4 Future Trends in eCommerce Personalization

Ecommerce personalization has been the hottest trend in customer engagement for a while now. Many consumers can hardly remember what it was like to visit a website that didn’t use at least some degree of this method to better engage with them.

But we’ve barely even scratched the surface of what eCommerce personalization can do.

In fact, you will soon see four ways it’s going to redefine websites – once again – in the very near future.

4 Things to Expect from Ecommerce Personalization in the Future

1. Automation to Support Omnichannel Engagement

Marketing Automation and personalization are largely inseparable. You can’t have the latter without the former.

In the future, automation will become even more important, though, thanks to the growth of omnichannel marketing.

When The Harvard Business Review looked at the behavior of 46,000 shoppers between June 2015 and August 2016, they found that:

Only 7% shopped solely online
Only 20% shopped solely in-store
73% used multiple channels

Omnichannel marketing is the future, but the only companies that will be able to leverage it will be the ones that can properly utilize automation to offer personalization across all channels.

2. Tailored Deals and Personalized Pricing

Shoppers don’t just differ on what they want to buy. They also differ in what they’re willing to pay.

Traditionally, companies have had to study the array of prices they can charge and pick the ones that give them the most profit, even though it means turning away many potential customers.

That’s changing.

Personalization is showing companies what they can charge individual shoppers.

To some degree, this is already happening. For example, Orbitz used to charge Mac users more – sometimes by as much as 30% – because that demographic tended to have more money. Thus, it stood to reason that they were willing to pay more.

The future will allow companies to drill down into much more granular details, though. This will mean helping more people get the products and services they need at a more accurate price point based on their past decisions.

This approach will also create more attractive bundles and even how promotions are structured for individuals.

3. Inclusion of Offline Data for Ecommerce Personalization

Brick-and-mortar stores don’t have to miss out on the personalization revolution, either. They can use this powerful method to integrate their online and offline customer experiences.

The clothing line Sportsgirl has become a trailblazer in this sense by offering an app that utilizes augmented reality. Users can scan clothing items they like in Sportsgirl’s physical catalog or in their actual stores with their phones so they can then purchase them online later.

4. Machine Learning

Personalization can be about a lot more than selling a product or service. Thanks to machine learning, personalization will soon be about anticipating customers’ support needs before they even have them.

Similarly, machine learning will soon change language websites’ use based on the visitor. In the scenario where a visitor needs help, machine learning will allow the site to find the best answers based on the information they’ve provided instead of the stock replies most are able to give now.

If the site knows that a returning shopper is working on restoring their late-model vehicle, machine-learning will be able to recommend the best possible products but also supply them with relevant content to help with the rebuild.

Embracing the Future of Ecommerce Personalization

Ecommerce personalization is already here, so if your company isn’t already utilizing it, that must become a priority.

However, as we just covered, the future of personalization is already well on its way. Those businesses that fail to embrace these advancements won’t be in business for very long. Fortunately, you now know about four methods you can adopt to ensure your company is able to meaningfully engage with customers for years and years to come.

Smart Email Segmentation Ideas For More Relevant Emails

In email marketing, relevance is achieved by segmenting your subscribers and customers to deliver email content that creates a context for recipients.

Contextual experiences increase engagement, conversion, and the profitability of your email campaigns.

Relevance → Context → Action → Retention

Blasting your opt-in list with promotions that aren’t relevant to them is the opposite of this philosophy. We’ve all gotten those retail email newsletters with offers for stuff we have no interest in buying. Here’s one I got recently:

Since there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of possible strategies for segmenting an eCommerce list; clients ask us for the most important segments that retailers should be using to power their email marketing efforts.

Depending on the vertical industry that the client does business in, our answer will include segmentation parameters that break down into some combination of the following four categories:

By combining these segmentation parameters, you can build a complete picture of a customer’s relationship with your business, what stage of the customer lifecycle they’re in, and deliver email communications when customers are most likely to be receptive to your message.

