Many retailers are turning to content personalization to improve the user experience, strengthen customer loyalty, and optimize success metrics. In this article, you will learn what content personalization is, how it can be integrated into customer communications, and how Douglas and Betti Bossi put this personalization form into practice.
What does content personalization mean in retail?
Content personalization refers to the user-specific adaptation of content at various customer touchpoints on behalf of the retailer. It’s all about creating valuable content that is individually relevant to the user in the app, in the newsletter or on the website.
An important factor here is playing out the content in real time because good content should always correspond to the current situation. As a rule, what interested the customer ten months ago is not relevant. For example, if a shopper purchased an outdoor spotlight in the past, he likely won’t respond to content with similar offers, but he may be interested in other outdoor décor. A good personalization solution responds to each customer's needs from the first click and learns in real time with each subsequent click.
Content personalization benefits retailers and customers. In fact, customer loyalty is strengthened when content relevant to the customer is promoted. This leads to higher click-through and purchase rates, and ultimately to more sales for the retailer.
How do retailers incorporate content personalization into their customer approach?
Depending on the retailer's intention, personalized content can inform, entertain, advise or inspire. There are no limits to the retailer’s creativity when it comes to content.
One example of personalized content in action is topic-specific articles in a DIY store’s blog. Based on the interests of the store visitor, relevant posts are shown to inform and advise them. A customer interested in plants and gardening will be shown blog posts that fit this category, e.g., how to build a raised bed and which plants are suitable for such a bed.
Let’s explore another example from a fashion retailer that sends out a print magazine to its customers twice a year. In addition to a general section with colorful content on fashion, the retailer can include ten pages of personalized articles. Here, customers read articles on styling topics tailored to them, including product recommendations, based on their click and purchase behavior in the online store.
Content personalization at Douglas: Beauty stories in the online shop
Europe's leading beauty retailer relies on a holistic individual customer approach with many different use cases for personalization.
Recently, customers have also received personalized content recommendations on the home page of the Douglas online store. Here, GK AIR Personalization calculates the appropriate "beauty stories", or articles about care and cosmetics, based on the click and purchase behavior of the online store visitors. The AI solution learns the correlations between product and content interaction in the store and can thus display the most suitable beauty stories for each customer.
Content personalization at Betti Bossi: Relevant recipes in the online store and app
Betti Bossi is part of the Coop group of companies and has been an online portal offering various products and services related to cooking and baking since 2001. To offer a personalized shopping experience to customers in the online store, the company uses GK AIR Personalization. In addition to relevant product recommendations, Betti Bossi customers receive content recommendations in the form of suitable recipes. This is how Betti Bossi succeeds in increasing user experience and sales.
Want to learn more about content personalization? Contact our expert, Mr. Personalization, on LinkedIn or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
As retailers undergo digital transformations and become more innovative, customer data will become increasingly important. But these advancements aren't without risk. According to Cisco, 86% of consumers are concerned about their data privacy and 19% have terminated a relationship with a retailer that they felt was misusing their data.
One innovation in particular has sparked controversy over data usage – the cashierless store. These efficient and experiential stores don't require anyone to work the cash register, instead they rely on in-store technology to track a shopper's purchases and automatically charge the credit card on file.
In the most well-known version of cashierless technology, hundreds of cameras follow a shopper's every move. This modern store format has caused a divide between consumers who are delighted by the efficiency and those who are hesitant to visit a scanless store with cameras. But luckily, there are other ways to implement a cashierless store that'll bring more shoppers to the side of innovation.
The Concerns Surrounding the Camera-Centric Model
Some scanless store formats rely solely on cameras that together can view every corner of the store, capturing thousands of customer images a day. While there is typically no facial recognition used, some shoppers are hesitant to have their images taken and stored by the retailer.
According to Street Fight Magazine, consumers have also cited "the potential for data breaches, a lack of legal accountability for protecting shoppers' data, and even a potentially negative impact on low-income people and people of color" as top concerns for camera-based checkout.
From the retailer's point of view, cameras also pose logistical issues. While most cashierless shoppers failed to cheat the camera system, it's not impossible to do so. One technology reporter successfully shoplifted from an Amazon Go store by simply changing clothes in the bathroom mid-shopping trip. The average shopper likely won't do this, but this anecdote proves the potential for errors with a camera-only system.
And, while it may seem less expensive than other scanless options, the price of a camera format includes the costs of the cameras and the costs associated with processing and storing all the footage. Furthermore, according to an article from Focal Systems, stores using cameras will also require shelf weight sensors to become at least 95% accurate, adding an additional cost.
