and effectively the data can be utilized.

Get to know your Jim, Jane, and Tom

It’s a cliché common to all marketing and pseudomarketing handbooks: “Do you know your customers?” Yes, of course. But do you really? Do you know who your best customer is? How much they spent today, this week, at all? Which products your customers prefer, what pages they are visiting? Which devices they use for their purchases and which source or campaign they came from? Thanks to reasonably priced app solutions we are able to answer not only these questions but many others. If you are not an IT geek, don’t worry. The MonkeyData app, for example, is easy to understand and very user friendly.

As a great example of the importance of knowing your target group behaviour is Korean beauty products company Memebox. They realized people are using mobile devices a lot so they launched a mobile app that now has more than 4 million downloads and about 80% of sales are made from mobile devices. Another example is the Obama presidential campaign where more than 30% of the staff working for him was processing the online data and creating the base for a very successful marketing strategy. Yes, the cliché is true — you have to know your customers very well, but this means finding your reporting tool, analysing the information, and trying to find out niche markets with the hidden opportunities for you.

Short personalisation McDonald case study

McDonald has introduced the “Otegoro Mac” in Japan last summer — low-priced customizable menu with many possible variations.

Issue: People were using old menus because so many choices presented by Otegoro throw them off.

Goal: Make new service understandable and push customers to take advantage of it.

Solution: Use the data for the customizable banners combining consumer demographics, location, time information, and weather. So, for example, a woman in Tokyo was offered a combination of salad and a Big Mac. Clicking on the banner, she would receive a coupon to use at a McDonald’s.

Outcome:

3x higher CTR
150% higher coupon usage
2.8% increase in sales on YoY basis

(source: Campaign Japan)

Finally, what are the most important takeaways from this article?

Personalise when possible
Don’t over-personalise if you lack relevant information
Use your data effectively
Find a reliable reporting tool that will deliver the most important data to you
Talk to Jim, Jane, and Tom and not to the masses
Be CrEaTiVe and have FuN!