E-commerce personalization begins with marketing – here are 5 brands doing it right

Understanding the relationship between marketing and true personalization is key for delivering the experiences e- commerce shoppers are looking for beyond the initial purchase as part of The Drum’s E-Commerce Deep Dive.

Anything can be done when it comes to e- commerce thanks to the advancement of technology. Try on clothes. It is possible to use augmented reality to do that. Do you want to know when an item will be in your size? You can submit your email address. You need a shirt to match those pants. You can find recommended products that other people liked.

Personalization is the biggest buzzword in e- commerce at the moment. Valuable data brands are able to gather as customers interact with their digital channels leads to personalization within the digital experience. With an understanding of both the shopper and the product, brands can offer an online experience that is better than the in-store experience.

The stakes are being raised as more brands integrate personalization into their e- commerce experience. It’s important for brands to impress customers before they arrive on the site. How are they able to do that? They turned to their marketing campaign. The integration of personalization in marketing is helping to drive customer engagement in exciting new ways. It helps to drive loyalty long after the purchase has been made.

A few brands are doing marketing personalization right and how they are benefiting.

Dior is known for its beauty products.

Dior Beauty launched a four-day message campaign with the help of brand ambassador Jisoo from Black Pink. Jisoo invited her fans to join her exclusive group on the photo sharing website. Tens of thousands of people joined the group before the day ended. Users could engage with a Jisoo chatbot that addressed fans by name and offered content ranging from videos to product links.

Dior, the digital marketing firm that ran the campaign, observed thousands of meme, screen records and conversations. 20% of the registered users entered the group through a link shared with them by a friend, instead of the official promotion.

Benefit is a company that sells cosmetics.

Benefit Cosmetics, one of the fastest growing prestige beauty brands in the business, offers some of the most loved and recognizable beauty brands such as Hoola Bronzer and Gimme brow+. The company used a highly-personalized marketing campaign to make sure customers were aware of the new blush products.

Benefit split its customers into different groups based on their previous purchases, as well as customers who chose to wait for the new launch in exchange for an exclusive promotional gift with purchase offer and access to the new launch before other customers. Benefit was able to offer more relevant content to each specific audience by sending each audience an email campaign that matched their buying habits. Click-through rates on the blush launch emails were 50% higher than the average Benefit campaign.

There is a website called Shutterfly.

A picture of you is more personalized than anything else. Customers’ own memories are used to prompt nostalgic campaigns. The subject lines of “Your memories from five years ago” are easy to understand. Customers are directed to the website to view all of their memories by the emails. Customers can turn those memories into a purchase at any time.

For customers who don’t click to see more photos, Shutterfly uses the email itself to promote relevant products. The emails offer suggestions to make something, such as displaying the customer’s photos on sample products available to buy, along with links that direct them to that specific item on the website. These emails create emotional connections between people and products and achieve engagement.

It’s on the internet.

Marketing campaigns can sometimes be used to build customer relationships. The emails that were sent ahead of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day gave customers the chance to opt out of the messages if they wanted. The emails said that Mother’s Day may be difficult for some. You can skip our Mother’s Day emails.

Allowing customers to opt out of difficult content is a thoughtful way to personalize their communications. The purpose of the campaign is to build trust and loyalty with its customers. It resulted in a boost to brand awareness with multiple media outlets covering the email campaign.

The baby iswalz.

Baby-walz is a German brand that sells products for babies and young children. It is difficult to achieve personalized campaigns in this market due to the fact that a child’s information is closely protected.

In order to gather the data needed to drive personalization, Baby-walz had to prove the value that they would provide for customers. The campaign asked expectant mothers to share their child’s due date with the brand, which is considered zero-party data, as it is freely and knowingly provided by the customer. Mothers would get product recommendations that coordinated with their stage of pregnancy. It gave mothers peace of mind because they didn’t have to worry about forgetting anything as they prepared for a new baby, and it also gave them high-relevance because they weren’t being shown products for toddlers when they were still months away from giving birth. The average open rate for the campaign was 53.8%.

Personalization and e- commerce go hand-in-hand. It is what allows brands and retailers to stand out in a crowded landscape and to offer customers a reason to choose one brand over another. It should be the same thing. Retailers have been able to reach customers sooner and with more relevant content thanks to the proliferation of digital channels. It allows them to get repeat customers. The brands that are putting personalization at the center of their marketing efforts are the ones that will get ahead.