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Find answers to online merchandisers' common questions about using AI integrations to improve the customer's shopping experience. From smart collections to personalized recommendations, these expert insights will boost customer engagement, sales, AOV, and your bottom line.
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Behavioral Marketing in eCommerce: Personalize Your Customers' Experience
Behavioral marketing in eCommerce can help you personalize your customers' experiences through data insights. McKinsey research finds that those prioritizing personalization in their marketing generate 40% more sales. So, using tailored marketing and product offerings to address your customers' interests can help increase your revenue and improve customer loyalty. What Is Behavioral Marketing? Behavioral marketing targets customers based on specific actions they make on your site. This technique uses data like web analytics, cookies, search history insights, and other tools to target customers effectively. Platforms, such as Klaviyo can help you collect and analyze behavioral data to drive more targeted recommendations. Behavioral Marketing Segmentation Behavioral marketing segmentation uses data to divide customers into audience segments based on their behavior and preferences, then targets each segment with specific campaigns or offerings. For instance, Woolery, a fiber arts business, offers smart collections based on material and activity. This base-level personalization helps make the site easy to navigate, particularly for customers who know what they're looking for. » Learn more about how personalization can help merchandise your products and collections Behavioral Marketing Strategies By using behavioral data, you can deliver the right campaigns to individual customers, improve their experiences, and increase their chances of conversion. You can try strategies like: Remarketing Show ads to customers who have previously visited your website or interacted with your brand online. For example, a fashion retailer may advertise products that customers recently viewed but didn't purchase.Product Suggestions By making product recommendations based on your customers' behavior, you have the opportunity to cross-sell and upsell. For example, an online bookstore may suggest other books by the same author or in the same genre. Email Marketing By analyzing your customers' behavior, you can send them personalized content and promotions. For example, an eCommerce store may send abandoned cart emails to customers who didn't complete their purchases.Personalized Website Experience Customize your website content based on customers' browsing behavior. For example, a travel website may display hotel recommendations based on a customer's previous search history. » Discover the importance of personalization in your eCommerce strategy using reviews Fast Personalization for Fast Results With 71% of consumers expecting personalized shopping experiences, behavioral marketing is a necessity. By creating a more engaging and relevant shopping experience, you can help increase sales and revenue. Leveraging personalization can help your customers feel valued and understood, which can boost loyalty and create long-lasting customer relationships.
Asked 2 months ago
Adaptive vs. Responsive Design: Which Is Best for Your E-Commerce Store?
Adaptive and responsive design, a feature of visual merchandising, can impact the user experience of your site on different devices. So, choosing which is best for your e-commerce store is imperative. To help you make your decision, compare the pros and cons of adaptive vs responsive design and learn which additional factors to consider. What Is Adaptive Design? Adaptive design auto-detects a user's device and selects one of multiple layout templates to best fit the screen. This ensures your website is optimized for a seamless user experience. Think about the following factors when deciding: ProsImproved performance on slower devicesBetter SEO alignmentFlexibility for future devicesConsTime-consuming to createComplex for beginners For example, BestBuy's adaptive design uses different templates that adjust the page elements to fit a smaller screen. Making the content easy to scroll through across devices can help encourage conversions. You can see (image on the right) that the navigation pane in this particular instance requires the user to scroll to see all options when using the site on mobile. » Discover 7 critical online visual merchandising strategies to drive sales now What Is Responsive Design? Responsive design uses one layout template and adjusts all design elements on your site to accommodate the user's screen size. This allows for more fluid site navigation and changes in appearance based on the user's device. Some aspects to consider include: ProsConsistent user experienceCost efficientEase of maintenanceSEO-friendlyConsRisk of poor performance on slower devicesComplex for some websitesFocus on content prioritization over screen-specific design This 401 Games example shows how responsive design adjusts to different screen sizes by shifting design elements of their site based on which device is being used. In the mobile version (on the right), the navigation pane is relocated to a collapsible menu on the top left, and the category blocks on the site are moved to a single column for easy scrolling. This user-friendly change can foster customer satisfaction and drive more sales. Which Design Should You Choose for Your E-Commerce Store? The design choice for your e-commerce store depends on your specific circumstances and merchandising preferences. Several elements should be taken into account when making the choice, including: BudgetTarget audienceUser intent and behaviorProduct typesOverall store goals For instance, if you have a smaller budget and a predominantly younger audience, responsive design may be more beneficial. Or if you have a larger business with bigger budgets and a very diverse audience in terms of age and device usage, an adaptive design could be best for you. » Check out the top e-commerce apps to optimize customer experience Fast Design Whether you prefer the layout adjustments of responsive designs or the template assortments of adaptive design, the choice is yours. Selecting the appropriate design to best appeal to your audience's site search habits and your product offerings can help you achieve higher customer satisfaction, more engagement across a range of devices and boosted sales.
