Build Convincing Product Pages with E-Commerce Personalization

Build Convincing Product Pages with E-Commerce Personalization

Online retail is booming more than ever. In the USA, e-commerce sales increased by 30% since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. An unbelievable growth rate. The online sales grew significantly in a similar way in Germany, and there was barely a retailer who did not benefit from it. (E-Commerce Magazin, 2020). At the first sight, the development seems to be positive. A look behind the scenes, however, shows that the competition never sleeps.

In order to ensure that the visitors shop from the online retailer and not from the competition, everything has to be just right. The website design, usability, a high-quality and available product range, service, reliable payment processes and on-time delivery. Another important factor that is often overlooked is the optimization of product pages and to design them in an appealing way.

The importance of product pages in E-Commerce

The product page of an online shop contains all the required information and features of a product and helps the user to reach an informed buying decision. The product page is an inevitable part of the way to conversion, because from this page, the visitor adds the item into the shopping cart. In parallel to this, the page helps the shop owner to increase its sales and brand visibility.

In spite of the great importance of the product page, it is often overlooked among many online retailers, and it is often too general in terms of content and design. The layout, namely the structure of the product page, tends to look like this: one or more pictures of the product on the left side, a short product description and the shopping cart button. The customer experience is moderate.

Many E-Commerce companies have started to rethink their approach in the last months, while simultaneously initiated different measures to keep up with the stationary retail in terms of shopping experience in the future. However, the companies lacked the tools and methods to give recommendations to the customers to optimize this shopping experience in online retail.

Robert Weißgraeber, CTO & Co-Founder of AX Semantics on the challenge of product pages

Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon are the gatekeepers of customer relationships for online shops

The major search engines, Amazon and Apple, are the gatekeepers of classic online shops. This leads to the gatekeepers negatively affecting the E-commerce company's relationship with the customer. As an example, Amazon decides on the company's ranking in the product search. Additionally, online retailers have a lot of advertising costs on these platforms to acquire numerous customers. This leads to the following issue: The revenue of the online stores at Amazon & Co. will not increase as fast as the costs for the customer acquisition.

In order to compete against these gatekeepers and be successful in 2021, a positive relationship with the customers is essential. A trustworthy customer relationship leads to an increase in conversions on the product page.

Robert Weißgraeber, CTO & Co-Founder of AX Semantics about the gatekeepers and the importance of client relationships in e-commerce

The process of building client relationships during the buying process in the online shop

The process of building client relationships can be categorized into three phases: 1. Interest 2. Trust and 3. Relationship.

First, the online shop visitor should show interest in the online shop and the respective product, followed by trust building in order to carry out the purchase in this online shop. At the end of the buying process, the focus is on making the client return and wanting to buy again from the online shop. The online retailer must take a look at the relevant KPI's of the product page and optimize them, if possible, during each individual phase of building the client relationships.

In the “Interest” phase, for example, the bounce rate rinks and the conversion rate increases. Apart from the optimization of these KPIs, it is also important to ensure that the purchase is not abandoned, because this leads to particularly high costs.

Building the customer relationship in e-commerce with key figures 

Investing in advertisements during the buying process is useful only when the client buys from the online shop again. If the E-Commerce company uses Amazon and Co., the retailer has to pay 10 to 20% of the price to the major platforms by each purchase and additional advertising costs. This means that the profit margin for the retailer is very low.

Robert Weißgraeber, CTO & Co-Founder of AX Semantics about building customer relationships in the buying process

What E-Commerce entrepreneurs achieve with an optimized product page:

  • Positive presentation of the article: Is the picture convincing? Is the description complete? Are the delivery conditions clearly defined? How easy is the Customer Journey built? All these elements contribute to the image of the item, given by the product page.
  • Increased conversion: an optimized product page can help to generate additional purchases and increasing conversions.
  • Increased visibility of the online shop: the product page is an important gateway point in the webshop. If an internet user searches for a product using a search engine, he lands on the website through search engine optimized content and this leads to an increase in the visibility of the brand.

Digital mapping of buyer types

AX Semantics offers E-Commerce companies the possibility to digitally map customers typologies. The behavior of the online shop visitor during the buying process can be used to identify the current motivations of the customers. It is of utmost importance for the online retailers to design the content in the web shop in a manner that matches the visitor’s motivation and interests.

Example: A customer visits a department store in the stationary retail and plans to buy new cutlery. He takes a look at the tableware, takes it in his hand, feels the quality and receives advice from the sales staff regarding the product. The customer leaves the department store without purchasing and comes back again to the store one week later. The salesperson recognizes the customer from his last visit. He doesn't use the same arguments in the second sales talk, but changes them instead.