Here are six foundational eCommerce segments that power the highest performing lifecycle email campaigns for our clients (and how we set them up inside our software):

Low-Value Customers

We use low-value filtering to segment customers making very small purchases. This is important for browse and cart abandonment programs where incentives are being used. Suppressing offers/coupon codes for abandoned carts that don’t meet specific value thresholds prevents a situation where the margin is lost on a very small order.

High-Value Customers

‘High value’ customers can be represented by the total order value of a cart they abandoned or the fact that they were browsing in a high-value product category. The definition is largely dependent on your specific business case and what stage of the funnel you’re targeting. A B2C retailer may want to send a high-value customer a more aggressive offer to drive conversion from a cart abandonment campaign. A B2B company may need to connect a customer from its high-value segment with the right sales rep in the right territory. The definition of a high-value customer can vary widely depending on your industry, business model, and sales process.

First Time Customers

First-time customers are an important audience for your business because of their ‘recency’. Recency is the idea that the more recently a customer has purchased from you, the more likely they are to purchase again. Think about that for a second. The most likely group of customers to make a second purchase are the ones that just made their first. Capitalize on this opportunity by triggering a welcome series for your first-time customers that reinforces their initial purchase decision. Tell them why they should continue doing business with you and emphasize your unique selling proposition. This is your opportunity to not only drive a second purchase but also to impart those brand warm and fuzzies onto your new customers and tell your story. First-time customers are the most likely candidates to be receptive to your message.

VIPs

VIPs are the customers that drive your business over the long term. We’ve all heard the 80/20 rule. 80% of your profits are generated by 20% of your customers. In B2C eCommerce, that ratio can be even more dramatic for some companies. Define the characteristics of what makes a VIP for your company. Is it a number of purchases? Total spend? Average order value? Define those business rules and set up a VIP campaign that is designed to thank your best customers for their business, automatically. Here’s an example: For a customer that has spent over $200 on two different occasions, this retailer sends a loyalty email thanking the customer for their business and encourages the customer to make their third.

Replenishable Customers

Replenishable products are those that have an average useful life or are consumed over a period of time by your customers. Segmenting these customers creates an opportunity for time-induced reorder campaigns like this one from 1-800 CONTACTS. If you sell consumable products, try segmenting customers based on what you believe is the typical consumption period for a given product and trigger a campaign at the end of that consumption cycle. You may find that customers just need a gentle push to drive that reorder and that means more automated revenue generation for your company.

Defecting Customers

Next to cart abandoners, customers exhibiting signs of defection are the most valuable segment to pay attention to. These are customers who have purchased from you in the past, but haven’t been back to your site in an abnormally long period of time to complete another purchase. “Abnormally long period of time” is a key part of the discussion here. In order to know what is abnormal, you also must know what is “normal”. More on this shortly.

These customers aren’t buying for a reason — maybe they had a bad customer service experience or they’ve fallen in love with one of your competitors. Don’t worry too much – you usually have an opportunity to save this customer. Set up your segmentation rules to recognize when a customer is exhibiting signs of defection and trigger your marketing at the moment of maximum impact. This is commonly called a win back campaign.

eCommerce Statistics 2020

Your ecommerce business doesn’t exist in a vacuum—it’s a part of the global ecommerce ecosystem. That’s why you need to pay attention to the broader context in order to make the best decisions—and that means staying on top of the latest ecommerce statistics.

