Consumers Buy More When Retailers Get Personal

Content Manager

Survey results from MyBuys and the e-tailing group reveal customer-centric marketing – the ability to engage consumers in one-to-one conversations across the customer lifecycle and all touch points – increases buyer readiness, engagement and sales activity, according to a press release from the e-tailing group.

A record 40% of respondents claim they buy more from retailers who comprehensively personalize the shopping experience across channels.

Results revealed that consumers increasingly reward customer-obsessed retailers.  Survey results showed buyer “readiness” requires finding the right product at the right place.  In addition, personalized promotional emails and personalized online advertising are top vehicles prompting consumers to purchase.

MyBuys and the e-tailing group last surveyed consumers in April 2012, and since then consumer awareness of personalization taking place jumped 25% and the impact of personalization on purchases also increased by 21% from personalized emails, 11% from website recommendations and 8% when experienced across channels, according to the press release.

Nearly 60% of consumers now indicate that personalized product recommendations make it easier to find the products they are most interested in and provide a valuable service.  More than half of consumers state website recommendations and emails personalized based on their past browsing and shopping behavior is “desirable to receive.”

The survey results revealed that given the right product at the right price, consumers become “confident and ready” to buy.  Consumers report however, when they leave websites without purchasing it is because they are still in the “research process” or found it hard to browse for the products they were interested in, according to the press release.

When consumers do abandon a website, Amazon and Google are a consumers next choice when searching for a product, with 60% of consumers going to Amazon and 42% going to a search engine such as Google and Amazon is often the top ranked result on Google, according to the press release.

According to MyBuys’ behavioral and performance information for more than 250 million shoppers across more than 400 retailers, customer-centric marketing has a significant impact on driving revenue, according to the press release.  This “big data” shows when customer-centric marketing is implemented across the channels, retailers realize 100% increase in purchase frequency, a 50% increase in average order value and 25% increase in conversion of cart abandoners to buyers.

Other improvements stemming from customer-centric marketing equate to delivering 25% increase in total online sales and 300% improvement in customer lifetime value.

MyBuys and the e-tailing group announced results in February on how personalized marketing across channels impacts shopper attitudes and buying behaviors. Over 1,100 consumers were examined for primary research, according to the release.  The survey was done in December 2012 of consumers who shopped online four or more times in the past year, spending $250 or more.