We’re all big fans of personalization. One classic example that never fails to go out of style is the quintessential Starbucks cup. Whether or not the baristas get your name right is a different debate altogether, but you cannot deny the fact that there is a certain charm that makes customers feel valued.

“Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” - Dale Carnegie. Personalization and the tactic of using a person’s name aren’t exactly new. However, it was most prevalent in the offline world as compared to the online one.

As the internet landscape became more cut-throat and customer acquisition costs skyrocketed, personalization made its way to ecommerce stores and websites. Today, every online store has some sort of personalization program to convert customers into loyal repeat buyers. And it’s working.

You might be wondering how you can personalize your website, whether or not it will be beneficial and what are the best website personalization tools that can come to your aid. Let’s find out!

What is Website Personalization?

Website personalization is the process of creating a unique experience for each visitor based on their needs and behavior. It’s a way to tailor content to specific individuals so they have an easier time finding information, quickly getting through the checkout process, or investing in the right products.

Amongst the vast sea of information available to users today, personalization has the power to cut through the noise and make a real impact on the buying journey.

According to research from Salesforce, 75% of business buyers expect personalized experiences, to anticipate their individual needs, and provide relevant suggestions.

The Benefits of Website Personalization

You've got a beautiful-looking website, but it still comes down to the experience your visitors have. If they encounter unnecessary obstacles while they're on your site and every step along the way, their return rate, and lifetime value drop drastically. By formulating a well-thought-out and fully personalized website, you encourage users to stick around for longer. Let’s take a look at some benefits of personalization in detail.

Doubles conversion rates

Personalization means using the right ingredients to bake the product of your own liking. It means taking into consideration preferences and information that you have on hand and reshaping it to give users exactly what they want from their digital experience. When you personalize content, you're offering a more meaningful user experience, thereby increasing engagement and conversion metrics.

Boosts repeat purchases

Personalization is one of the best solutions to boost repeat purchases. It’s one thing to develop a good shopping experience when users are browsing your website, but it’s another to get them to come back and make it their primary shopping destination. When you can personalize each individual user’s experience, they’re more likely to be loyal customers. Your personalized site will also encourage shoppers to start shopping more often with you and increase loyalty.

A recent study conducted by Twilio Segment highlighted the fact that 49% of consumers said they would likely become repeat buyers if offered a personalized experience by a retail brand.

Get better quality leads

Personalized content helps you attract leads with a higher chance of converting. Personalization helps you send the right message at the right time to get the lead excited and qualified. Personalization on websites also helps your sales team save unnecessary time spent on chasing cold leads.

Increases time spent on the website

With a fleeting attention span and increased competition, it would be a wonder to capture your user's attention and retain them on your website for a longer period of time. While difficult, it’s not impossible. It’s human psychology to take interest in things that matter the most to us. The best way to increase the time spent on your website is through personalization. Provide clear, high-value content that they’re interested in, show them things they’re looking for, and then make it easy for them to buy.

Lowers bounce rate

A high bounce rate can be a problem for several reasons. Your site might be too hard to navigate, there could be too many distractions or the content might simply not resonate with the users which can be bad for your search engine ranking. It is important to note that personalization has the power to reduce bounce rate by 20-30%. A low bounce rate, on the other hand, means that you are creating a helpful, welcoming experience for your visitors that will lead to more engagement and therefore better qualified leads.

How to Personalize Your Website

The advent of web personalization is one of the most important developments in the history of web marketing. The ability to directly speak to each individual visitor versus just receiving static data allows us to tailor what and how visitors see, click, and ultimately purchase. Site content, browsing history, device type, demographics, location, and historical data are all used to create a more personalized experience and help evoke positive feelings. Let’s take a look at some of them in detail.

Create buyer personas

The best way to understand the impact of personalisation on websites is to create personas - fictional users that represent a broad segment of real people, differentiating features that they have in common from those that are unique.