Ecommerce statistics: Amazon

Amazon is the leading online retailer with net revenue of $232.88 billion in 2018. (Statista)
Amazon has over 100 million Amazon Prime members. (Jeff Bezos in a letter to shareholders)
Other sources estimate that there are over 95 million Amazon Prime members in the United States. (Statista)
On average, two in five US consumers (41%) receive one to two packages from Amazon per week. That number jumps to half (50%) for consumers ages 18-25, and 57% for consumers ages 26-35. (Walker Sands)
In the last six months, 83% of US consumers have made a purchase on Amazon. (BigCommerce)

Ecommerce statistics: Google Shopping

The average amount of time between a Google product search and a purchase is 20 days (it’s 26 days on Amazon). (Jumpshot)
35% of Google product searches turn into transactions within 5 days. (Jumpshot)
Google Shopping ad spend was up 43% YoY in Q4 of 2018, making the quarter the fastest growth rate in two years. (Merkle)
Cross-device targeting yields 16% more conversions for retail advertisers in the US. (Google)
Google Shopping ads have a higher CTR than Amazon’s Sponsored Product and Sponsored Brand ads. (Merkle)

Ecommerce statistics: Shipping & delivery

79% of US consumers said that free shipping would make them more likely to shop online. (Walker Sands)
54% of US consumers under the age 25 said that same-day shipping is their number one purchase driver. (Walker Sands)
Only 15% of US consumers said that online retailers always offer shipping options that meet their expectations for speed of delivery, compared to 30% that report the same for Amazon. (Walker Sands)
83% of US online shoppers expect regular communication about their purchases. (Narvar)
53% of US online shoppers won’t purchase a product if they don’t know when it will arrive. (Narvar)

Ecommerce statistics: Returns

42% of US online shoppers have returned an item they bought online in the last six months. (Narvar)
63% of US online shoppers said that they would not make a purchase if they couldn’t find the return policy. (Narvar)
Nearly 70% of US online shoppers said that their most recent return experience was “easy” or “very easy,” and 96% would buy from that retailer again based on that experience. (Narvar)
59% of US online shoppers said that they want to receive notifications about the status of their refund. (Narvar)
41% of US online shoppers said that they “bracket” at least some online purchases (“bracketing” refers to buying multiple versions of the same item, then returning those that didn’t work). (Narvar)

Ecommerce statistics: Cart abandonment

The average global cart abandonment rate in Q3 of 2018 was 76.9%. (SaleCycle)
58.6% of US online shoppers have abandoned a cart within the last 3 months because “I was just browsing/not ready to buy.” (Baymard Institute)
The top three reasons US online shoppers give for abandoning a cart during checkout are high extra costs, the need to create an account, and a complicated checkout process (these are the survey results after removing the “I was just browsing/not ready to buy” segment). (Baymard Institute)
The average open rate for an abandoned cart email is 15.21%, and the average click-through rate is 21.12% for SmartrMail users. (SmartrMail)
The average revenue per email for an abandoned cart email is $27.12 (for SmartrMail users). (SmartrMail)

Ecommerce statistics: Conversational commerce

The top three messaging apps have user bases of 1 billion or more. (Business Insider)
61% of US consumers say that they have messaged a business in the last 3 months. (Facebook)
70% of the US consumers who message businesses expect a faster response than they would have gotten had they used a more traditional mode of communication. (Facebook)
69% of US consumers who message businesses say that being able to message a business helps them feel more confident about the brand. (Facebook)
29% of US online shoppers use or plan to use chatbots to shop online. (Narvar)

Ecommerce statistics: Instagram

83% of people say Instagram helps them discover new products and services. 81% say the platform helps them research products and services, and 80% say it helps them decide whether to make a purchase. (Facebook)
Compared to non-users, Instagram users are 70% more likely to make online purchases on their mobile devices. (GlobalWebIndex)
44% of active Instagram users say they use social media to conduct brand research. That’s the highest percentage among the major social networks. (GlobalWebIndex)
Engagement between users and brands on Instagram is 10 times greater than it is on Facebook, 54 times greater than it is on Pinterest, and 84 times greater than it is on Twitter. (Forrester)
96% of fashion brands based in the US use Instagram to reach consumers. (eMarketer)