Alternatives to In-Store Cameras
To avoid these privacy concerns, increase accuracy over time and offer customers alternatives, GK GO provides another approach to cashierless. In a GK GO store, no video footage is required because GK utilizes Shekel Product Aware shelves and Hitachi's 3D LiDAR technology to determine which items left the shelves and with whom.
The benefits of a camera-free store are plentiful. The first benefit is the freedom of choice. In a GK GO store, the customer provides consent for data sharing. By opting in, they receive a hyper-personalized experience with recommendations and promotions appearing on their smart phone along with real-time basket updates.
If a customer opts out of data sharing, they are still welcome to use the store as a guest. This will not require a data transfer and the guest shopper will be able to checkout at a payment kiosk.
GK GO also reduces total cost of ownership and time to market for new products. With LiDAR, retailers don't need to process large video streams. Instead, a few weight samples are enough to introduce a new product and the machine learning, which will continue to improve accuracy over time.
From an aesthetic point of view, LiDAR doesn't require any particular lighting and can be positioned higher than cameras, eliminating a potential eye sore from the store's layout. When the store looks the same as it did before implementing the GK GO technology, skeptical shoppers will be more likely to experiment.
Protecting Privacy Shouldn't Limit Innovation
With self-scanning stores expected to triple by 2027, it's important that customers feel comfortable with the new in-store innovations. GK GO eases the transition by giving shoppers a choice of how to shop and protecting their data privacy.
To learn more about GK GO visit our website or schedule a conversation with us today.
Sales rates can fluctuate for any number of reasons. Something as simple as the day of the week can influence a person's shopping behavior. This creates a challenge for retailers as they strive to have the right products available when a customer wants them.
This challenge is particularly complex for grocers that sell perishable food. In fact, according to the United Nations Environment Program, approximately one-third of all food produced in the world is lost or wasted every year. As a result, grocers must find a way to limit their contributions to the annual 1.3 billion tons of food wasted.
Luckily, artificial intelligence offers a path forward. With data-driven dynamic pricing capabilities, retailers can maximize the success of the turnover and earnings strategies while giving customers a good deal and minimizing food waste.
"Retailers face a broad spectrum of challenges. They must, for example, find solutions for consumers who are calling for more sustainability, while expecting fresher and larger inventories to choose from. They also have to deal with an intensifying competition in the market space due to an increasingly challenging global economy, as well as growing complexities and rising costs. The combined force of GK CLOUD4RETAIL, GK AIR and IBM Consulting offer all-encompassing solutions that enable retailers to digitize their infrastructure, reform their business strategy through data-based decisions and apply cutting-edge technology to transform the customer experience. Particularly in food retail, these solutions make a tremendous impact in avoiding food waste by adjusting prices dynamically based on their respective due date and other external factors. Together, IBM and GK are building solutions today, that help retailers solve the challenges of tomorrow," knows Jens Spring, Senior Partner Recruitment Leader, IBM Partner Ecosystem – Germany.
What is GK AIR Dynamic Pricing?
GK AIR Dynamic Pricing enables retailers to take greater control of their inventory as well as price products in a way that optimizes customer loyalty. The as-a-service offering is available on IBM Cloud with IBM Kubernetes and Red Hat OpenShift. These key integrations bring AI-powered pricing to any environment, whether it's on premise, in the cloud or via IBM Cloud Satellite. This partnership enables retailers to manage the lifecycles of products with limited shelf-life more sustainably.
"IBM Cloud offers the kind of flexibility retail customers demand," says Jens Scholz, CEO, GK Artificial Intelligence for Retail AG. "Retailers have mixed requirements for the solutions they own and how – and where – they are hosted. IBM Cloud's ability to serve retailers needs regardless of their environment is key to our partnership."
With GK Software and IBM working in tandem, both brick-and-mortar as well as e-commerce retailers can use machine learning to account for a wide selection of pricing variables. These variables include current and historical data, inventory, transaction data, company targets, competitor prices, seasonal trends and regional factors including weather. The advanced solution then suggests the optimal price point and sell-off dates for products, drawing in customers whilst increasing sustainability.
How does GK AIR Dynamic Pricing Work?
The process for using GK AIR Dynamic Pricing is simple. When perishable inventory comes in, store associates scan the products with the help of a pricing app that has been specially developed for food retailers. In the app, the staff can enter current stock levels and best-before dates for every product. Then, advanced algorithms calculate an optimal price.
AI-supported pricing solutions rely on current and historical data to predict the sell-off date for perishable items. Depending on how the forecasted sales timeline deviates from the expiration date, GK AIR Dynamic Pricing lowers or raises the price completely automatically . For example, if a product is predicted to sell three days before it expires, due to availability of inventory or other residual factors for example, the pricing software will recommend a higher price than if it was to expire the next day. The price strikes the right balance between supply and demand to ensure the price is appropriate for the customer and the retailer.