Asked 2 months ago
How Whitespace Brings Focus to Your E-Commerce Website
Whitespace in e-commerce merchandising can help bring focus to products or call-to-action buttons on your e-commerce website. So by using whitespace effectively, you'll be able to create a visually appealing experience that encourages customers to stay and engage with your products. Using Whitespace to Pull Focus Whitespace, also known as negative space, refers to the empty space between design elements and paragraphs on a web page. Veer Away From Busy Spaces in Visual Merchandising Ineffective use of whitespace in merchandising includes a cluttered page layout and no clear visual hierarchy. When too many design elements compete for your customer's attention, it can be challenging to get them to focus on your products. Tip: Treating whitespace in tandem with other design elements, like margins, the site search bar's placement, and typography, can elevate your website's visual merchandising. » Learn how understanding shoppers' intent can maximize e-commerce conversion Steer Toward Whitespace in Visual Merchandising According to research, whitespace can aid in readability and customers' perceptions of your brand. So, effective use of whitespace in visual merchandising allows you to frame or pull focus to product images, descriptions, and other website elements easily by building an apparent visual hierarchy that can guide and encourage conversions and further site exploration. For example, Everten, a kitchenware store, leverages whitespace to highlight seasonal focus for its products. During a sale, using the stark contrast between white, red, and black can effectively direct customers to the most important leads on their web page. The whitespace here also acts as a framing tool to help product categories stand out so that customers can navigate the site intuitively. This framing creates a sense of balance in the overall web page design, which can create a harmonious brand perception that can drive customer loyalty. » Check out this helpful list of e-commerce merchandising strategies best practices Fast Focus With Whitespace Whitespace can be a powerful tool for your e-commerce website by making it user-friendly and creating aesthetically pleasing content that's easy to digest. This visual merchandising technique can help you draw a customer's attention to specific products or call-to-action buttons. Optimizing site navigation through a clear visual hierarchy, like on-site search bars bordered by whitespace, can help your website traffic transfer into higher conversions and sales.
Asked 2 months ago
5 Best Font Styles for Your E-Commerce Store
It can be overwhelming to choose the right font style for your e-commerce store from the thousands of options online. But we've narrowed the list down to five: Lato, Merriweather, Montserrat, Raleway, and Roboto. All of these font styles are versatile enough so you can implement them to suit your brand identity plus they maintain their readability on different screen sizes. Explore our list of the five best font styles for your e-commerce store with examples for inspiration. 1. Lato Lato is a sans-serif font designed in 2010. It showcases a modern, clean, and inviting look that conveys professionalism. Lato is a popular choice for e-commerce stores that want to appear approachable yet trustworthy, so it's often seen in body text. For example, Homecamp sells camping equipment and accessories. It uses Lato for product descriptions, making any product information easy to read and digest (especially when it becomes lengthy). This helps to boost their visual merchandising and e-commerce UI. » Implement these additional e-commerce merchandising best practices 2. Merriweather Merriweather is a serif font designed in 2011. Known for maintaining its readability even in small sizes, this font adds class and style to any e-commerce store. Merriweather is best suited for e-commerce websites that sell high-end products and need to present luxurious and sophisticated merchandising. For example, The Good Batch sells baked goods. Merriweather easily adapts to all font sizes from bigger headings to smaller social media text, creating natural visual hierarchy and uniformity on the e-commerce store. 3. Montserrat Montserrat is a modern sans-serif font designed in 2011. Its clean and legible features make it an excellent choice for headings and titles on e-commerce websites. Montserrat is best suited for creative e-commerce sites due to its contemporary appearance. For example, Jo to the World sells crochet gift ideas, including various patterns. The store uses Montserrat in its headings, product names, and call-to-action buttons. The readability of this font is particularly effective in the buttons, because customers clearly understand what action they're encouraged to take next. This can help boost conversions and keep customers on the site longer. 