Ecommerce statistics: Mobile devices

Nearly 40% of all online purchases made during the 2018 holiday season were done on smartphones. (OuterBox)
80% of Americans are online shoppers. More than half of them have made purchases on mobile devices. (Pew Research Center)
People who have a bad mobile experience with your business are 62% less likely to become your customer in the future. (Google)
69% of smartphone users say they’re more likely to buy from businesses with mobile sites or apps that answer their questions. (Google)
59% of smartphone users favor businesses with mobile sites or apps that enable them to make purchases easily and quickly. (Think with Google)

Ecommerce statistics: Conversion rates

The stats for this final section come from our brand new Shopping Benchmarks report—a deep dive into how ecommerce businesses from 16 different verticals are performing on Google Shopping and Bing Shopping.

Across all verticals, the average Google Shopping conversion rate is 1.91% and the average Bing Shopping conversion rate is 1.74%.
Although you can expect to convert Google shoppers at a higher rate, you’ll have to pay a premium for it. Whereas the average Google Shopping CPA is $38.87, the average Bing Shopping CPA is only $23.05.
Ecommerce businesses in the Office & Business Needs vertical are killing it on Bing Shopping: they convert clicks into actions at an average rate of 15.19%.
Turning to Google Shopping, HVAC businesses are killing it, too: They boast an average conversion rate of 3.30% and an average CPA of just $7.28.
Advertisers in the Chemical & Industrial sector have one of the toughest jobs out there: less than 1% of their Google Shopping clicks convert into actions, and each conversion they do get costs $91.21 on average.

5 Must-Try E-commerce Tips to Increase Holiday Sales

Attracting customers to the shopping portal by just establishing an online presence is not enough. Rather, one should put efforts to boost the eCommerce holiday sales so that the store gets identified by the visitors in the festive season.

The holiday season is the most rewarding time for eCommerce store owners in terms of increasing overall eCommerce sales. But it turns out to be difficult as they need to toil hard for converting the visitors into conversions. The time has arrived to be prepared for Christmas, where website owners can capitalize on targeted customers who are hungry for big deals.

Today, most of people express their love on festivals by sending gifts and wish cards to their loved ones. And for that, they consider online shopping the best and easiest option. The holiday season is the perfect time when e-commerce stores can earn customers and conversions at the same time. All they need to do is to implement proven e-commerce SEO strategies that are best suited to provide optimum eCommerce conversions.

Here are some widely implemented tips that help eCommerce webmasters to increase conversion rates during festive days.

Easy tips to boost holiday sales

Engage Broadly With Mobile Customers

At present, desktop e-commerce has become a good choice for users. On the other hand, mobile e-commerce is growing at a high pace. Stats say that e-commerce holiday sales during last year’s holidays increased by 59%. This is because of the wide usage of mobile devices. Surprisingly, approx 50-60 % of search queries usually come from mobile devices.

Send Automated Holiday Sale Emails And Web Push Notifications

Sending pre-sale promotional emails to targeted customers is a powerful strategy that anyone can utilize to increase the chances of getting more conversions.

Similarly, if you wish to spread awareness for your upcoming e-commerce festive, you first need to target the audience via attractive emails and festive alerts. The promotional campaigns create a sense of urgency and instill a fear of missing out on something important which compels the users to click and view the deal.

Recover Abandoned Carts With Festive Special Discounts

According to stats, 99% of the audience don’t make purchases for the very first time when they visit the store. As a result, they choose to abandon the cart. It might be scary but true somewhere. But now, there are chances that you can bring back the users who abandoned their carts by sending festive sale offers to their selected items. It cannot be possible that you could be in the right place with the right offer. Hence, you should be ready to retarget the visitors whenever possible. Festive days are the high time when you succeed in this venture. Check out this article where they have beautifully explained why users abandon their carts.

