If you manage an e-commerce website, you know that one of the keys to success is contained in the ability to create a consistent, personalized and timely dialogue with your customers.We asked dozens of store managers what would be the “magic feature they would like”, one of those provocative questions like: if you could have a “magic” feature at the push of a single button what would it be?Among the most getten answers we received this one: “CREATE A DEDICATED PERSONAL SHOPPER FOR EACH USER“.It may actually seem like a somewhat trite answer, but in the end, since many of the respondents had answered something similar we wondered.
What exactly does a “Personal Shopper” do?
A good personal shopper, is that figure that in many retail chains, we find available to “VIP” customers (But not only).This shopping professional, when a customer enters the store:
1)Remembers the customerHisname, likes, sizes, preferences, last purchases.
2)Uses past experiencesOthercustomers have matched this product with …
3)Uses brand educationRecommended pairings, products to promote.
4)Offers customized promotionsBecauseyou are a loyal customer, we offer you an all day at 60%.
5)Accompanies the customer at the checkoutToavoid surprises or second thoughts, flanking her only at the checkout.Of course in this case the summary is perhaps extreme and does not honor the daily work that personal shoppers perform, but it is a reflection that wants to lead us to the core of the problem and therefore: “What does the customer expect from a modern e-commerce?“; this is the question that brands ask themselves on a daily basis.The answer is given by a recent research conducted by searchenginewatch where it appears quite evident that data(Or Big Data as it may be called) is at the center of a revolution that will change over the next few years digital communication.
If we add 12.7 percent of Data & Analytics with 11.1 percent of Marketing automation to 9.3 percent of Personalization and 5.7 percent of Experiential Marketing, we arrive at 38.8 percent, which identifies that the main trend among digital marketers (not only e-commerce) is to offer a personalized and rewarding experience to their users by systematically analyzing the data they collect (and we are not just talking about instrumental data here).
So: this 2016 began under the banner of the maturation of Big Data: no longer an ultimate goal (and a fashionable “keyword” in 2015) but a concrete means to achieve goals through personalized and consistent actions.