Additionally, GK AIR Dynamic Pricing creates a database for inventory and expiration date information. This way, retailers achieve transparent reporting for their store by digitizing the process.
What are the benefits of GK AIR Dynamic Pricing and IBM's Partnership?
The benefits of GK AIR Dynamic Pricing extend beyond ad-hoc in-store price changes to the ability to perform price optimization across the entire assortment and product lifecycle. This is especially important for fashion, luxury and beauty industries that can also benefit from GK and IBM's collaboration. In these industries, dynamic pricing should begin with the introduction of a new item, be applied throughout its peak popularity and end with the markdown and inventory clearing phase.
No matter the industry, it is difficult to price a complete assortment with the level of detail and frequency required to boost profits. As a demand-based and AI-driven price optimization solution, GK AIR Dynamic Pricing helps retailers not only automate, but optimize their pricing process, allowing them to focus on strategic decisions and improving sales KPIs across the board.
What's more, GK and IBM's partnership is designed to support retailers throughout the integration process. According to Michael Scheibner, Chief Strategy Officer, GK Software, "Our collaboration with IBM brings a holistic solution to retail customers beyond the expertise needed to integrate GK technology on IBM Cloud. IBM is providing advisory services to customers based on years of deep industry expertise, helping customers to optimize their strategy and operations as well as their technology."
How can GK AIR Dynamic Pricing and IBM Help Your Business?
To learn more about how GK AIR Dynamic Pricing and IBM Cloud can improve sales and boost your sustainability efforts, visit our website or contact us today!
GK is proud to enable convenience store and fuel retailers as they undergo digital transformation. This sector is at the forefront of the transition from fossil-fuel to electric based vehicles, and in the omnichannel retail value chain, convenience store retailers are closest to the consumer. The opportunities in this space are immense, and GK is ready to help retailers capitalize.
As GK's success continues to grow in the industry, we realize there is so much more to learn. That's why our team was excited to return to The NACS Show 2022. The conference is dedicated to advancing convenience store and fuel retailing by bringing together more than 1,200 exhibitors across five business categories.
Featuring Five Strategic Partnerships
At this year's expo, GK showcased partnerships with five industry-leading solution providers – Abacus, Comdata, Opterus, Toshiba, TruRating. These strategic collaborations improve the customer experience and drive operational efficiencies for retailers.
For those of you that couldn't join us in Las Vegas in September, let's recap some of the exciting partnerships showcased at NACS 2022.
Abacus Lottery
Abacus Solutions International Group is a proud partner of GK. The key innovation is to seamlessly integrate Abacus lottery technology into the GK point-of-sale and self-checkout applications. This integration eliminates extra hardware costs and increases associate efficiency and lottery sales.
Learn more about our partnership with Abacus Lottery.
Comdata
Last month, GK announced a new partnership with Comdata, Inc., a FLEETCOR company. Comdata is the industry standard for commercial payments, with long-standing relationships with independent truck stop operators and some of the largest major oil and retail chains in the country.
The integration of GK's advanced point-of-sale technology will transform Comdata's SmartDESQ into a next-generation retail platform. Comdata can now offer the GK omnichannel suite of solutions, enabling truck stops and convenience store retailers to improve the customer experience and drive operational efficiencies. GK gains the ability to process Comdata fleet cards in both the store and forecourt for its direct customers.
Learn how Comdata and GK can help your c-store.
TruRating
Customer insights are vital to a retailer's continuous improvement. GK and TruRating's partnership helps retailers collect customer feedback with a single question they can easily and privately answer on the payment device.
TruRating's technology enables retailers to generate customer survey's that provide statistically proven insights and results. This dynamic approach to feedback gives retailers an unprecedented ability to respond to customer needs.
Find out more about Trurating and GK's partnership.
We're excited for what's next!
GK and its partners are dedicated to innovating with the industry's most advanced and proven solutions. These collaborations will continue to provide convenience retailers with the ability to better serve customers and thrive in today's transforming retail industry.
To see how any of these solutions can benefit your business, contact us today.
Dynamic pricing, or dynamic price determination in retail, is a highly debated topic today, particularly after ticket prices for Bruce Springsteen's latest tour skyrocketed. In light of immense presale prices of up to $5,000 per seat, the press is talking about "extortion", "astronomical prices" and "outrageously expensive tickets". The ticket provider responded by saying that it determines its ticket prices dynamically and according to demand – but this does not necessarily explain why ticket prices would grow to more than $5,000. This blog post explains why dynamic pricing alone is not to be blamed.
