Gain Black Friday success through mCommerce and personalisation

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Gain Black Friday success through mCommerce and personalisation.

With the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend (27th – 30th November) around the corner, global eCommerce platform Kooomo advises retailers that mobile commerce, otherwise known as mCommerce and personalisation are key to maximising conversations and sales this cyber weekend.

With vast changes in the consumer landscape due to COVID-19, consumer expectations are at an all-time high, and personalisation is considered online retail 101. It’s estimated people spend approximately seven years of their lives on their phones[1] so it’s crucial that retailers wanting to be part of this ensure they are offering something deemed worthy by consumers. Consumers have attributed a lack of personalisation as one of the prime reasons they switch off from mobile sites[2], so to successfully connect with consumers, applying it is somewhat of a no brainer.

Ciaran Bollard, CEO at Kooomo, comments: “Mobile personalisation is a more specific use of data relating to demographics, interests, behaviours, life stage, location, time, etc. as a deep insight for enhancing and customising marketing messages across mobile devices. As with its title, retailers should remember that on this device, consumers are mobile - moving around, preoccupied and therefore much less likely to enter lots of information and need instant gratification.

“The more that can be implied from the consumer’s location and other phone information, the more likely consumers are to engage further, but it’s critical that privacy is considered here at the same time. Therefore, if you can present these touchpoints in a timely and relevant manner that is optimised for a small screen you are more likely you are to see conversions.”

With this in mind, Ciaran advises focusing on the following key areas:

Deep linking 

Deep linking is a straightforward means of personalisation, that really aids the “on the go aspect” of mobile shopping. It is simply a means of directing the customer to a specified location on your mobile site or app instead of taking them to the homepage.

This massively improves the user experience by creating a steady flow for the consumer from where they are to where they want to be. There is a little possibility of getting distracted midway and hence, deep links boost the chances of consumers completing the customer journey. 

Geotargeting

Location-based marketing or Geotargeting, allows marketers to segment their target market based on where their customers are or have been and deliver ads or content to them to make more relevant contact with them. Geotargeting begins when mobile phone users opt-in to share their location through their apps or search engines. If a brand wishes to serve an ad or push alert in real-time, they will have previously defined the locations that will trigger those actions when the consumer enters a pre-defined area.

Product recommendations

Personalised recommendations are based on user behaviour. These are items that have been frequently viewed, considered, or purchased with the one the customer is currently considering. If 50% of customers who buy a particular pair of jeans also buy a particular shirt to match, it makes sense to display this item on the product page.

The difference between desktop and mobile recommendations is the ability to target your consumer with push notifications. The great thing about push notifications is their flexibility - they can be used to share one particular personalised message at a time straight to your consumer, eliminating the worry of being lost to a sea of emails, promotions folders or spam. This kind of targeting can be particularly effective around shopping holidays such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas to encourage impulse purchases with flash sales and updates on what’s going out of stock - particularly if it’s previous purchases made by the consumer.

However, retailers should bear in mind that the right balance needs to be struck though as over 70% of push notification users classify too many interruptions as “Spam”[3]and can result in losing your audience.

Ciaran concludes: “mCommerce presents massive opportunities for retailers this Golden Quarter, but simply adding it to your channels of distribution is not enough. Brands need to get personal with their mobile messaging and ensure their customer experience (CX) is built on the existing relationship and convenience in order to provide a competitive customer journey.

“Consumers are savvier than ever and will be turned off by generic touchpoints that do not provide them with real value, or if they feel they are simply part of the masses. Remember there are more people online shopping than ever before, so going the extra mile and applying the techniques above can improve your customer experience and help you to retain customers that may be visiting your site for the first time during the Black Friday sales.”

_{[1] https://productiveclub.com/time-spent-life-activities/}

_{[2] https://instapage.com/blog/mobile-personalization}

_{[3] https://www.businessofapps.com/marketplace/push-notifications/research/push-notifications-statistics/}