How does UX personalize?

Introduction

Creating a personalized user experience is essential for businesses in today’s dynamic digital age. In this write-up, we’ll discuss personalization in UX, its types, importance, use cases, and best practices. Personalization will help you build trust, authority, fans, leads, and conversions.

Personalized marketing builds empathy, trust, and loyalty, which are all components of building an impactful business. It can differentiate you from laggards and establish you as a leader.

As a result of personalization, brands become more human. Personalization enables customers to express their gratitude.

• Customers are known and understood by the business
• The business prioritizes its customers

Email is one of the most common examples of personalization. According to eMarketer, emails with personalized subject lines receive 26% more opens than those without.

Your wishlist is waiting for you, Juan.” Example of a personalized subject line: “Juan, your wishlist is waiting for you.”

Personalized videos are yet another example of Netflix’s commitment to personalization. Features such as “Top Picks for [Name]” and “Because you watched [Video Title]” allow users to select videos suited to their interests.

There are other brands that are doing the same, such as Nike, Spotify, and Starbucks.

It is essential that brands collect and analyze data to understand the needs, preferences, and expectations of their target audiences.

A detailed explanation of personalization will be provided in this article.

Personalization - what does it mean?

Customer experience is the process by which businesses tailor customer journeys and experiences to each customer’s needs and preferences. In addition to a website, a brand may also have an app. Regardless of how customers interact with the brand, their needs must be understood and taken into account.

Marketing personalization is not a trend; it’s a tsunami.” — Avi Dan

The business scales upon personalization as the business revolves continuously around the customer. 93% of B2B leaders say this practice has increased revenue for their companies.

Customization vs. Personalization

A product can be personalized or customized to suit the tastes of the customer who uses it.

Content is tailored differently in the two scenarios:

Customers experience the best customer service when the product provider uses data analytics and makes data-driven assumptions.

The brand takes charge in personalization and makes calculated decisions that benefit the user.

Personalized Netflix recommendations based on a user’s watch history and greeting by first name.

The customer chooses from a range of options to tailor their user experience to their particular needs.

With customization, the user is in charge and makes their own decisions.

Users are able to customize their profiles by changing profile pictures, setting different profiles for different users, and even setting maturity settings to limit certain content on Netflix.

In addition to the previous example, here’s another that helps make the distinction between customization and personalization:

Personalization types

Personalization can take three forms:

1. A clear indication of who you are

Users’ information is used to personalize content.

There is no assumption or conjecture in this information, which is a trustworthy source of information.

As an example:

• Inquiries
• Filling out forms
• Views of the past few days
• History of purchases

2. Personalized implicitly

In this personalization process, information about a user’s behavior is obtained by analyzing his or her product usage patterns, which further helps with predictive analysis.

As an example:

• Previous purchases are used to recommend products

3. Personalization based on context

The customer’s pre-existing data is used for this type of personalization.

Users are more likely to take action when relevant results are displayed based on pre-known data.

As an example:

• Dates and locations
• Data from devices

Personalization is important

Forrester research suggests that marketers are increasingly focusing on personalization in order to enhance customer centricity and engagement. Therefore, using personalization to attract and convert potential customers has become a key strategy for CMOs.

By personalizing a brand’s website or app, they aim to meet the needs of their users without asking them for it. By doing so, the customer spends less time and effort seeking out what they want, enhancing their satisfaction with technology as a whole.

The right personalization strategy for a business can lead to an “aha” moment for the customer.

• Personalization is an integral part of digital experiences, according to 75% of business leaders
• The number of consumers who are satisfied with personalized digital experiences with brands has increased from 52% to 58%.
• A personalized shopping experience has been found to increase repeat sales by 60% of consumers

Examples of personalization

Businesses can double their revenues by integrating personalization and existing technology.

To prove how personalization is helping brands, here are a few examples:

1. Usage reports sent weekly by Grammarly

One of the many features that make Grammarly unique is its robust algorithm that helps users catch their grammar mistakes. It is a popular mobile application that helps users improve their writing skills. In addition to weekly reports, Grammarly lets users see how their writing has improved.

This feature shows the number of words written, any errors made, and which mistakes were made frequently. Customers can use these reports to improve their products.

2. Customer feedback is being incorporated into Netflix and Hulu shows

The recommendation of new shows and movies is popular on Netflix and Hulu. Create targeted recommendations that the user can like, dislike, or love in order to provide the most accurate recommendations. Using this data, the streaming apps then provide users with curated recommendations for movies and TV shows.

3. Online shopping at John Lewis is enhanced by AEM

In recent years, John Lewis wanted to enhance the online shopping experience of its customers. Established over 150 years ago, it is one of the UK’s leading retail brands. According to Shane Chapman, John Lewis’ Digital Asset Manager, customers who shop both in-store and online become more loyal to the company and have a higher lifetime value.

Through the integration of immersive media, including video and relevant digital content, he maximized the shopping experience across channels.

Personalized user experiences were delivered by John Lewis using AEM Assets

AEM assets allow website visitors to click on a product image and change colors, upholstery, and other factors dynamically, which improves user experience.