The term "dynamic pricing" is often used to describe a wide variety of dynamic pricing methods. These methods range from comparatively simple, rule-based to intelligent solutions that automatically process numerous influencing factors and make independent pricing decisions accordingly. In order to discuss the pros and cons of dynamic pricing objectively, it is crucial to understand why retailers rely on these technologies in the first place. Because, contrary to the media debate, most retailers do NOT engage in price optimization to "rip off" their customers or to disproportionately enrich themselves. In most cases, they do it simply to survive in the competitive retail landscape.
Even if dynamic pricing is often discussed in the context of hotels, flights or event tickets, (dynamic) price optimization is used across all industries today. Since the e-commerce giant Amazon started using dynamic pricing in the early 2000s, the technology has quickly become more widespread. As a result, competitive pressure has increased, especially in the past three years, due to strong fluctuations in both customer demand and purchasing prices. In many industries, it has therefore become necessary to dynamically adjust prices on a regular basis to remain competitive. In addition to public pressure, the retail sector's own demands require it to operate sustainably and profitably at the same time. This is only possible with adaptive pricing, which takes equal account of customer demand and the life cycle of the products. This task can no longer be accomplished with manual pricing processes, especially for retailers with broad assortments. To compete in the long term and achieve sustainable growth, most retailers are therefore dependent on a dynamic pricing approach.
And yet, not all dynamic pricing approaches work the same way. Each retailer decides how to use the available technologies to best support their business. Of course, it is technically possible to offer highly dynamic, hourly changing prices that are closely aligned with current customer demand. However, whether price jumps between $50 and $5,000 are allowed (as in the case of the Bruce Springsteen tickets) is entirely within the control of the individual retailer. In other words, if a concert ticket costs $5,000, this is likely exactly what the retailer intended. After all, regardless of which dynamic pricing technology a retailer uses, the retailer is not at the mercy of the price optimization solution. Even if prices are calculated by an AI-driven solution, the retailer (possibly with the guidance of the software provider) can and must configure it according to its strategy and, most importantly, define appropriate rule sets and limits.
So how should retailers configure their price optimization software to avoid customer backlash?
- The frequency of price adjustments should be flexible.
Dynamic pricing does not have to mean that prices change every hour. Weekly price changes can also help a retailer proactively position itself among the competition without confusing customers. - The volatility of price adjustments should be limitable.
This allows the retailer to define the maximum price increase and to rule out extreme price spikes in advance. - The dynamic pricing software should be monitored by the retailer.
Dynamic pricing methods (and especially AI-based solutions) are capable of independently calculating optimal prices for every single item. However, they simply follow the laws of mathematics. This could mean that simply high demand equals high prices and extreme demand equals extreme prices. From a purely mathematical point of view, this is a valid conclusion. And it is precisely this scenario where the retailer is required to take responsibility and ensure that the software operates within the boundaries of morality and ethics. By doing so, extreme prices are generally ruled out.
With a powerful yet sophisticated dynamic pricing solution, you can benefit from competitive price management – without allowing extreme prices like those of the Bruce Springsteen tickets. This applies to any product, not just concert tickets or flights. To successfully leverage dynamic pricing, it is critical to create synergy between humans and machines by defining the limits for the solution's decision-making to protect strategy and customer relationships. Would you like to learn more about how this is accomplished in practice? Feel free to contact me directly via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit one of our web seminars.
A great way to inspire your customers and incentivize new purchases is with personalized newsletters. Newsletters are an essential part of customer communication for many companies. But the daily flood of emails in your customers’ inboxes is enormous. That’s why it’s critical to make your electronic mail stand out from the crowd with relevant content.
Personalization is a crucial factor that often determines success or failure in terms of newsletter interaction rates. In a study by SmartHQ1, 72% of respondents said they would only interact with the sender in a commercial environment if the content in the newsletter aligned with their interests.
In this post, you’ll learn how newsletter personalization works, what elements you can customize for each recipient, and what types of personalized outreach will intrigue customers.
How does newsletter personalization work?
Our Artificial Intelligence (AI) for personalization tool analyzes your customers’ behavior based on current shopping patterns and historical transaction data. Then the AI identifies the affinity of each of your customers for specific products, product groups, or content in real-time. Simultaneously, the AI predicts the most appropriate content for each person. The content in the email is generated only once the receiver opens the newsletter. In this way, the AI ensures that it also includes the most recent customer interactions in the app or online store instead of only considering the actions taken before sending the newsletter. Depending on which recommendation types you choose in your newsletter, recipients get specific content, whether that’s product-related, category-related, user-related, search term-related, or global recommendations.