Pay special attention to how these personas use your site (such as click patterns), what products they are buying, and how much time they are spending online. This provides a better understanding of how personalized campaigns can benefit specific audiences.

Also Read: Personalize Marketing Campaigns by Tracking Anonymous Visitors

Understand visitors’ intent

Understanding your target market’s intent is important so you can recommend the right products or services to them. Your visitors’ intent or goal for visiting your website will be different.

The reason they click on your website and the keywords they type into the search bar are two important aspects of understanding their intent. Personalization becomes easy when you correctly determine why they visit your website and what they want.

Map user’s journey

A user’s journey is the most powerful tool that you can use to understand your audience. By mapping out the user's lifecycle and behavior on your site, you can collect data like where they spend the most time or which link they click on. You can then find patterns in this data to improve your user experience.

Identify the type of device used

Your visitors use different types of devices to access your website and so they have different motivations. The different types of devices can be mobile phones, tablets, desktops, or laptops. With this in mind, you can tailor your site experience depending on what device they’re on.

Mobile devices are a different beast. If a visitor is using one, you should prioritize search results for them and recommend products that would be more likely to be searched by them. Studies infact prove that 79% of smartphone users have made a purchase online using their mobile device. Hence the type of device being used is worth taking into consideration.

Top 4 Website Personalization Tools

There are several ways to collect and track data on your website. We’ve narrowed down the best website personalisation tools that can help you get the most out of your efforts.

riyo.ai - A sales and marketing tool

💳Pricing: 30-day free trial, paid plans starting at $XX/month.

⭐Rating: 4.8/5 on G2

riyo.ai is an intuitive and user-friendly tool that lets you collect and analyze information to create an exceptional user experience. With a combination of powerful tracking features including its real time chat, custom filters, and a vast library for pulling in relevant information, it makes it easier to collect data about your website visitors and use that information to personalize your website.

riyo has everything you need forms, filters, modals, bars, and sliders to turn your traffic into revenue.

Image Source

Proof

💳Pricing: 14-day free trial, paid plans starting at $29/month.

⭐Rating: 4.4/5 on G2

Proof is an easy-to-use tool to personalize your site or landing page. Simply enter your website address, pick different templates and upload images along with a few text boxes and you can get started. You can preview what the final result will look like, add more customizations and save it as a draft.

Sleeknote

💳Pricing: 7-day free trial, paid plans starting at $49/month.

⭐Rating: 4.3/5 on G2

Sleeknote is among the top site personalization tools to help you easily and quickly create targeted, personalized experiences for your audience. Sleeknote allows users to choose from pre-made templates, format the experience however they like, and track conversions.

Personyze

💳Pricing: 7-day free trial, paid plans starting at $49/month.

⭐Rating: 4./5 on G2

Personyze helps you turn more visitors into customers by customizing the content and products that you show to prospects from their web browsers to in-store experiences. It leverages behavioral targeting and machine learning to deliver the best-personalized experiences for your customers.

Conclusion

The internet is a competitive landscape, and your business can’t afford to be off the radar. By personalizing your website, you can ensure that your visitors feel valued. Personalization is a great way to keep visitors engaged. By taking the time to distinguish yourself from competitors, you will optimize the experience of your visitors, increase their value and improve conversions.

FAQs

Why is it important to personalize your website?

If you want to increase your chances of success, it’s important to personalize your website. A personalized digital experience will create a memorable and customized customer experience that builds trust, increases brand loyalty, and improves conversion rates.

What is the difference between website personalization vs customization?

Customization is a process by which the end user can customize, modify, or change the way they interact with a website. Personalization is mostly handled by the company to fit the user's needs.

What are some of the common challenges of website personalization?

Complying with privacy policies, ethically collecting data, performance, and scalability are some of the real challenges that marketers undergo when attempting website personalization.

What are some examples of real-life website personalization?

“Inspired by your wishlist” or “we think you might like this” are too common phrases you must have encountered when shopping on Amazon. Netflix, Spotify & Amazon are among the top companies leveraging website personalization to the fullest.