PRODUCT PERSONALIZATION: HOW TO SKYROCKET YOUR SALES

September 14, 2021

The Rise of Product Personalization

As online businesses continue to grow, there are always evolving trends to watch and keep in mind. One trend rising rapidly in the online marketplace is product personalization.

Personalization and curation are becoming more important to the consumer. The State of Fashion Report discovered that personalization is the number 1 trend in 2018 and more and more customers are expecting brands to adjust. As many as 70% of consumers now expect there to be an element of personalization in their ecommerce experience.

Some of this is due to a shift in consumer values. Research shows the average consumer values individuality and wants to be unique in style and fashion. They are looking for ways to show off and turn to internet searches and online stores with increasing regularity.

The expansive nature of social media is much to blame for the shift. Gen Z-ers and Millennials are constantly sharing online and want to stand out with their self-image, values, and style. They also want to connect with businesses and purpose-driven brands whose social media they relate to and are consistent with their personal values. Ecommerce businesses that tailor the experience to this highly engaged audience will flourish.

There has also been a huge rise in personalized gift-giving. Consumers are looking for specialized and personal items for big holidays and experts believe personalized gift-giving will be a 31 billion dollar industry by 2021. More and more, customers are seeking gifts highlighting the thought, energy, and time spent in selecting the gift. Large retailers are struggling to keep up with this emerging trend and ecommerce print on demand businesses are capitalizing on their ability to adjust quickly.

According to Deloitte’s research customers are not only looking for customization and personalization, but 34% stated they didn’t feel standard products or services would meet their needs. Their study shares other reasons why customers are looking for personalization.

How Ecommerce Has an Advantage with Product Personalization

While many large corporations have taken notice of the rising trend of personalization, they often come up against roadblocks when it comes to execution. Mass production costs are a huge barrier and they are unable to pivot as quickly with trends such as personalization. It requires a great deal of adaptation and change in strategy involving production and manufacturing.

The rise of print on demand businesses has helped this growing trend immensely. There’s no need to stock a huge amount of product your business may or may not be able to sell. This gives many ecommerce businesses the ability to be more flexible and take advantage of emerging trends.

In a world driven by the consumer, ecommerce platforms built using data and artificial intelligence, many are creating an element of personalization in an otherwise impersonal experience. Allowing customers to pick and choose everything from colors, to proudly displaying causes or hobbies they love in a design they chose, is highly successful in the changing world of ecommerce. Customers are willing to pay the price. One study shows consumers are willing to pay a 20% premium for the ability to customize and personalize products.

How to grow your brand with product personalization

When it comes to personalization, many online business owners think of monogrammed towels, bathrobes or even wedding gifts. However, there are many other ways to personalize and customize products in ways that appeal to customers. There’s huge potential to grow your brand.

A Bain & Company survey conducted in 2013 found that customers who had been able to purchase personalized products

• Made purchases 22% more often
• Spent 15% more time on sites that offered personalization
• Purchase price on average was 28% higher than on sites without personalization

Any company can sell a Tshirt. Not every company can sell a Tshirt the customer created themselves.

It’s important to understand your audience and know what they are looking for before offering personalization. The more research you do about your niche, the more likely you’ll be to have success with this growing trend. Personalization offers even more opportunities for businesses that know and understand their niche.

Niched products for niched audiences = success

Social media loves product personalization

It’s no secret that people love to follow their favorite brands on social media. Many of the big brands run influencer campaigns and actively seek for customers to review and talk about their products online. Studies show that customers who purchase a personalized product are more likely to engage with the brand, spend more time on the website, and are more likely to be loyal.

For small online businesses looking to grow, it’s a huge opportunity to appeal to consumers. Social media campaigns should be geared toward showcasing customers who are happy with a product they were able to personalize in your store. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.

Personalization also enhances the customer experience. They are more likely to be satisfied with the end product when they have more say over what they are purchasing. Happy customers are also more likely to share their product or tag the company on social media. The shareability factor for personalized products is huge.

The age of social media has also introduced the ability for customers to curate their own content. Pinterest is an excellent example. Customers will spend a great deal of time searching for ideas and products, collecting their favorites on boards they return to later. Many popular Tshirt brands have used this as an advantage and spend ad budget marketing personalized products on Pinterest. A customer who finds inspiration in a product similar to what they want to create will likely purchase from the company they discovered on the platform.

How to market products for personalization

Any time an online business begins to offer a new product or service, marketing is the best way to let your audience know. Marketing campaigns on social media or email campaigns are popular avenues for informing your audience you have something new for them to purchase. Here are a few ideas to consider as you begin offering personalization to your audience.

Gifts

Since personalized gifts are a popular trend, consider creating sample designs for customers to help them think about ways to personalize a gift for an upcoming anniversary, birthday, or other special occasions. Marketing messages should be geared towards encouraging customers to purchase the perfect product for the occasion you are highlighting.

For example:

Give your mom the perfect gift this Mother’s Day!

Surprise your bride with a necklace created just for her!

