The importance of product recommendations

E-commerce is a booming industry. And it’s only growing each year. But as it grows, so does the competition, which is why you need to run your business better than others.

This means two things. You need to:

1. Provide exceptional products, service, and/or prices.
2. Maximise each interaction, so you can optimise sales and make your business as profitable as possible.

These are not mutually exclusive goals, by the way. But, for a successful online business, they are the same.

And now, more than ever, one of the best ways to achieve these goals is to focus on the user experience with AI product recommendations.

Why? Because endless online stores chase finite customer attention, approaching things from the users’ perspective and tailoring features in keeping with their changing demands is the only way to grab their attention. This, in turn, significantly contributes to your online store’s ability to convert and retain customers. A true win-win.

Get personal and give shoppers what they want

We all like to be recognised for the individuals that we are. And that’s what the Exposebox product recommendation app is all about.

It practically reads site visitors’ minds, showing each shopper the products they are most likely to want or need. These can be products they’ve looked at in the past, products that complement ones they’ve already put in their cart, or products that match their taste.

Five benefits of showing personalised product recommendations on your website

 Are product recommendations worth your while? YES!

1. People who like recommendations buy more – Past studies about product recommendations showed that while only 7% of shoppers clicked on a recommendation, these same shoppers generated 24% of orders and 26% of total revenue. 
2. Recommended products drive sales – The conversion rate for visitors clicking on recommended products is 5.5X higher than for visitors who didn’t click.
3. Personalised recommendations make the prospect to purchase more likely –Personalisation increases the possibility of a prospect purchasing from you by 75%.
4. Customers return to sites with recommendations – 56% of customers are more likely to return to a site that offers product recommendations and a personalised shopping experience.
5. Product recommendations prove your professional value – As online shoppers are used to personalisation, they associate it with professionalism, so it’s an ideal way to show you’re a serious e-commerce site.

Areas of business recommendations will improve

As you can see, the advantages of product recommendations are huge! First of all, they show that you’re a site that’s up on technology, playing with the big boys like Amazon, and invested in providing an excellent interaction with your brand. More so, personalised recommendations instantly and significantly boost:

• Cross-sells are complementary or supplementary products that make sense to buy with an item a customer is either looking at or has added to the cart.
•  Upsells – Upsells come in two forms. The first is those little extras to tack on to a buy. Think about the candies and gum at the checkout counter at the supermarket, and you know what these are. Or, instead of selling something extra along the way, upsells can simply be a more expensive model of an item the customer is looking to buy.
•  Average order value (AOV) – Both upsells and cross-sells are effective ways to increase your average order value. That is the amount of money spent by customers on each order.
•  Customer engagement – Personalised recommendations create a true connection with customers, keeping them onsite longer, both browsing and buying. And since they get personal pleasure from the activity, they’re also far more likely to come back.
•  Customer experience – By delivering an excellent experience with your brand, you’re able to build the kind of customer loyalty that lasts a lifetime. Invaluable stuff! 

The artificial intelligence advantage

There is some pretty complicated artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) math behind the Exposebox product recommendation engine. These powerful algorithms work together to learn the behaviours of each site visitor. They then automatically use this data to segment, predict, and improve recommendations accordingly. So while product recommendations are great from the get-go, they actually improve in performance every day.

The longer you use the app, the more accurate your recommendations will be. This results in even higher conversion rates, not to mention increasingly more satisfied customers over the long haul.

Pages where you should show product recommendations

As for where you would like to display product recommendations, that’s entirely up to you and the strategic marketing plan that works for your business.

Here are a few placements to consider:

• Homepage– Shoppers landing on your homepage might not necessarily be there with the intent to purchase. You can easily convert casual traffic into sales by showing top deals, interesting offers, tempting discounts, or trending products.
• Category pages – By narrowing down product recommendations to a specific category or sub-category, you can help shoppers find what they’re looking for. 
• Product pages – Relevant recommendations on the product page offer a ‘next step’ in your shopper’s journey to keep them browsing on your site for longer. 
• 404 pages – Instead of displaying an ‘oops’ on a 404 page, you can optimise your conversions by showing relevant recommendations that lead back to products on your site.

Keep in mind; the system is flexible. In addition to choosing where you would like recommendations to appear, you can implement different strategies for different pages. That means you can use one strategy on one page and another strategy on other pages. That same flexibility extends to the look and feel of the recommendation display.

With lots of different layouts, the recommendation box can be customised to work perfectly with your brand. We will, be happy to find the right fit for you.

High-converting recommendation strategies

Recommendation strategies are different ways in which you can choose to recommend products. Once you define which strategies you would like to implement, our dynamic algorithm works for you and places products accordingly. You can choose between our most prevalent strategies that have proven to significantly increase engagement and sales, including:

• • • Related Products
    • Top Products
    • Recently Viewed
    • Most Popular
    • Popular in Category
    • Best Sellers
    • Trending Products
    • Upsell Products

For more information and personal guidance, contact our Professional Services team at support@exposebox.com.

Not yet an Exposebox customer? Download the app today.

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