One would think that content personalization is table stakes in an era where E-commerce is rapidly replacing traditional retail channels. Why then, as one consumer study cites, have “…only 22% said they’re satisfied with the level of personalization they receive?”
This is surprising, given the degree to which companies rely on personalized shopping experiences. For example, one observer notes that personalized recommendations drive 35% of purchases on Amazon. Sometimes, poor satisfaction with personalization stems from E-commerce companies simply shooting themselves in the foot. They haphazardly segment customers and deliver similar or irrelevant content. The result is annoyed customers and a degraded brand experience.
Bad Personalization Equals Lost Opportunity
Poor content personalization is lost revenue. Netflix is a great example. 75% of content watched is driven by personalized recommendations. Without its personalized content engine, Netflix would stand to lose upwards of $1 billion dollars annually.
Another pitfall is customer alienation. Consider the hundreds of millions of items for sale on Amazon. Now imagine how overwhelmed customers would be without personalization to direct the buyer’s journey. This clearly affects abandonment rates, the bane of E-commerce outlets.
According to Accenture, 40% of customers overwhelmed with options tend to leave an E-commerce website and seek an alternative.
5 Reasons Content Personalization Matters
- Customers have come to expect it: Customers expect an online experience that is tailored to their needs, desires and preferences while streamlining the buyer’s journey.
- It drives revenue: Simply, personalization boosts sales. 44% of buyers surveyed indicated that their personalized experience would drive future purchase consideration. Sometimes personalization drives spontaneous (or impulse) sales. Nearly half of consumers surveyed claimed their personalized experience influenced the purchase of an item they didn’t initially intend to buy.
- It drives customer loyalty: Personalization increases propensity to buy, reduces abandonment rates, and enhances the “stickiness” of customers. In fact, customers have come to expect special consideration from their personalized experiences. 54% expect a discount within one day of divulging their personal information with an E-commerce retailer (32% expect discounts within an hour). This is a clear example of how personalization can shape consumer behavior and expectations.
- It increases customer satisfaction: This is especially true in the case of last-minute purchases where 85% of customers expressed happiness with their purchase (a scant 5% indicated they would return items).
- It connects (and protects) brand experiences: Personalization creates a connected brand experience across multiple channels that influence the buyer’s journey. Effective content personalization can also protect the brand experience you’ve worked so hard to create.
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Machine Learning, Personalization, and ContentIQ
Personalized online experiences are heavily driven by machine learning (ML). Machine learning algorithms aid E-commerce outlets by collecting usable real-time data, deepening shopper insights, generating dynamic content, improving customer experience while eliminating redundant and costly processes.
ContentIQ from Filestack empowers businesses to take advantage of state-of-the-art machine learning technologies without having to do all the work that comes with training the models. With ContentIQ, companies can apply machine learning to their specific business use cases—including content personalization—with a single, simple-to-use API.
ContentIQ removes the burden and technical debt of hiring expert data scientists and developers to solve your specific machine learning problems. We start by understanding the problem our customer needs to solve and then build a solution specific to their business use case. We handle the machine learning heavy lifting for you.
Learn more about ContentIQ by following the link, and feel free to reach out with any questions.
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