Whenever a customer visits your product page, they’re telling you a story — what they click, when they bounce, how they search — it all reveals a tremendous amount about their shopping habits.
It probably goes without saying that an effective product page will minimize the elements that repel shoppers, while emphasizing those that retain them.
The latest personalization trends take this basic concept to the next level: With close user tracking, ecommerce brands can now provide unprecedented levels of customization for each site visitor, all based on previous online behavior.
Done correctly, personalization empowers your brand to meet shoppers on their terms, in a way that can go far beyond traditional market segmentation. Rather than engaging with broad “types” of shoppers, this approach allows you to tweak your pitch at even the individual level.
As an increasing number of brands adopt ecommerce personalization, more and more consumers have come to want (and expect) these types of offerings. In fact, 80% of customers are more likely to make a purchase when offered personalized experiences, according to Epsilon.
Learn more about three of the top ecommerce personalization trends — and how you can incorporate these techniques into your own digital shelf strategy.
1. User-Generated Content (UGC)
Shoppers want to be able to trust the brands they interact with, but will almost always turn to third-party reviews before making a final decision about a potential purchase.
For example, 70% of U.S. consumers are likely to buy if there are personally relevant images, videos, text, and reviews on a product page, according to Salsify’s “Consumer Research 2022” report.
Furthermore, Salsify’s research found that consumers in the U.S. (49%), Great Britain (44%), France (35%), and Germany (37%) consider customer-generated content (reviews, videos, and images) to be must-know information before buying a product.
So, if your customers are generous enough to provide feedback, lifestyle pictures, or other types of content for your site, why not incorporate these materials into your brand experience? Some results-driven methods include:
Q&As
Maintaining a comprehensive Q&A section on your product page will not only help customers find the product that’s right for them, but will also signal to others that your brand is a friendly and helpful one.
Reviews
Featuring both positive and negative reviews will allow you to showcase your wins, as well as how your brand handles its mistakes and shortcomings. Be sure to engage with your customers’ feedback, and address any concern or confusion publicly and in a timely manner — especially the negative comments.
Photo Gallery
A UGC photo gallery is a great way to keep customers clicking through your product pages — and feature a product in its natural state of use across a variety of contexts.
Beyond just building customer trust and personalizing your brand, featuring UGC on a product page is also a great way to enhance its search engine optimization (SEO) and search ranking.
2. Layout Personalization Trends
Any realtor or online marketer will tell you: Success ultimately boils down to “location, location, location.”
While it’s well known that ranking can have drastic effects on the amount and type of products your company sells, most earlier efforts to optimize layout were based on appealing to a general audience. With effective personalization, these efforts can become highly specialized.
For example, if a user’s data indicates the shopper is mostly interested in certain kinds of products — say, men’s clothing over women’s — those items can simply shoot to the top of their personalized product page or search results, leaving irrelevant products out of sight. Beyond the obvious benefit, this tactic also minimizes extraneous information that might otherwise overwhelm the customer.
These same principles can be applied to “featured product” widgets, with highly personalized recommendations for the shopper. Even product descriptions can be personalized: perhaps the price is prominently displayed for cost-conscious shoppers, while the product brand or other features are highlighted for shoppers with a strong brand affinity.
Get creative, and your customers will thank you for it.
3. Artificial Intelligence (AI): Personalization’s New Best Friend
Obviously, creating a personalized experience for each of your shoppers will require a tremendous amount of data — and analysis. This is why many brands are now embracing the emerging power of artificial intelligence to help make sense of it all.
How Machine Learning Helps Brands
Machine learning can help your brand:
- Identify behavioral trends and opportunities;
- Engage in trial-and-error testing (for example, A/B testing for product placement or descriptions);
- Optimize your search tool beyond simply correcting typos, with intelligent suggestions for the consumer (for example, suggesting “blankets” instead of “down comforters”);
- Manage complex algorithms to provide fine levels of detailed personalization for each shopper, based on their shopping history; and
- Automate product ranking, based on sales or other factors.
As personalization trends develop further, it seems almost certain that AI’s importance in constructing these experiences will continue to grow, too.
Things Should Get Personal
Your brand may not need to simultaneously adopt all of the personalization trends on the rise to be successful. However, getting more familiar with or implementing user-generated content, layout personalization, or AI in a way that suits your brand will certainly give you an edge.
Interested in learning more about how to meet the demands of omnichannel shoppers in our increasingly digital world? Check out our “Consumer Research 2022” report.
