Choosing a Personalization Tool | “What’s in Store?” Jane’s Podcast

“What’s in Store?” Jane's Podcast
Episode I: Choosing a Personalization Tool

Hello, my dear listeners. I'm pleased to introduce you to my first "What's in Store?" podcast. My name is Jane Vyshnova. I'm an e-commerce consultant and the CEO of Dinarys, a digital transformation company.

Having advised numerous e-commerce enterprises, I recognize the need for different types of content. One size definitely doesn't fit all. Besides, I'm interested in e-commerce and eager to exchange thoughts and expert opinions. Finally, I like to try something new.

So I came up with the idea of creating a podcast, and I'm already excited to record it for you. Here I'll share my expert opinion on hot e-commerce topics.

Subscribe to my Linkedin page for new updates, and here we go?

So, what's in store today?

Choosing a reliable personalization tool is the first topic on the agenda. It can help you increase your average order value and conversion rates. It really works! Want to check it out? I'm always here for you.

I believe that professionalism, and therefore success, depends heavily on details that provide a comprehensive and consistent picture of your user journey.

In the context of personalization, some of these details are

• Recommended and complementary products;
• User-generated content, such as unpacking;
• Email reminders of abandoned items in the shopping cart;
• Continuous shopping for returning customers.

These are brand-new amenities that your visitors will appreciate as soon as they enter your digital store. The problem is that there are no assistants to kindly ask, "Do you need help?" Still, users should feel like they can find what they need on the digital shelves.

But users are different. This is where personalization comes into play. So, where to start?

So you are ready to begin your journey of personalization. Great! For that, you need to choose an efficient personalization tool. The market offers a variety of software, but you need the best of the best. The one that fits your goals.

So, let's start with the essentials — the questions to define your needs and opportunities. Asking the right questions will lead you to your desired outcome. Here are some examples:

What’s your problem?

Understanding the problem is half the solution. This also applies to e-commerce.

For example, your customers may have different interests and backgrounds and interact with your business through different channels (desktop, mobile, offline). Controlling what is displayed to different user portraits requires an effective marketing strategy based on behavioral and transactional data. There may be a problem with the tools for obtaining and analyzing this data and thus making data-driven decisions and approaching users personally.

What’s your goal?

Once you've identified the main problems, you can set clear goals. Be specific. For example, you need to identify the browsing behavior of your ideal customer. Someone may know what they want. In this case, anything that isn't the specific piece of content they are targeting is just a roadblock or distraction.

Other visitors do the exploratory seeking. "I know it when I see it". That's exactly the thought they have in mind. These users consume much more content and spend time learning. And that requires a whole different set of tactics to keep their attention.

And use numbers. For example, you want to increase conversions by 30%. We at Dinarys pay close attention to this metric, as well as customer retention rates, average transaction value, and inventory turnover ratio. What gets measured gets improved. In a word, it all comes down to the details.

What features will be perfect for you?

So you know the problem and have set your sights on changing things for the better. Well done! Then "I know it when I see it" is not for you. You know exactly what your perfect personalization software must look like.

As I indicated in the previous examples, you may need more insight into customer behavior, so you could meet demands of any of your visitors. What features would address this challenge? Our partner the Nosto Commerce Experience Platform makes it easy to quickly deploy fully personalized experiences with fine-tuned control of merchandising rules — across product recommendations, triggered overlays, category pages, and more.

Their dashboard and analytics feature will allow you to collect key growth metrics in a single place, giving you a complete overview of your store's performance, so you can grow smarter.

What remains is to increase conversions.

Here are several features that will help you:

• Product recommendations. You can use behavioral data to show the most relevant products to every shopper, every time.
• Content personalization. This feature will allow you to dynamically customize content tied directly to each buyer's preferences.
• Personalized emails. With this feature, you can send timely emails to shoppers after they have taken a specific action.
• Pop ups. With machine learning capabilities, you can deliver personalized pop-ups and overlays that lead to conversions.

With the right feature set, your users will get what they need. That's how you achieve your main goal — delivering the right content into the right hands.

Of course, a path to personalization isn’t limited to these three points. Finding a personalization tool involves many more aspects, such as scalability, ease of use, ease of integration, and time to market.

But what we know for sure today is that details matter, and personalization is all about them. So your software should be thought out down to the smallest detail too.

Thank you for your time and attention!

With love, your e-commerce consultant!