As digital marketers we understand the power of personalisation. Take, for example, personalised email marketing. Using existing data to target an email campaign to a specific customer can greatly increase open and click-through rates. Whether this personalisation is fairly simple – for example just including their name in the subject line – or a more advanced level of content adaptation, it appears to reap rewards.

But are you harnessing this same power for your website? Do you have a “one size fits all” approach, where each individual visitor sees the same thing? Or are you geared up to personalise the content to fit the anticipated needs of the person viewing it?

In this article we take a look at the impact of web personalisation, and how to go about doing it.

What is web personalisation?

“If we have 4.5 million customers, we shouldn’t have one store. We should have 4.5 million stores.” 

This is according to Jeff Bezos, in an interview with The Washington Post as far back as 1998. One of the many strengths of Amazon’s business model is the personalised interaction it has with its customers, successfully driving recommended products and repeat sales.

Web personalisation is all about tailoring your generic website so that each visitor sees the right content at the right time. Visitors are engaged and are likely to be more receptive to the messages you want them to hear. They are seamlessly presented with a high quality UX that helps them to navigate easily to the content they care about the most.

The difference personalisation makes

When done well, not only does web personalisation provide visitors with improved UX, but it also gives you a competitive advantage. You can expect to see improved marketing ROI and increases in conversion rates, average order value and customer loyalty. 

Today’s more demanding customers do not want to see the same homepage on every visit. They want something that is relevant to them and acknowledges their ongoing relationship with the brand.

Let’s look at some effective ways that personalisation can be used.

Personalised data to collect

Personalisation revolves around gathering Big Data about your visitors. This can be done by the use of  web personalisation tools on your online portal. 

The data you gather could include:

• Context

How did the visitor land on your site, are they completely new or a returner, and what device are they using?

• Demographics

Personal data such as gender, age range, employment and domestic circumstances, and geographic location can all be used effectively to personalise their next visit.

• Behaviour

What does each visitor do when on your site? For example, which products or services do they spend time browsing, do they add items to their basket, do they download anything, read blog posts or watch videos?

Once you are all set up to collect data effectively, you can then decide how to segment this data into different target groupings, and tailor relevant aspects of your site accordingly.

Let’s look at five ways that you might want to tailor your site.

Five ways to personalise

1. Recommended products

Returning to our Amazon example, it cites a 60% conversion rate for products it recommends. So a good place to start with personalisation is to offer relevant and attractive products to groups of customers depending on their behaviour and purchase history. 

This strategy also gives visitors to your site a good impression. Recent research by Invesp indicates that 59% of shoppers welcome recommended products as an easier way to find what they are interested in.

1. Repeat and incomplete purchases

Many contemporary online shoppers add items to their basket as a possible option to buy, rather than a definite commitment. So save the basket, and when the visitor returns, remind them of the contents. If possible also offer incentives to complete the sale. Even fairly small nudges, such as free delivery, can make the difference.

Also encourage repeat purchases. If a customer’s purchase history shows that they are going through a phase of buying similar products, or perhaps they have purchased an item that needs replacing or refilling on a regular basis, you can make sure that the product appears right in front of them the next time they visit.

1. Demographic-related content

Create a series of home pages that vary according to demographics such as gender, life stages or location. Thes pages could also include custom product displays for that target group. The benefits – of showing different types of content to different customers based on their demographic – far outweigh the costs of setting up the tailored content.

1. Source-related content

You also need to create different landing pages to welcome visitors from different sources. Nothing is as frustrating as being directed from a search query to a web page that doesn’t reference the query at all. So make sure that you have landing pages for visitors from specific search queries, and also from other sources such as Google Ads and links from other sites.

1. Context-related content

Your landing pages also need to acknowledge the context in which the user arrives there. First of all there is the device they are using. For example, the wording of the CTA may need to vary depending whether they are on a computer or mobile device. 

The needs of a user can also be different depending on the time of day, day of the week, and the weather conditions. If these factors are relevant to your products and services then bear this in mind. A Sunday shopper may need something urgently for the start of the working week, so prompt delivery will be a key factor. For others, sudden changes in the weather could trigger an urgent need for different types of clothing or equipment. 

Quality not quantity

A final word of warning when embarking on your web personalisation journey. Never compromise on quality. It is better to do less personalisation but do it well, than employ a scattergun approach and miss the target entirely. 

For example, with repeated purchase personalisation you need to ensure that a customer is not being put off your brand by futile encouragement to buy another product similar to one they have already purchased if they really are only likely to need one. For example, a kitchen bin, shower screen or hedge trimmer. 

Your personalisation strategy needs to be intelligent and intuitive in order to achieve its maximum potential.

 

To find out more about how Xcite digital marketing agency could help you with web personalisation or any other aspect of your digital marketing strategy, take a read through our case studies to see how we fit your requirements and could help you to become the business you want to be.