Even as pandemic restrictions started to relax, there weren’t many signs that online shopping would go back to pre-pandemic levels. Instead, consumers appear to have settled into new routines, regularly using online channels to engage with content, make purchases, and decide which brands their loyalty belongs to.
With higher levels of online shopping, brands have learned one very valuable lesson: today’s consumers care about consumer experiences more than ever before, and business is being won and lost in the online marketplace. With consumers quick to swap brands after just a few bad online shopping experiences, the key to keeping consumers happy and loyal is curating truly relevant and personalized digital consumer experiences.
Why Improving Consumer Experiences Matters
It’s no secret that a better consumer experience leads to better outcomes for brands.
Personalization goes hand in hand with efforts to improve the consumer experience – it’s the backbone of the experience itself. Not only are you creating relevant and meaningful experiences for your consumers, but you’re also setting them up to become loyal to your brand because you’re providing value and convenience.
Depending on your business goals, your personalization strategy might change. For example, if you want to increase sales, the approach you take will be different than if you simply want to boost CRM registrations or content engagement. Moving away from static content to dynamic, personalized experiences is a key element of creating an e-commerce experience that drives consumers to action – rather than spending their time parsing through products and content, you’re providing them with exactly what they want to see, right when they want to see it.
How to Improve Digital Consumer Experiences
Set clear business objectives.
Optimizing digital consumer experiences means knowing exactly what your consumers want and how that ties into your business goals. For example, do you want to see more checkouts or higher-value checkouts?
Optimize data collection and produce actionable insights.
The foundation of personalization is your data. That means thinking about the kind of data you’re collecting, where it’s being stored, and how it’s being tagged. To get to a point where you’re able to produce actionable insights and scale your data analysis practices, you first have to invest in data science.
Secure quick wins with simple personalization.
It’s tough to jump straight into fully dynamic and predictive personalization on your website. Once you’ve got actionable insights, identify quick wins that you can achieve with simple personalization. For example, that could be something as lightweight as auto-filling the ZIP code field on the “Stores Near You” page based on a user’s geographical location, helping consumers figure out where they can find what they’re looking for with minimal effort on their part.
Work towards fully predictive and dynamic product recommendations.
Consumer preferences change rapidly based on the situation or context that they’re operating in. Things like weather, location, time, or date can change what a consumer is looking for – meaning the consumer experience needs to be able to change and adapt in real-time.
With an AI personalization solution, real-time data, contextual information, and historical data can be combined to create highly relevant, personalized consumer experiences at scale. This helps brands predict what content or products consumers are looking for, and capitalize on opportunities to get the right message or products in front of the right person. With dynamic content layouts, marketers don’t have to worry about manually crafting each individual experience – they’re free to focus on the bigger picture.
Find the right vendor.
At the end of the day, integration times and complex tech products can derail even the most solid of business plans. If you’re not quite sure where to start or what products you need, a vendor can take the weight off of your shoulders and make enabling personalized e-commerce experiences a breeze – provided they’re aligned with your goals.
If you’re curious how Breinify can help you personalize e-commerce experiences for your consumers, get in touch with us to learn more!