Give Landing Page A Complete Festive Makeover

Guide your web designer to create a theme-based festive background that is embellished with bright banners. It’s up to you how you want to decorate your landing page so that customers get attracted and feel like making a purchase. Fascinating visitors through the exquisitely designed offer page provides better e-commerce website optimization during holidays. This not only attracts customers and creates a joyous mood, but also results in better conversions.

Create Convenient & Festive Targeted Products Navigation

Many times, people are not able to find the product they are looking for. This is the reason which can result in the low visibility of your store’s products. Simple and smooth product navigation is the key to generate enhanced conversions. It directs visitors to the most relevant product they are searching for and that too within seconds. When you are renovating the banners and landing page layout for grabbing the biggest festive season opportunity, make sure to concentrate more on building easy product navigation. Suppose, you want to redirect the customers towards the Christmas combos like dress, tree, and chocolates then make that page more fascinating and easy to access for users.

Final Thoughts:

When festive sale arrives, people are supposed to shop like crazy. This is all because of the bumper deals and offers e-commerce stores offer on all products. E-commerce website owners often think that it is easy for them to earn optimum profits during the holiday sales. Remember, there are e-commerce pioneers who keenly execute SEO for an e-commerce website. And these pioneers always win the race of getting excellent conversions during festivals. Now, it is your turn to implement the above-mentioned tricks to earn better than the others.

6 Emerging Ecommerce Trends for 2020

By the end of 2019, the total value of eCommerce retail sales is expected to top $3.4 trillion! In the highly competitive e-commerce sector, relevancy needs to be a top priority. One day you’re in, and one day you’re out. Online businesses must constantly be aware of ways to keep their brand and products in front of the eyes of their customers.

One of the best ways to do this is by simply staying alert and up-to-speed with e-commerce trends. However, there is always a risk that comes with trying out the latest fads.

Ultimately, when it comes to experimenting with trends, it is important to make sure that any changes you make are always making things better for your customers.

That being said, there are currently some significant eCommerce trends that every online entrepreneur should be aware of (and consider taking advantage of).

6 Emerging eCommerce Trends for 2020

1. Google is Becoming an Online Marketplace

Unless your brand is super well-known, the majority of your customers are likely arriving at your website via organic or paid searches for items that your store offers. So, in order to get your products in front of more customers, you should be optimizing for Google Shopping. This is an extremely powerful sales channel – and can be an incredible SEO hack for online stores.

Integrating your e-commerce platform with Google Shopping will create a PLA (product listing ad) that will automatically top the SERPs on the Shopping tab when a customer searches for a product that matches up with your store. This is exciting news for e-commerce stores that sell niche products.

In fact, a recent case study found that Google Shopping helps to boost conversions by over 17%.

The setup process is pretty simple, too. You just need to head to the Google Merchant Center to sign up and if your online store meets the ad requirements, you can start advertising through this lucrative channel.

2. Customers are Shopping Through Social Media

Social media is a lot more than just likes, shares, and cute dog photos these days. Many social channels are turning into mini search engines of their own – and 55% of online shoppers have bought a product directly through a brand’s social post.

Lots of platforms are making it super easy for eCommerce stores to sell directly through their social pages these days with built-in embedded links. This means that customers can click on specific products within a post and be led directly to a product page, making it far easier to boost impulse buys through online advertising.

3. AR and VR are Becoming More Commonplace

One of the greatest challenges that online stores have always faced is the fact that their customers cannot see the product before buying it. This makes it difficult to sell things like clothing, furniture, and other accessories that people want to preview before purchasing.

AR and VR are helping to solve this problem by allowing customers to virtually try on products without physically touching them. Companies like Warby Parker have launched an app that uses AR so customers can try on different glasses before ordering.

Amazon and Ikea also use similar technology so shoppers can test out how pieces of furniture will look in their own homes.

E-commerce stores should take note of the ways that technology is revolutionizing the customer experience and consider investing in these digital systems.