You can also use different logics on a personalized space:
This data-driven personalization allows you to communicate 1:1 with your customers in the newsletter. In our customer projects, personalized newsletters have enabled retailers to noticeably increase interaction rates and thus sales, while reducing unsubscribe rates.
Which newsletter elements can you personalize?
You can personalize various elements based on the recommendation type you choose.
1) Banner personalization
Banners with personalized content in the newsletter attract a lot of attention, in part because of their size. Dynamic banners generate even more attention by changing content. For example, you could alternate between user-related products, products currently in high demand in the online store, and your newest product arrivals. As well, you could fill the banner with products from the recipient’s favorite brand. Read more about banner personalization here.
Banner personalization at ebook.de
2) Category recommendations
Most customers have two or three favorite categories they are particularly fond of. If your newsletter recipient receives recommendations from these categories, there is a higher probability that they will take a closer look at them. With category recommendations, you can also specify more closely and test out what triggers the highest interaction among your customers:
- The favorite category.
- The category that best matches the favorite category.
- The top-selling subcategory of the favorite category.
- The highest-demand categories in the online store.
Read more about this in our post on category recommendations.
3) Product offers
In our newsletter projects, we have found that user-related recommendation types achieve a high response rate. So, another idea is to combine an interesting product for the recipient with another suitable product (e.g., coffee machine and coffee beans) and offer it as a product bundle. Or you can include visually similar items for a product that sold out while sitting in your customer’s shopping cart. Also popular: you can push products from your current sale offer if the recipient finds these products exciting (based on their behavioral data).
4) Coupons
With personalized coupons, you can provide outstanding purchase incentives in the newsletter. The AI calculates the interesting products for the recipient and combines them with a fixed discount to build intrigue. Our customer Coop increased the purchase frequency and the shopping cart value among its newsletter recipients by using personalized coupons. Read more about this in our case study on Coop.
5) Editorial content
You can also supplement your product offerings with relevant editorial content in various formats. For example, if your customer is interested in baby care products, the AI can recommend thematically relevant articles such as “The safest changing tables.” If your customer is interested in makeup and cosmetics, the AI will suggest a post on beauty tips. Such posts deliver real value to the recipient and often lead to interaction.
Content personalization at 1-2-3.tv
What types of newsletters can AI personalize?
You can personalize any type of newsletter to achieve higher click-through and interaction rates. For example, a campaign newsletter promotes a particular product or segment that you are newly offering in your assortment. Here, it can also be helpful to pre-select your customers according to the target group.
Our customer WMF also likes to use automated campaign newsletters to increase the interaction rate. If you want to read more about the joint project, visit our case study on WMF.
Many retailers also rely on newsletters for birthdays, Christmas, or customer loyalty anniversaries. These special occasions are great opportunities to contact your customers through a personalized newsletter. In our projects, we have seen new and creative ways that online retailers are getting in touch with their customers even between the occasions mentioned above, such as a ranking of products as inspiration:
Newsletters on specific sale promotions such as Singles Day, Black Friday, or the end of the season are also very popular. The majority of customers expect special offers on these days. If you manage to include your customers’ personal interests in the sale promotions here, you greatly increase the likelihood of purchase.
In addition, emails like payment confirmation or shipping confirmation offer the opportunity for a new interaction. You should include inspirational recommendations for the next order here as well.
Do you have questions about newsletter personalization? Feel free to contact me or arrange a demo with me.
1) https://smarterhq.com/assets/Privacy-Personalization-Report.pdf
Product bundles offered in online stores have a positive impact on customer loyalty and sales development. They are one of many possible scenarios for using personalization to successfully shape your customer journey. In this article, you will learn what is behind this use case and how you can use product bundles profitably in practice.
What is a product bundle?
A product bundle consists of two or more products that are related to each other or to the customer. For example, a vacuum cleaner and the matching vacuum cleaner bag, a set of perfume and shower gel, or a book combined with an audio download from a Disney movie. Customers are offered these products in a bundle because they are often clicked on or bought together in the online store.
By displaying the product bundle, online customers can save time when searching for products as well as money, because retailers often provide the bundle with a discount to create an incentive to buy.
In turn, online retailers benefit from a higher number of purchased products and can actively manage other success metrics as well. For example, if you combine a high-frequency product with a high-margin item, you optimize purchase frequency as well as revenue. And the shortened product search on the part of your customers has a positive influence on the rate of shopping cart abandonment in online stores.
