A Daily Dose of Personalized Product Recommendations

If pre-holiday predictions ring true, you’re in great spirits about an increase in holiday sales over last year, especially marveling at your lift in ecommerce sales, and, in particular, those made from smart phones and tablets.  And, if your New Year’s resolution is to maintain the momentum, you should also be busy getting a plan in place to keep holiday shoppers engaged and spending in 2014.

An eTailing Group study found that more than three out of four online shoppers make additional purchases when presented with recommended products that match their personal preferences, so why not get creative with recommendations in your post-holiday campaigns to ensure a happy new year?  With some simple automation and dynamic content, personalized product recommendations can quickly and easily take even email blasts from ordinary to extraordinary.

Here are a few creative ideas for daily emails to get you started:

Social Saturday
According to Social Media Today, nearly half of U.S. online consumers have purchased based on merchandise they saw on Pinterest,and sending an email featuring your most pinned items in categories personalized by shoppers’ personal preferences and past purchases is a great way to boost both post-holiday sales and social interaction. A personalized most pinned product campaign will not only generate revenue and increase AOV, but will also lead to additional pins, expanding your reach and ultimately leading to even more sales.

Monday Markdowns     
Emails featuring special offers or discounts have some of the highest conversion rates, and you can make them even more profitable by simply personalizing them to each shopper with relevant product recommendations. Rather than blasting out emails about post-holiday sales, send a weekly campaign with new markdowns targeted to each shopper by category or brand.

Top Sellers Tuesday
Everyone loves a winner, so turn extra holiday inventory faster by promoting top seasonal sellers in a weekly email campaign. Personalize messages by featuring items targeted by shopper preferences and you’ll likely not even need to discount.

What’s New Wednesday
Help shoppers beat the January blues with an email campaign presenting new products, and email blast blues by personalizing the content for shoppers based on preferred price point, brand or category to keep it extra relevant and compelling.

Favorites Friday
Featuring products with the highest customer ratings and reviews is always a good idea, and it’s even better when those products are personalized to shoppers’ preferences and past purchases. With automation and dynamic content, even daily email blasts can be personalized, keep customers interested and engaged, and ultimately, purchasing.

Ross Kramer is the CEO of Listrak