With Mothercare recently announcing a turnaround in sales thanks to a rise in online shopping, the right e-commerce strategy has never been so critical to UK businesses.
Today, online marketing tactics are becoming increasingly subtle and more intrusive as retailers attempt to get personal with their customers to deliver top-notch service. However, there is a fine line for businesses between empowering their customers and becoming obtrusive – and this is essential to get right in order to survive.
In recent years, the subject of ‘personalisation’ has become an important topic of debate in the online retail world. According to Gartner analyst Gene Alvarez, “by 2018, B2B companies with effective personalisation on their e-commerce sites will outsell by 30% competitors without the same level of personalisation.”
So how important is personalisation? While everyone wants to feel like they are being treated as an individual, not all online personalisation tactics are considered an effective customer engagement tool. For example, more is not necessarily better. The key point is that technology is the facilitator of providing a bespoke customer experience. Businesses must therefore use technology as effectively as possible to get their personalisation strategy right.
But where do you begin? Here are five reasons why personalisation should be part of any businesses content strategy:
1. Improved sales process: Personalisation helps businesses deliver well-qualified leads to the sales team and shortens the sales cycle
There is no excuse not to personalise your content. With an effective content management system, it doesn’t take long to offer some level of personalisation to your customers. Whether it’s through code or cookies, there are endless possibilities to provide your customers with more engaging content that reflects their interests. Resulting in more clicks, more calls and in the end more sales.
2. Improved search engine rankings: Regularly adding new and interesting content to the company website helps improve the SEO rating
Put simply, a SEO ranking is a “popularity” contest won by those with the most relevant and accessible content (e.g. mobile optimised websites with regularly updated content). Google says it “crawls” through websites, determining content based on more than 200 factors and assigning page rankings accordingly. Consistently updating your content, with new and unique ideas, is key to getting to the top of a Google search. So think like a publisher and get your workforce excited about sharing their ideas via your website and social media channels.
3. Simplify the experience: Targeted sales, noting preferences and making the purchase process easier, improves customer experience
Make it easy for your leads and potential customers to choose you. Smothering them with irrelevant jargon is not the way to encourage customers to seek your support. Improve the experience of your customers with targeted sales and simple processes that make you and your business offering hard to resist.
4. Repeat customers: Good and targeted content can strengthen existing relationships
Put simply, take care of your customers. It is easier to build on an existing relationship then start from the bottom with a new lead. If you have spent time understanding your customers, their needs, and delivering best of breed solutions that solve their business challenges, they are usually willing to come to you for additional services.
5. Brand ambassadors: Happy customers are great references
There is no doubt about it, a happy customer makes the best type of reference. Just remember, a customer will talk about their experiences whether they are good or bad. So make sure your customers have a good experience, and encourage them to share their story and opinions with their peers.
These days, overloading customers with information purely based on their past online interactions is not the way to go, as it can ultimately lead to shopping cart abandonment. The key is to deliver tailored content in a way that doesn’t overwhelm customers, but provides a valued experience and ultimately secures their loyalty to the brand.