The idea of product bundles is not new. Brick-and-mortar retailers have always used this tool to create new purchase incentives. The advantage in online retailing is that these bundle offers can be designed in a more personalized way to respond better to customers’ current interests. This is exactly what AIR Personalization does: Our artificial intelligence in the form of self-learning algorithms automatically calculates meaningful product bundles for your customers in real time.
What types of product bundles are there?
AIR Personalization software offers different recommendation logic that the retailer can choose between. A/B testing can be used to determine which recommendation logic will work among your customer base.
A frequently used recommendation logic for product bundles is the “Ordered Together” recommendation type. This means that products that are often purchased together by other customers are recommended. Our artificial intelligence-based pricing software calculates the recommendations in real time based on the purchases of all users.
But other recommendation logic, such as suggesting products that have often been clicked together with the product currently in view, or combining them with a product from a wish list, can also be useful. Furthermore, retailers can choose the recommendation logic that links the selection of combined items to the sales price of the viewed product or a defined price range. Retailers can also exclude certain categories for a product bundle, if it is difficult to discount certain brands or product categories (e.g. books with fixed book prices). AIR Personalization provides you with various options across a wide variety of recommendation logics.
How do you use product bundles in practice?
A popular placement for product bundles is the item detail page. Here, customers take a closer look at the product they want and register the offer for a product bundle that creates added value for them.
For example, Thalia uses product bundles on the product detail page in addition to personalized recommendations. In this example, various Lego building sets are combined with each other:
At the Würth Group, customers can find product bundles to match the product displayed, in this case a cordless angle grinder together with a cordless hammer drill:
But it is also worthwhile to place product bundles in other places, such as in the shopping cart or in the personalized newsletter for customers.
And even in B2B trade, online retailers can use product bundles to create incentives to buy. Buyers usually know exactly what they are looking for and see real added value in additionally offered accessories or spare parts: grinding wheels for angle grinders, paint rollers combined with scraper grids, or dowels in different sizes combined as a bundle.
Are you interested in integrating product bundles in your online store? Feel free to contact me!
Categories and subcategories give your online store structure and are important signposts for your customers. As a navigation bar, these categories usually run through the entire online store. A logical category structure with appropriate names and subcategories makes it easier for visitors to find their way around.
Categories should be placed in a variety of visible positions throughout the online store. For example, a selection of categories in the form of banners can live the home page, recommendations for subcategories can live on the parent category page, or category-related recommendations can live on the product detail page for the currently selected category. If you manage to deploy the appropriate category recommendations for your users in the right places, this will ensure a good customer experience, which in turn will positively contribute to the conversion rates for your online store.
Categories as a navigation aid, inspiration and landing page for search engine users
Categories fulfill different needs in the online store as your customers navigate the site differently. Let’s explore some examples:
- Some of your visitors have a specific product in mind and navigate to the desired item via the categories and subcategories. A logical category structure including suitable filter options are a prerequisite for this. If visitors have to search for a long time, the bounce rate will increase. Category recommendations support targeted navigation. For example, personalized ‘favorite’ categories based on the respective user behavior on the website or related category recommendations based on the current customer journey can facilitate the search. For example, visitors browsing the “Suit” category will receive recommendations for the “Business Shoes” category.
Category recommendations on the home page: personalized products from the visitor’s favorite category.
- For visitors who like to be inspired and tend to make impulse purchases, a diverse and attractive product presentation is beneficial. Category recommendations for special offers, such as 15% off children’s pants, convince this portion of online store’s visitors to take a closer look at the category. Recommendations of categories that are currently in high demand in the store or category recommendations for upcoming events or celebrations invite customers to browse further and promote cross-selling. For example, in October, comparatively few visitors have the upcoming Christmas season on their radar so category recommendations for Christmas decorations or gifts can motivate viewing.
- Page visitors who arrive at the category page via a search engine want to see products or product categories that match the search term entered. This is ensured by suitable page titles, URLs and meta descriptions on your store page. Category recommendations can also support further shopping. For example, recommendations for categories that are similar to the current category, like when a lawn mower is shown in the lawn trimmer category, can help to quickly find the desired product.The best way to determine which category recommendations work best at different points in your store is by A/B testing. Our AI solution, AIR Personalization, provides a corresponding A/B test widget for this important comparison.
The best way to determine which category recommendations work best at different points in your store is by A/B testing. Our AI solution, AIR Personalization, provides a corresponding A/B test widget for this important comparison.
What are the logics behind category recommendations?
With AIR Personalization, we provide different logics for category recommendations that have proven themselves in practice. These can be combined with each other, to form so-called “multi-level recommendations”. For example, personalized products based on the user’s individual interests can be combined with the categories currently in demand in the online store.
- The categories with the strongest link to the selected category (category to categories).
