5 Personalization Experiments That Every eCommerce Store Should Run
There’s something blissful about seeing your website’s performance rising, especially if you tried something different to achieve your objectives.
Like that one time when you created your first A/B test and saw that the variation is about to beat the control. The happiness you felt was impossible to explain to someone who has never heard of A/B testing in his life. But if you’d share the feeling with a fellow marketer who cares about conversion rate optimization, the joy would fill you up with more energy and confidence.
That’s why marketers usually love trying different things – they’re just addicted to feeling that thing that makes them jump and hug people around them, aren’t they? If you’re in the category of marketers who love being happy at work, then you must try these five personalization experiments I’m sharing with you today.
Before getting to the actual experiments, I’d like to make you aware of something extremely important: personalization is a different thing than A/B testing. Both are popular conversion rate optimization tools, but they have different roles.
“Personalization is meant to hyper-target a visitor with dynamic content based on advanced segments.[…] A/B testing is a verification tool – nothing more, nothing less. If we do not verify changes made to our site, marketing campaigns, or emails in a test environment we lose data & insights.” – Justin Rondeau, Should I test that
Personalization is suitable when you want to increase the effectiveness of your limited marketing campaigns such as Holiday campaigns or other season sales. On the other hand, A/B testing is an iterative process and it takes 6 to 12 months to see the first gains in dollars earned with A/B testing. Web personalization gives you the cash flow you need more rapidly.
These are 5 personalization experiments you should try if you want to get more sales out of your current marketing campaigns on your eCommerce website. Ready? Let’s start!
Welcome Back Your Returning Visitors
When visitors come back to your website for the second time it means that they have liked you the first time. The second visit is your chance to increase the likelihood that they’ll make a purchase on your site.
You want these returning visitors to see more pages, add items to their wishlist or cart, or make a purchase. Nevertheless, you want them to say YES to your call to action. The solution is making them choose between two options that actually give them a single option like in this example:
This example shows how to give a single option to your visitors: continue the navigation on your website by choosing between the product categories. This is better than doing nothing and allowing them the option to leave your website.
Survey Your Visitors At Exit
Surveys are a powerful instrument that provides valuable insights into your visitors’ preferences. When done right, surveys can give you the exact instructions to launch a successful marketing campaign for your season sales.
A great example of how surveys can tell you which offers to “push” to your visitors at their next visit is this one:
Not only that you know what type of products are suitable for a Holiday marketing campaign, but also you’ll find out the average amount of money that your prospects are willing to spend.
Black Friday and other holidays are just around the corner. So, make sure to create a survey and launch it in time to gather the information you need.
Create Marketing Offers Based On Traffic Source
Another benefit of using personalization through pop-ups is that it allows you to test your commercial offers in real time. If you have traffic that converts well from Pinterest (compared to other social networks like Facebook or Instagram), you should take advantage of it.
This is just an example, but you can also test two versions os a pop-up to see if visitors from Pinterest are more likely to get a discount from you or another special benefit that aims to increase their likeness for your brand (gifts or other things you can offer them for free).
Give Reminders To Visitors With Items In Their Carts
There’s no more obvious sign that your website’s visitors are interested into buying your products than adding items to their cart. It’s clear that you have to make a move and take advantage of this opportunity.
This type of personalization works if you have a limited offer for baskets of a specific amount. If you know that you can afford to offer free shipping for orders greater than x amount, then use this tactic asap.
Offer free shipping based on the visitor’s location
Studies show that bad moods lead people to shop impulsively. When impulsive buyers come to your website they are looking to cover a need with your products. If you over deliver the promise and give to these shoppers another good reason to feel better, they’re more likely to make a purchase.
Conclusion
Personalization is affordable and doable. These are just a few simple examples of how you can improve the visitors experience on your website and increase revenue too. Be warned though: when you test the personalization effectiveness for your company, you should look at the revenue instead of the conversion rate.