4. Raleway Raleway is a versatile and elegant sans-serif font designed in 2010. Its sleek appearance makes it an ideal choice for both body text and headings on an e-commerce website. Raleway is best suited for conveying dependability while retaining a user-friendly visual appeal. For example, Le Régal sells wooden cutting boards. The site uses Raleway only, thereby showcasing the diversity of one font. Headings and prices are a bigger size and bolded, body text is standard, stock levels and lead times are a different color, and call-to-action buttons are inverted. Using a single font creatively also results in cohesive visual merchandising and brand identity. » Find out what other e-commerce hiccups bust brand loyalty besides ineffective fonts 5. Roboto Roboto is a minimalist sans-serif font designed in 2011. While its features can be described as geometric, it can still give an e-commerce store a friendly typography. Appropriate for both headings and body text, Roboto is best suited for tech-related sites aiming to optimize their merchandising. For example, Discount Store sells a range of electronics. It uses Roboto as its main font for merchandising in "New Arrivals" and "Hot Sale" banners, headings, and descriptions. The font remains easy to read regardless of its size or the background color. Let the Right Font Take You Forward Choosing the right font for your e-commerce store can be a stressful yet essential step to strike the right brand tone with your users. Selecting a font that's easy to read and aligns with your brand message can be extremely beneficial for your overall merchandising efforts and lead to a more positive and engaged experience for your customers. » Continue improving your merchandising with this ultimate guide
Asked 2 months ago
Visual Hierarchy: How to Create a Stunning E-Commerce UI (+ Examples)
How your website is designed, including how you merchandise your products, greatly impacts customer behavior and sales. By implementing visual hierarchy, you can create a stunning e-commerce UI (user interface) for your customers that can ultimately help you to enhance their experience, increase conversions, and drive sales. Boosting Your E-Commerce UI Through Visual Hierarchy Pull Focus With Size and Scale Size and scale are powerful tools to create a visual hierarchy because they can help certain features stand out. Based on customers' reading behavior, they'll view the biggest visual element first. But size is still relative—without scale, your important sections may lose their impact. For example, while Targus's merchandising of this product splits customers' screens into two equal parts, their eye is immediately drawn to the main product image on the left. The image itself is large, but appears more prominent because of the smaller scale of the other merchandising elements like the smaller product images at the bottom of the screen. Use Color and Contrast for Emphasis The effective use of color and contrast can help guide your customers' attention to the most important elements, such as: calls-to-action, product images, and pricing. By limiting your color palette and using contrasting colors, you can easily improve your visual merchandising and e-commerce UI. For example, Staghead Designs makes an immediate impact with monochrome product pages. The black background of the main product image instantly makes it the focal point, while simultaneously letting the blue pendant shine. Additionally, the bold, black "Add to Cart" button also draws attention, encouraging conversions. » Follow these e-commerce merchandising best practices to improve UI more Guide the User With Spacing Spacing, or the use of whitespace, can be a powerful tool for establishing a clear visual hierarchy and improving your overall e-commerce merchandising. By increasing the amount of whitespace around important elements (such as headings or call-to-action buttons) you can guide your customers' attention to those elements and create a more intuitive e-commerce UI. For example, Spiceology uses ample whitespace to place their product merchandising at the top of their visual hierarchy. The equal spacing between the product images also creates balance. Interestingly, the product images are placed in an inverted pyramid shape which naturally draws the customers' eyes to the "All Ingredients" button, encouraging them to shop further. » Need to finetune your product layout? Use a product grid to improve your e-commerce merchandising Drive Your E-Commerce UI Upwards Visual hierarchy principles are essential for creating refined e-commerce UIs that prioritize your customers' experience and drive conversions. At the same time, these principles can also help you improve your merchandising techniques, thereby simplifying your customers' overall journey and making it easier for them to find what they're looking for. » Explore further how visual merchandising creates an engaging e-commerce experience
Asked 2 months ago
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