Pop Up Feature

Customers may not know they have an option for personalization in your store. Consider using a pop-up and tie in gift-giving or maybe even creating something personal for themselves. How ever you choose to use a pop-up feature, make sure your message is clear and concise and shows your customer a sample product they might purchase.

Upsell

Upselling personalization is a fantastic way to increase ticket size. The pop-up feature is one way to upsell, but most upsells happen during the checkout process. Consider showing other products they could purchase with the same design, or simply encourage them to create one for a friend or relative who would love a gift. It’s always easier to sell to a customer you already have than to find a new one.

Email

Email is an incredibly powerful tool for your ecommerce business. Your email list consists of past customers who you’ve already won over, so why not encourage them to return when you add new products or features such as personalization? Consider running a special or holiday-themed campaign and send out reminder emails to your audience.

Be sure to have an abandoned cart email ready to go for customers who don’t complete a purchase. It’s a quick way to win back your customers and remind them of the value you provide.

Some quick tips for an awesome abandoned cart email include:

1. Send more than 1 email (up to 3)
2. Create a killer subject line for more opens
3. Remind them of the awesome products they left behind
4. Make sure your CTA is strong and requires action
5. Try using an incentive to draw them back

Always test different messages and stick with the winning strategy. It may change over time, and that’s ok too. Perfecting your marketing strategies takes time, testing, and trying again!

Design Ideas

Many of the designs that sell on GearLaunch fit the category of product personalization. You’ve probably seen ideas that fit one of these concepts.

• Never underestimate a ____ who loves _____ (gender/identification)
• Legends are born in ____ (month)
• ____ is where my story begins (location)
• Never mess with ____ blood (last name)
• _____: noun super cool awesome person (name)

All of these can be simplified with personalization. All you do is set up a single design, input a text area for the buyer to enter their content and market a single campaign!

What are the benefits for sellers?

Offering product personalization is a huge advantage for online sellers. It not only provides more avenues for potential revenue but allows sellers to increase cart size by offering this feature across many different products. Customers love being able to create something that really speaks to them and it becomes a personal experience which is an added value for consumers.

Other added benefits for sellers include:

• Massively decreases the number of campaigns sellers need to set up.
• Simplifies the analytics on all campaigns using personalization.
• Decreases the number of ads a seller needs to set up.
• It allows sellers to capture more buyers by simplifying their catalog and widening the pool of people they can sell to.
• Captures buyers that don’t have common names.

What are the benefits for buyers?

The benefits for buyers are fairly simple. They want products they create with their own ideas or family names. They want to purchase meaningful items for special occasions, special gifts, or any other number of events personal only to them.

Other added benefits for buyers include:

• Buyers can find and buy what they want without sifting through so many campaigns.
• Buyers with more unique names will definitely get what they want.
• Buyers can make the purchase truly theirs by editing to make the base design exactly what they want.

What you need to know to start using product personalization with GearLaunch

Personalization allows your buyers to type in their name, birthday, or other custom text into the blank fields to make it fun and personal. We’ve designed personalization to be simpler and easier to use than our competitors! Check it out below!

First, sellers will need to follow the steps to create a personalizable campaign.

Step 1: Click the button “convert to personalizable.”

Step 2: Adjust the location, color, font, and default text of the personalizable text box.

Step 3: Click ‘Finish’ and view the customer experience. When a new customer comes to your store, they will see something similar to what is pictured below (dependent on your design).

Customers will be able to click on the “Personalize and Add” button and begin to experiment with making the design truly personal.

Once they are satisfied with the end design, they simply “Add to Cart” and complete the checkout process. It’s a simple process for Sellers AND Buyers.

Some other awesome features you’ll find with GearLaunch are:

• You can use the same set and apply to ALL products you’ve come to know and love on the GearLaunch platform. Just set up personalization on 1 product and watch it appear on all others in your campaign!
• We are the only platform where Buyers can type directly on the product and see their text appear before their eyes. The buyer’s custom text automatically scales to fit the design.  This experience is much more fulfilling than filling in boxes and then hitting “apply.” (Buyers often frustrated by this process, or are confused if they forget to update the image.)
• Buyers can edit their personalization after purchase! Made a Typo? No problem. Just contact our CS team within 3 hours of purchase to make edits.
• Speedy fulfillment: Our buyer personalized products are printed with the same speed that our normal products are! There’s no extra time involved to personalize a product.
• It’s free for both sellers and buyers!

Conclusion:

Personalization is an exciting new opportunity for sellers with GearLaunch. It is a new way to increase ticket size and increase your overall revenue. It’s something customers are looking for in their ecommerce experience. It also:

• Builds brand awareness – Stay ahead of the competition with this awesome feature many of your competitors aren’t offering.
• Creates loyalty – Happy customers love returning when they found EXACTLY what they wanted.
• Attracts new customers – Now that you know customers love personalization, you’ll attract those looking to stand out and be unique.
• Boosts revenue – Wait, we already mentioned this awesome benefit. It’s true!

Get started with personalization and watch your sales soar!

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