Personalized eCommerce Enhances
Buyer Experience at Multiple Levels

Today, the web is teeming with eCommerce sites with similar products and prices; a buyer is simply spoilt for choice. Buyer behavior, on the other hand, is subject to a lot of influence and is noticeably trending towards nontangible aspects – for instance, the ability of an e-retailer to play to his or her fancy. At this juncture; you want to recollect that this is how brick and mortar stores in your friendly neighborhood operate – the shopkeeper has a quick nice word with you each time you walk into the store. And you will end up buying a few extra products from him in the course of your transaction.
While increasing number of consumers today prefer eCommerce stores over actual brick-and-mortar shopping locations, thanks to the increasing adoption of smartphones and internet, there is a need to bring this personalized aspect from brick-and-motor to eCommerce stores.
The potential to translate a similar experience on to an e-store is what we will be talking about in this first of the entire series of blogs on eCommerce personalization.

What is eCommerce Personalization?

Did you know that across most countries the eCommerce penetration rate is over 60%? And this is just in the first quarter of 2015 (Statista). In this increasingly competitive environment, what will help businesses rise over and help push their e-business closer to your audience is eCommerce personalization.
eCommerce personalization simply refers to the capability of a web-store to deliver a buying experience personalized to every visitor; now this includes the appearance, navigation, communication and more. Personalization works by simply appealing to the emotional side of a user; thereby helping you build better and stronger bonds with them.

What your Customers want?

74% of users feel frustrated that the content on the website does not appeal to their interest (Crazyegg)
The entire concept of personalization works around the varied interests exhibited by your customers. There could be those who are out there to buy your product now, some who intend to buy but carry out extensive research first, and others only to find some information. Then there are first-time visitors who have just found your website and others who are repeat visitors. This is only the tip of the iceberg; there are multiple other things like the purchase motivation, location, etc.
Bottom line, there are multiple things which differentiate one visitor from another. But, did you realize that your site appears exactly the same to all your visitors? The idea of a uniform website reaching out to a wider section of the audience is arcane now. These shortcomings are often addressed by personalizing a site visitor’s experience and this is today made possible by the plethora of tools available to collect and analyze each and every aspect of your customers.

What exactly does eCommerce personalization mean?

With selling largely revolving around relationships built, rather than thrusting a product or a service on your customers face; personalization of your website can start with something as basic as tutorials/ tips for first time visitors, greeting your visitors by name and graduate to something as complex as product recommendations based on browsing and purchase history, personalized emails and promotions to visitors who have abandoned your site.
Personalization is a huge leap in the world of online commerce today; all of the above is just a primer to a lot of detail and discussion about this phenomenon that will follow in the subsequent blog where we will look at

• Data that can be leveraged for personalization,
• Benefits of eCommerce personalization,
• eCommerce personalization Myths,
• How to Personalize the Shopping Experience of your eCommerce Customers, and more.

Stay tuned!!