How to Turn Shopping Into a Personalized Experience
- When you go shopping, whether you choose to do it online or in a physical store, what do you think that influences your decision to make a purchase?
- Would you keep buying in the same place if everything that’s recommended to you doesn’t seem to fit what you like?
Believe it or not, personalization is one of the biggest factors that persuades shoppers to return for more.
A study by Infosys about the retail industry showed that 59% of shoppers who have experienced personalization believe it has a noticeable influence on purchasing. While 31% of consumers wished their shopping experience was more personalized than it currently is.
Taking that into account, let’s take a look at four things retailers can do to boost personalization and create more engagement with their consumers. We’ll also introduce you to some of the plans we have in store for Reckoon based around this very subject. Sound good? Let’s go!
1. Tailored Recommendations
This first tip is one of the most well known when it comes to personalization, and it’s more effective in an online environment. Having a purchase history of your consumers will help you know them better and predict what would they like to buy in the future based on their interests.
This is the same concept that’s used by Netflix and YouTube to suggest videos and shows based on what you watch. It’s also used by pretty much every social media to show you a feed that reflects what you tend to like and consume on a daily basis. In that same way, this technique is very efficient for online shopping and will result in more loyal customers.
Of course, this doesn’t have to be done manually, it’s all handled by an algorithm that learns from the behaviour of each user in order to provide tailored recommendations.
2. Custom Emails
Okay, so let’s say that you added tailored recommendations for your consumers, why stop there? You can go one step further and send custom emails that communicate what you’re doing for them. Don’t try to hide it. They will appreciate the effort that a brand is doing to make them happy.
Emails are the best place to get more personal. Don’t treat your clients as just another number on your list. Call them by their name, acknowledge what they like, provide sales based on their wish list, and thank them for their support.
It wouldn’t hurt to also give them some discounts on special occasions like their birthday. That’s a sure way to win them over.
You have to put yourself in the shoes of the customer and think how would you like to be treated. Think what works for you and apply that to your custom emails.
Here’s a good example from EB Games:
3. Geo-Location Targeting
If you don’t know where your target audience is, then you can’t offer them the most relevant offers. Geo-location has a big impact on sales as it’s the most effective way to redirect online visitors to the right store.
Geo-location is also helpful as a tool to keep users informed about shipping prices and availability. Moreover, one of the best features to boost personalization is to take advantage of geographic-specific events. Each country and each city has its own set of festivities and events throughout the year. You can predict trends and send special offers based on those events, like the Carnival in Brazil or Black Friday in the U.S.
Sending geo-specific alerts is a good way to show that you’re aware of the environment of your customers and will provide them with deals that feel more close to home.
4. Reward Your Most Loyal Customers (In Real Life)
We’ve covered most of the things that you can do online, but personalization is not all digital. I mean, the word comes from “person” for a reason, and you can only go so far with faceless automated systems. Sometimes, a simple but thoughtful gesture made in real life will mean more to your customers than all the fancy techniques that you can try with technology.
For example, Chanel has been known to send personalized handwritten notes to their most loyal clients as a way to say thank you.
It might seem unscalable to do this for every customer, but that’s the same reason why it feels so special to the people that receive them. If you know you have recurring shoppers that love your brand, it’s a good idea to show some appreciation and take the time to make them smile.
It’s simple, but it could leave a bigger impression than all the tech in the world. You could also give out some special discounts or personalized gifts for their birthday, for example.
Remember, this is just for your most loyal customers. It’s a good way to reward their engagement, and trust me if they like how they’re treated, it will spread as positive word of mouth for your retail company.
Our Vision for Personalized Shopping
Now that we’ve covered some tips to improve the customer experience with personalization, here’s how we plan to make it a reality with Reckoon.
We’re creating a global platform that connects the online and physical shopping experience in a single place. Geo-location will play an important role to ensure that everything is always in-sync and relevant for our users, providing geo-specific alerts based on where they live.
We’re also adding a special feature that we like to call GloWS (Global WishBasket Shopping Protocol), which basically will function as a Wish List for shoppers to add their favorite products to buy later. Based on these items, our system will recommend deals that are tailored just for them.
Custom emails and rewards for loyal customers are also part of the plan, but the most important thing to keep in mind is that users have complete control over their data. They decide how much they want to share and only they have the final word on how personal the experience will become. You know what they say, the customer is always right!
We also would like to hear more from you! What other features would you like to see in Reckoon? How do you feel that your shopping experience will improve? Feel free to leave your suggestions below!
We’re also excited to announce that our Pre-IEO has just started so if you want to support our project, this is a great time to do it. You can grab your ROOK tokens with a 50% bonus that will only last until March 1st before the official IEO.
Sign up on ExMarkets and join the Pre-IEO: https://exmarkets.com/launchpad/rook-btc
