This time it really should be personal 

Personalisation of the eCommerce shopping experience is marketing to the individual and making browsing as seamless as possible, but the order fulfilment and delivery process should also be integrated into your strategy.

Research by the online sales platform, Shopify, shows that personalisation increases conversion rates by 10-15% and lifts customer satisfaction by 20% – and customer satisfaction is particularly important since businesses that increase their retention by a mere 5% see profit increase between 25 and 95%.

Sustainable growth, built around the customer, is particularly attractive since it’s between 5 and 25% more expensive to find, capture and convert new customers than it is to retain current ones.

Across the marketing mix, messages are increasingly personalised, with online offerings curated by browsing and buying history and order emails are personalised, as consumers continue their brand journey.

Yet delivering is the one place where an online brand physically connects with online customers, and they need to leverage this personal contact to create positive experiences.

Effective personalisation is defined by the way online retailers use the data they hold on customers’ likes and their preferences and this can be extended to delivery, to make personalisation an integral part of the entire shopping chain.

Recognising what the shopper is buying, where they are buying and their previous shopping history should allow the retailer to not just offer the right range of delivery options, but to also offer the best option without asking.

And delivery can become a marketing lever, that recognises loyal customers, by rewarding them with default premium delivery, or includes a personalised marketing device in the box, maybe with a complementary offer.

The package is what people first see and feel when their order arrives and it is the very first point of contact for new customers, which means the cheapest unbranded option should be given a miss.

Your branded packages should arrive damage-free and should be easy to open, with that personalised greeting, message and upsell/cross-sell offer.

When we pick an order our fulfilment team typically follows a five-step quality process that includes inspection, custom packaging (which for a garment might include pressing, folding, wrapping and placing into original packaging), order inserts, label application and despatch.

The Noatum Logistics’ fulfilment system integrates with your eCommerce platform to gather the insights needed for personalised collateral, so if the customer’s birthday is coming up, we could include a “Happy Birthday” message and a special discount code.

Our eCommerce vendors are increasingly delivering more than their customers’ orders, with personalised video messages, that are downloadable by QR code scan, to showcase merchandise and linked offers.

That personal connection is something that more brands are leveraging to create relevancy, foster loyalty, and ultimately boost their bottom line.