Customers crave personalization. We suggest a personalization strategy that uses reviews to showcase valuable, relevant insights throughout the buying journey.
Every shopper has a unique set of wants and needs, which makes it hard for merchants to create a cohesive experience for each of their customers.
This is where personalization comes into play.
Employing tactics that build a unique journey based on a customers’ past behavior, interests, and attributes can help brands differentiate themselves and gain a competitive edge while also aligning with customer expectations. Giving shoppers the information they need exactly when they need it goes a long way in building customer loyalty and tightening up retention rates.
Why You Need Ecommerce Personalization
No two customers are the same. Each one craves a personalized journey made up of the content and proof they need to make a purchase.
Personalization in ecommerce:
- Improves customer experience: 71% of consumers feel frustrated with impersonal shopping experiences
- Increases sales: 66% of consumers say content that isn’t personalized stops them from buying, while 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase from a brand that provides personalized experiences
- Improves customer retention rates: 44% of consumers say they are likely to become repeat customers are a personalized shopping experience, letting you reap the benefits of brand loyalty
- Increases recommendations and CLTV: 77% of consumers have chosen, recommended, or paid more for a brand that provides a personalized experience
How to Use Customer Reviews to Personalize the Shopping Experience
Ecommerce personalization requires merchants to have a deep understanding of their customers’ wants and needs and implement touch points that cater to these throughout the buying journey. Reviews play a pivotal role in consumer decision making and create a personalized experience by showcasing relevant reviews from like-minded customers.
Here’s how to incorporate reviews into the shopping experience to enhance your personalization efforts.
1. Start Conversations With Customers
Personalization starts by getting personal with your customers. Send review request emails to generate feedback, listen to what customers are saying, and gain first-party insights about each individual customer. Use this information to power your product development, too, and respond to any queries or objections to put customers at ease.
2. Showcase Relevant Customer Attributes in Reviews
Purchasing the wrong color, size or fit is the top reason for returns (46%). This is particularly prominent in ecommerce since customers can’t touch or see a product in person before they buy. Give customers a deeper insight into the products they’re about to purchase by using attributes and filters that let customers find reviews relevant to their needs.
3. Provide the Right Information at the Right Time
As customers work their way through the buying journey, they expect different levels of social proof and information. Someone at the start of the journey might need proof that your product is better than a competitor’s, while someone at the buying stage might simply need a nudge from previous happy customers.
Populate the entire sales cycle with reviews, including ads, blog posts, and influencer content at the awareness stage, as well as on product pages and checkout pages at the decision stage.
4. Make Personalized Product Recommendations More Compelling
26% of ecommerce revenue comes from product recommendations. If you’re not suggesting potential products to existing customers, you could be missing out on a large chunk of cash (and the opportunity to secure long-term customer relationships).
Bolster your product recommendation emails or on-site product recommendations with reviews to reduce last-minute objections and instill buyer confidence.
5. Include Reviews in Abandoned Cart Emails
Almost 70% of shoppers leave products in their cart without purchasing. Abandoned carts are a big struggle for merchants, but luring customers back is easier when you have social proof on your side.
Incorporate reviews into your abandoned cart emails to stir up feelings of FOMO and give on-the-fence shoppers the nudge they need to hit the buy button. Take a leaf out of Nimble Activewear’s book and include product ratings of abandoned items in your emails.
Let Your Reviews Do the Talking
Reviews are the key to understanding your customers and providing a better shopping experience for them. Sprinkle positive reviews and ratings throughout the sales cycle, incorporating them into product recommendation emails, awareness-stage campaigns, and in abandoned cart sequences to provide a slick, personalized customer experience that increases sales and boosts loyalty.
A customer review software such as Okendo can help you capture reviews, display them across your site, campaigns, and emails, and filter them based on customer attributes.