Deliver the Personalized Mobile Shopping Experiences that Customers Expect

Are you delivering the personalized shopping experience that modern customers expect from mobile applications and web sites?

Personalize and enhance user’s stopping experiences in exciting new ways | Photo: TechStage (Flikr)

Businesses around the globe are missing out on millions of dollars in revenue due to their failure to personalize the online and offline shopping experiences according to Webloyalty.  Their research goes on to state that more than 50 percent of those surveyed responded that a personalized shopping experience would motivate them to shop at a retailer. Further, Guy Chiswick, Managing Director, Webloyalty Northern Europe, stated that “personalization is the future of online shopping”.

However, their research also found that a full 26 percent of respondents replied that they had never received a personalized offer. Clearly indicating a gap between what customers want and what retailers are giving them with their online and mobile programs,

Personalized shopping experiences are well within the reach of most businesses due to the availability of affordable, high quality iPhone application developers and Android application developers around the globe.

With mobile technology more accessible than ever before, businesses have access to a wealth of opportunity when it comes to personalizing shopping experiences. With beacons or other location-based campaigns, businesses can personalize and enhance their shoppers’ experiences in exciting new ways that can propel sales.

Backing these numbers up, in another recent survey published by Merkle Inc., 46 percent of shoppers under 50 stated that they would like personalized offers for in-store purchases on their mobile phones. Paul Schottmiller, senior vice president of strategy, retail and consumer goods for Merkle, went on to state that “Consumers expectations are high and retailers have never had more options for using technology to deliver differentiated customer experiences.”

Personalization promotes customer loyalty, and loyalty is just as valuable (if not more so) than attracting new customers. Efforts to retain and increase sales from a businesses existing customer base can pay sizable dividends.

The exciting thing about personalization is that not only will customers be more loyal, but that you will find that they are willing to pay for personalization as well. Based on research by RightNow, 86 percent of consumers would be willing to pay up to 25 percent more for better customer experiences.

With data collection easier than ever before, consumers have come to expect retailers to know what they want without even telling them. Most consumers know that modern retailers have that capability and expect it from their shopping experience. Most consumers aren’t surprised by this ability to collect this information, and in fact, most opt in to programs and encourage it so that retailers can personalize their shopping experiences. In fact, according to MyBuys research, 78 percent of consumers are willing to allow retailers to use information from their in-store purchases to create more personalized experiences whenever they shop.

With mobile growing so rapidly and entrenching itself so deeply in the fabric of how we shop, failure to act on the opportunities available to marketers today would be short-sighted.

Photo: http://bit.ly/1Ib6alw