The identical process of the customer example of the stationary retails can be reproduced online. In the browser of the website, the following information about the online shop visitor can be determined:

  • Has the potential buyer opened several tabs of the same online shop with similar products?
  • Does the potential buyer visit the online shop for the first time?
  • Does the potential buyer open the article using a bookmark link and plans to buy the article directly?

AX Semantics´ content personalization software offers the possibility to automatically create different buying typologies descriptions.

Robert Weißgraeber, CTO & Co-Founder of AX Semantics about customer typologies

Small changes in the product description through personalization leads to an ideal customer experience

A high-quality usually uses highly optimized start pages, filter options and category pages. The product descriptions on the product page is used to provide the potential buyers all the relevant information and features of the product and the brand, in order to make them reach a well-developed purchase decision. Additionally, the product description builds the basis for Google visibility. If the online shop retailer implements Personalized Commerce on his product pages, there is the possibility that the user receives information about the advantages of the retailer by his first time visit. The new visitor may be acquainted with the online shop as a brand, but not with the online shop itself.

If the online store operator uses Personalized Commerce on its product pages, then there is a possibility that users will receive information about the benefits of the retailer when they visit for the first time. The new user may be familiar with the online store as a brand, but not with the online store itself. Therefore, the product description should answer the following question: Why should the prospective customer buy from this online store and not from the competitor? 

Including additional information in the product descriptions leads to more responses and convinces the prospect to buy, for example: a positive carbon footprint when shipping or pretty gift packaging. These adjustments in the text sound like a minor distinction from the original description. However, suppose you compare the decision-making in an online store and the supermarket. In that case, the customer usually inspects all the products on the shelf from top to bottom before deciding. The short-term decision usually depends on small things: Does the packaging have minor scratches or soiling? Is it the final product on the shelf? Most of the time, the customer decides on what he considers to be the "flawless" product. 

The store operator must also convey the impression of professionalism in online trade. This means that the personal motivation and interest of the user must be used. Small changes, e.g. customers being interested and personally addressed by the product description, have massive effects on the purchase decision.

Robert Weißgraeber, CTO & Co-Founder of AX Semantics talks about examples of personalized commerce on product pages

Optimization of product description through personalization - example of a wine retailer

A wine retailer has determined that a visitor has visited the online store twice or more, viewed various items but not yet added a product to the shopping cart. He had not visited the store for the last few days. This shows the online store operator that the product description was not relevant for the prospective customer and that an optimization of the product description in the form of personalization should be implemented. 

Example of a personalized and new generated product description: 

"Many wine lovers in southern Italy have noted with confidence that “Primitivo” has tended to become sweeter in recent years. (...) This “Primitivo” remains true to the old line. (...) The “Basta” would be a classic choice, or you can try one of the new “Primitivo types”."

Robert Weißgraeber, CTO & Co-Founder of AX Semantics uses the example of a wine retailer to explain when and how product pages should be personalized

 How Personalized Commerce works

How Personalized Commerce works

In order to turn generic product pages into personalized sales pitches, four steps need to be taken by the retailer.

1. Data Gathering

Once a user is on your site, behavioral data is collected (e.g. product visits, customer status, time & location). By storing personal data on-site only, no personal information of a user is transmitted anywhere.

2. Data Analysis

After the data gathering, it is analyzed in terms of behavior and psychographics. They serve as a basis for identifying the content target and generating unique and hyper-personalized content for the user. This is done by Metrics, an AX Semantics add-on that collects data and provides statistical analysis of content performance. 

3. Content Generation

Based on the evaluations and the content objective, AX Natural Language Generation software drafts and generates the personalized content.

4. Display Content

The onsite personalized text is displayed to the user.

Robert Weißgraeber, CTO & Co-Founder of AX Semantics explains how Personalized Commerce works

Increase conversions on product pages through ecommerce personalization

Personalized product pages address customer needs and answer relevant questions to reduce shopping cart abandonment. This makes it possible to help customers in making an informed purchase decision and convert them into buyers. Therefore the online retailer's main goal of increasing sales and conversions is supported by customized product pages.

AX Semantics offers a customer experience optimization tool that focuses on hyper-personalized customer targeting. Real-time user data is used for personalization, creating a unique and customized user experience. The software is linked to automated content generation and designs, while testing and optimizing the product page. It is essential to highlight that the product descriptions remain GDPR and CCPA compliant with this procedure. 

Sources

E-Commerce Magazin 2020

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