The AI solution recommends matching categories to a category. In doing so, the AI incorporates the category hierarchy into the real-time learning.
- The best subcategories of the respective category (category to top categories)
The AI solution shows top-selling subcategories of a given category. The top seller subcategories can change their order (e.g., in the navigation) in the store and are calculated based on clicks, shopping carts, sold units and revenue.
- The category with the highest relevance for the user (user to categories)
Personalized categories calculated on the basis of current and previous transactions (clicks, shopping carts, purchases, searches). You can specify which transactions and which time periods are included.
- The categories with the highest demand in the online store (global top categories)
AIR Personalization shows the top categories from the entire store in real time. You can flexibly define the time periods and hierarchy levels. The AI solution calculates these top categories based on clicks, shopping carts, units sold, revenue and margins.
- The most popular products from a specific category
The AI solution calculates the top product sellers from a specific category in real time. You define the time periods flexibly. Category top sellers are calculated based on clicks, shopping carts, units sold, revenue and margins.
Flexible headlines and filters are free space for your success
Retailers have the ability to define the headings dynamically depending on the recommendation logic. For example, you can use “Recommended for you from the pants category”, to show a coherent offer that invites you to browse further.
Multiplicity filters also let you play out subcategories that don’t belong to the same main category – for example, the “Hats/Caps” category can be recommended from the “Apparel” section, or the “Bedding” category can be queued up from the “Home” section.
You can also exclude certain categories or filter by category hierarchy subtrees. An example of this is the selection of category recommendations to be made exclusively from the “Ladies” section.
In addition to category-based recommendation types, AIR Personalization has many other recommendation logics available: product-based, user-based, search term-based, or global-based.
Do you have questions about the use of category recommendations or the different recommendation logics? Make an appointment or contact me on LinkedIn!
By using personalization, you can adapt content at various touchpoints of the customer journey to meet the unique needs of your customers. In addition to the question of where you want to use personalized content, there is also the question of which elements you want to individualize. In addition to relevant product recommendations, a popular and frequently used component in many online stores, you can dynamically customize other elements: navigation, banners, discounts & coupons, content, and brands.
In this post, you’ll read more about the different types of banner personalization, its use at different customer touchpoints and why it pays off in terms of your conversion rates.
What does banner personalization mean?
Banners, also known as advertising banners, are usually rectangular areas intended to draw attention to a product or service. There are almost no limits to the variations in terms of format and design. Animated or interactive banners can achieve a high level of attention. When store visitors click on a banner, they are taken to the advertised product or category via the link provided. Dynamic banners change their content and are, for example, adapted to the behavior of each individual visitor or to the current demand of all visitors in the online store. AI solutions can collect all user data in real time and use it to calculate the relevant content for your banners. This strategy is highly likely to draw the interest of your store visitors.
Why is banner personalization useful?
Why do our customers rely on banner personalization? Because relevance is convincing. In the store, it’s sales staff who find out what customers’ interests and preferences are through conversation. In the online store, it’s artificial intelligence (AI) that takes over this job. It collects customer data and evaluates it in real time based on past purchases, customer master data and current behavioral data.
According to a representative online survey conducted by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the University of Bristol in 2020, personalization is commonly accepted when it comes to shopping, entertainment or search engine results.
The success of personalized content is also reflected in our customer projects. Personalized purchase incentives like recommendations lead to a higher conversion rate as well as higher sales and strengthened customer loyalty. In our case studies, you can learn more about our personalization projects in practice with retailers like WMF, Bader and Thalia.
Which recommendation logics are hidden behind banners?
Our AI solution, AIR Personalization, offers over 20 different recommendation logic, based on:
(based on product, based on categories, based on user, based on search terms, based global data)
The recommendation logic can be combined with each other, to form so-called “multi-level recommendations”, which in turn can be linked together in loops. The loops are used to pass a result from one recommendation model into another. For example: AI determines your customers’ favorite category and uses this as input information to determine the top products for customers from that category.
You can flexibly design your banners depending on which recommendation logics you decide to use. Combine the visitor’s favorite category with a top seller from that very category. Or show in your banner the product categories that are currently in high demand, or discount promotions that are running in the online store. These are just a few examples of recommendation logics that can work behind banners. If you want to know more about our different recommendation logics, reach out to me today.
Banner personalization at different customer touchpoints
There are numerous scenarios for personalized banners in the online store. For example, you can place different personalized banners as header graphics on the home page, highlighting current promotions or the top sellers in certain categories. Below the header graphic, you could place visitors’ favorite categories in the form of banners. In customer projects, we also like to use a banner on the respective category page that displays the visitor’s favorite brands.
