Can personalisation still be considered a “hot topic”? Every year it holds court in trend-based pieces for social media, affiliate marketing, search, email and display among others. Despite its ubiquity and range of benefits, our retailers are left to ponder the ROI from a more personalised experience.
In essence, when we switch from a non-personalised customer journey to a personalised one, what is the bottom-line impact?
Considering our own vantage point – as a technology which uses behavioural and on-site data to create targeted incentivisation efforts – we figured it was time to explore the effect on customers that are searching for deals.
We relish every opportunity to show the difference between personalised and non-personalised journeys across a series of metrics. When it comes to performance uplift, there is plenty to talk about.
What is a good result?
When we hear tech providers explaining the impact of personalisation, the dialogue tends to steer onto non-quantifiable measures of success.
Think user experience, customer satisfaction and relevance. While each is worthy of their place in discussions over the wider benefits of personalisation, they fail to provide any indication of ROI and revenue.
The lack of standardised measurement can actually represent a problem for those wanting to get sign-off for a new technology. That’s especially the case in fields like performance marketing, where return speaks volumes.
RevLifter is made to combat some of the biggest challenges faced by e-commerce retailers, with revenue, conversions and average order values (AOV) among the most popular KPIs. Thus, we saw an opportunity to explore the impact of personalisation on customers that are looking for deals and need help with converting.
To remain transparent over our approach and methodology, we’ll be focusing on results from just one of our solutions: RevPage. This takes the form of a dynamic landing page, which uses SEO and PPC to attract people searching for coupons on Google.
Each page is filled with personalised incentives, which are informed by the customer’s behaviour and live basket, as well as the retailer’s own goals for incentivisation. For example, in the event of a brand wanting to increase AOV, our technology will supply recommendations on complimentary products to raise the basket value.
Every campaign is unique. And as our performance is measured against strategies, affiliates and journeys that do not use personalisation, we are able to demonstrate the effect of a more customer-centric approach. Let’s take a look at some of our retailers’ most common goals.
Impact of personalisation: cart value
Example 1 – Fashion retailer
A well-known fashion brand approached us with the goal of raising AOV. It wanted to see a comparison between RevLifter and affiliates who would not be able to serve personalised offers.
“Stretch-and-save deals” were among a list of tactics used to increase cart values, with customers invited to spend more on “suggested items” to unlock a bigger saving.
The personalised journeys managed to increase AOV by 25% compared to the retailer’s affiliate programme average. This demonstrated the difference between RevLifter and publishers that had no knowledge of the customer and their previous behaviour.
Example two – Fashion retailer
Another one of our fashion clients wanted to increase AOV by targeting its audience with gender-specific deals. These would also need to reflect each shopper’s value in the context of the retailer’s goals.
We supplied recommendations based on the user’s basket and browsing history, which gave vital clues over the products they were interested in. AOV increased by 84% against the brand’s on-site average, but it was the 11% raise vs coupon affiliates that really showed the difference between personalisation and non-personalisation.
Impact of personalisation: Conversion rate
Example one – Specialist retailer
One of our clients wanted to capitalise on high UV levels due to their positive influence on sales.
Our solution pulled live weather data to inform the serving of deals on products which offered a greater level of protection. Another part of the strategy relied on upselling, where users were encouraged to upgrade their item for a better deal.
The personalised page achieved a conversion rate 2x above the retailer’s non-personalised offering, and 16x higher than its affiliate programme average.
Example two – Consumer electronics retailer
A global consumer electronics brand came to RevLifter with the goal of increasing its rate of conversion.
RevLifter believed that offering personalised experiences to different customer segments would increase the likelihood of sales. Our technology was able to adapt its layout and messaging to cater for two key audiences, who received deals that reflected their behaviour and basket.
The conversion rate for personalised journeys was 114% above the brand’s affiliate programme average. This included performances from coupon affiliates, who used deals to incentivise customers, but could not personalise their experience.
Impact of personalisation: Time on site, pages per session
Example one – Consumer electronics retailer
In the very same campaign, RevLifter wanted to see whether shoppers that received personalised experiences would stay on the website for a longer period.
The theory was that by offering personalised journeys, the retailer would be able to give its users something out of the ordinary to keep them on-site.
The customers that were targeted with personalised offers stayed with the electronics brand 52% longer than those who didn’t place an item in their basket. RevLifter also kept them on-site for 41% longer than users who were checking out with products and did not receive a personalised experience.
Example two – Mobile device retailer
RevLifter’s client only wanted to deliver incentives that would increase its profit. This required a real-time calculation of the margin of each smartphone contract in the customer’s basket, versus the margin of a suggested item.
Once the user had navigated back to their cart after searching for a deal on Google, they were given product recommendations to increase their original spend.
On top of its improvements to the conversion rate (9% higher than customers that weren’t incentivised), RevLifter inspired users to click on 28% more pages compared to non-personalised journeys.
Final thoughts
Personalisation keeps your customers engaged for longer. When considering the involvement of personalised deals, retailers can use them to sell more, and more often. But it’s not all about the people that visit your site.
Brands should realise that incentivisation is as much about their demands as it is about their customers’. For instance, if you were to offer 50% off your entire product catalogue, you would probably generate more sales from a happier customer base. This would also have a devastating effect on your profit and margin.
By adapting your approach, you can form a strategy which caters for the customers that pass through your site, helping you better your performance.
Get in touch to hear more about RevLifter and its award-winning personalisation platform.