4. Customizable Products are a Big Hit

Personalization is going to go to the next level with products that are entirely customized for the individual. Many online stores are taking advantage of interactive content – like quizzes and surveys – to build entirely customized products that cater to each individual’s needs or preferences.

One area where this trend is specifically prevalent is in health and wellness. Stores like Curology and Gainful create totally customized product lines based on the individual’s health needs and goals, while brands like Native use an interactive quiz to create a custom scent profile that people can buy as a deodorant or body wash.

5. Flexible Payment Options for Big Purchases

If your store’s products tend to range on the most expensive side, it can be hard to convert new customers simply because they view that purchase as more of a risky investment. One e-commerce trend that can help to combat this is offering flexible payment options through systems like Afterpay, Final, and Affirm.

These services automatically break down large purchases into smaller equal payments over the course of several months – making large purchases a little easier to swallow. In fact, retailers that offer Afterpay specifically have seen conversion rates increase anywhere between 20% to 30%.

6. Companies and Consumers are Becoming More Environmentally Mindful

Caring about the earth isn’t just for tree huggers or Millennials anymore. Most consumers these days are far more conscious about their environmental impact, and they want to support businesses that are doing their best to reduce carbon footprints.

87% of consumers agreed that they would be more likely to buy a product from a brand that offered a social or environmental benefit – giving companies yet another reason to go green.

Many e-commerce brands are doing their best to reduce shipping waste by using recycled or biodegradable materials – such as packing peanuts that dissolve in water. Some businesses are getting super creative here – such as Banish Skin Care which sends products wrapped in branded socks (rather than bubble wrap) to reduce waste.

Conclusion

Although trends inherently come and go, it is important that e-commerce businesses pay attention to ones that are having significant impacts on the customer experience and conversions. While these trends may change and evolve in time, many online stores are seeing incredible returns by capitalizing on them.

The Holiday Email Marketing 2020

The holiday season is one of the busiest and most lucrative times of the year for many businesses. Last year, holiday retail sales climbed 4%, which led to $658.3 billion in sales, according to the National Retail Federation. With more people buying online, holiday shopping starts earlier and earlier. Start planning your holiday email marketing now to take advantage of this trend.

Why email makes the best holiday marketing tool

Holidays—no matter what time of the year—provide an excellent opportunity to reach out to not only current subscribers, but to help generate even more leads by promoting the need to “share” the value you offer to your subscriber’s family and friends.

Emails are made for our mobile world

Your subscribers rely on their smartphones and tablets for all kinds of information, and research shows a growing number of consumers are doing their holiday shopping on mobile devices. In the past four years, purchases made on mobile devices jumped from 3.4% to 36.7%, according to a report by Castor. In addition, a whopping 76% of Black Friday emails and 63% of Cyber Monday emails were opened on a mobile device, according to Movable Ink. In this busy season, we can help you keep your customers up to date and purchasing with our mobile-ready email templates.

Emails offer instant buying options

Research shows 41% of retailers will use “Buy Now” buttons in their email marketing, making it extremely simple for subscribers to make a purchase. By using a call-to-action button in your email, you can highlight a gift, a special offer, or even an event that a subscriber can buy in a matter of a couple of clicks. Keep in mind your customers are just as busy as you are during this time of year, and anything that can speed up their holiday shopping will benefit them, and your business.

Emails can support all of your campaigns

Businesses can use email to promote sales, invite subscribers to holiday events, showcase unique gift ideas or even gift guides—the list is endless. It allows business owners to reach out to customers regularly and stimulate sales throughout the season. Email can also support other marketing initiatives, such as social media sales, contests, and reward programs.

Automation and personalization makes email more effective and efficient

The holidays are busy in every way, so put marketing automation to use by automating a variety of your email campaigns, from welcome emails to offers and reminders. To get ideas, check out these 9 inspiring examples that use marketing automation. Additionally, you can segment your emails to create personalized messages, as personalized emails deliver 6x higher transaction rates.