Home page with personalized banners as header graphic as well as personalized category banners including personalized product.
2) Category page with banner displaying individual favorite brands
Relevant offers are also a must in the retailer app, where there is even less digital sales space available. If app users already receive banners that are relevant to them, displaying categories that really interest them on the start screen, they will be motivated to browse further.
Home page in the app with personalized banners containing the favorite categories including relevant products. The bottom banner shows the current top deals.
Also in the newsletter, you can personalize banners in real time and increase click-through rates and ultimately sales. In doing so, you can display each customer’s favorite categories and show a personalized header graphic with a discount promotion from a favorite category of the recipient.
If you want to promote a specific product or product group in your newsletter, the use of automated campaign newsletters is very suitable. AIR Personalization selects which of your customers are interested in this product group.
Personalized category banners in the newsletter
Would you like to learn more about banner personalization and how it can be used in your online channels? Make an appointment with me or follow me on LinkedIn if you want to stay up to date on the topic of personalization.
After a brief look at my book newsletter I quickly decide whether to move it to the recycle bin or click on another link. As a fan of detective novels I am always thrilled with newsletters containing new releases in this genre. Children’s books or guides on various topics are also high on my wish list. If the bookseller designs his newsletter according to the categories I want, he increases probability many times that I will buy. The book ends up in the shopping cart and the conversion rate of the newsletter increases.
This blog post originally appeared on April 19, 2018 and the content was updated on March 23, 2021.
Retailers who rely on target group specific campaigns reduce wastage and increase the response rate. Let’s continue with the example of the detective novel: You would like to use your newsletter to advertise the book series by Henning Mankell as well as the audio books of the detective series. The newsletter should only be sent to customers interested in this genre. Artificial intelligence (AI) automatically segments your customer base for the campaign. To do this, it includes historical transaction data as well as current click data. In this way, your newsletter will only reach the part of your customers who are very likely to be interested in Andreas Franz’s crime series. The use of automated campaign newsletters significantly reduces the likelihood that your customers will feel annoyed and, in the worst case, will unsubscribe from the newsletter.
You can easily have an intelligent campaign by way of target group selection using a newsletter campaign or in the form of a print campaigns.
Achieve higher order rates through intelligent newsletter campaigns
E-mail marketing is one of the most popular and most successful marketing initiatives. asures. For 91% of the newsletters of the 5000 most important companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, email marketing in the form of a newsletter is an integral part of marketing. Ten years ago this figure was 60% .1 The click rate of target group-specific newsletters is on average 100% higher than that of non-segmented mailings.2
Let’s say you run an online shop for fashion items. You would like to advertise the new men’s shoe collection for Nike and adidas. Using the slogan “a fit start to spring”, you offer shoes for a variety of sports for both brands in the newsletter. The AI solution for personalization measures all of the clicks and purchases in real time as well as the historical click and transaction data of your customers. By evaluating this data, the software determines the appropriate target group for your shoe campaign. For example, if a customer predominantly clicks on products by adidas or Nike or frequently buys items related to your advertised products, this is added to the target group. You can also exclude customers from your campaign who have already purchased shoes from the new collections of the sporting brands. With the help of the AI application, you can merge different target groups, intersect the results or form the complement as desired.
Our customer projects show that retailers that use intelligent newsletter campaigns and automatically segment their target groups achieve higher click and order rates compared to newsletter campaigns without segmentation.
Increase your sales through relevant print campaigns
In recent years, customers have been increasingly requesting printed catalogs. Personalization and storytelling are important tools for creating relevant and exciting content. Many customers enjoy browsing through printed catalogs provided the content is of interest to them. Many customers use the printed sample as a starting point to then visit the retailer’s online shop. The study conducted by Splendid Research on behalf of OnetoONE corroborates this: every second catalog recipient visits the retailer’s online shop after browsing in the printed catalog.
The same things that apply to e-mail marketing also apply to your intelligent print campaign. The personalization software calculates the right target group for your printed mailing. For example, you are looking to advertise your wine and cheese selection through a print campaign. With the motto “Wine and cheese specialties from around the world”, you offer a wide selection of aromatic fresh, soft and hard cheeses along with the appropriate wine to go with them. Based on click and purchase patterns, the personalization software evaluates who demonstrates an affinity to one or both of the categories. Selection of your target group by the personalization software is dynamic rather than static and is based on the most current data.
Would you like to start an intelligent campaign?
We would be happy to set up an appointment or web session to advise you how to implement your event-driven campaigns for the appropriate target group and thus increase your conversion rate.
1) https://www.absolit.de/studien/e-mail-marketing-benchmarks#