John Lewis could create an eCommerce customer experience that was seamless with AEM added to its business model.

As a result, John Lewis was able to create a powerful brand marketing message: Trust. Potential customers were able to see how their purchases would look. By delivering an eCommerce customer experience that was seamless and pleasant, conversion rates increased.

4. Your favorite creators are just a click away with Spotify Wrapped

Personalized music recommendations have made Spotify a unique player in the industry, but Spotify Wrapped went one step further last year.

Using Spotify Wrapped, listeners were able to see how much time they spent listening to music, what music they liked most, and who had the most time listening to at the end of the year 2022 based on their personal preferences. Over 40,000 music creators, including Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Shania Twain, sent them personal messages that made the list even more special.

Social media users and music creators around the globe talked about the feature so much that millions of people talked about it.

A great example of how personalization can make a brand stand out is Spotify Wrapped, which will be an excellent strategic move by Spotify.

The role AI and machine learning play in delivering personalization

When websites show irrelevant content to consumers, 74% get frustrated with them. Therefore, content needs to learn and adapt.

Content learns and adapts through dynamic personalization.

Data analysis enables a brand to tailor its user experience based on the characteristics, behaviors, and attributes of its users. With dynamic personalization, data like demographics, geolocation, behavior, and device are used to predict potential customers, their needs, and buying habits.

Dynamic personalization relies on machine learning because it uses algorithms, filters, and analytics to understand a user’s typical behavior.

Algorithms used are:

• An algorithm that doesn’t rely on the data of the customers is called a basic algorithm
• The use of customer data in advanced algorithms

In order to tailor customer journeys based on user information, dynamic personalization can be used. For example, Google notifies users of their upcoming time commitments (e.g., travel reservations, appointments, interviews).

Practices for personalization

It’s estimated that 85% of businesses offer personalized experiences to their customers, but only 60% of consumers agree.Twillio reports.

It is essential to invest in personalization in the right way to make efforts count, as brands are actively investing in it, but their efforts need to catch up as they are unable to meet customer expectations.

Consider these best practices for personalization:

1. A Responsible Approach to Gathering User Data

Using first-party data is the first step towards personalization. Here are four ways to collect this data:

• When you sign up, we collect data
• Post-signup, collect explicit (direct) data from users
• Provide personalization based on implicit data (such as user behavior)
• Target users through email marketing by using email

According to Twilio’s Segment State of Personalization report, asking for the user’s consent is an ethical way to collect first-party data.

According to 69% of consumers, personalization is okay as long as the data is sourced directly from them.

2. Personalize your website

Utilize explicit, implicit, and contextual personalization after gathering and analyzing a user’s information.

As an example, Spotify offers a wide selection of music users can listen to, and their Personalized User Experience is based on Big Data, AI, and Machine Learning.

• Based on its 365 million active users worldwide, Spotify logs over 100 billion data points daily.
• Their algorithms and machines use the data points they have acquired to listen to music and extract insights that greatly impact their business operations and listeners’ experiences.

With big data, AI, and machine learning, Spotify was able to provide deep personalization to 40 million people in its first year through its Discover Weekly playlist.

Listeners who subscribed to Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist each week received a personalized playlist based on their preferences that included music they hadn’t heard before but were likely to enjoy.

3. Geolocation enabled

In order to provide more targeted personalized content to the channel’s visitors, geolocation targeting is one of the most important factors.

It was Marie Curie’s goal to motivate people on high streets to collect funds for the charity through its Great Daffodil Appeal, one of its most extensive campaigns. Using geolocation data, the campaign matched each supporter with the collection sites database, pulling a map of the supporter’s nearest collection into the email in real time.

A high skew to online registrations was the result of the campaign each year.

4. Take advantage of push notifications

Although push notifications may seem annoying to users, they are an excellent way to keep the brand’s name fresh in their minds and inform them of new features.

In the past, extra, Saudi Arabia’s top consumer electronics retailer, used retargeting emails to reach out to mobile users. When they switched to a push notification campaign, however, sales went up by 100% year-on-year, with a dramatic improvement in the customer experience.

5. The user can continue where they left off

When a user exits Netflix and then logs back in, the app will save the user’s position in a program or movie if they can’t finish it.

It is also common for eCommerce website apps to display what the user browsed on an earlier visit. Some brands even take it one step further by sending notifications when a product is added to the cart.

By taking care of all the details, the users don’t need to keep track of their journey on every website and app.

Delivering personalized experiences with Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs)

Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs) optimize customer interactions from beginning to end and provide a personalized user experience. Through real-time, personalized content across all channels, a powerful DXP nurtures potential customers and improves their experience throughout their journey by combining customer data, analytics, and marketing automation.

We, at Net Solutions, have been helping global brands with digital experience design and platform development since 2009. If you are looking to build a digital experience platform to offer personalized experiences to your customers, we can help.

They include Captiv8, a brand powered by artificial intelligence that helps companies like Honda and Dr. Pepper reach millennials by connecting with internet influencers. From their logo to their marketing website, Net Solutions helped them develop a unique brand.