Louise TaylorGroceryShop 2022 ended on a high note with a robust discussion about the present and future of loyalty marketing. The hour long panel discussion emphasized the challenges retailers and brands face moving the needle with customers, the growing implications of omnichannel on loyalty, and how loyalty should be thought of as both a transactional relationship and emotional relationship with customers (the latter being more difficult).
Personalization is powerful. Done well, it can strengthen customer relationships. Done poorly, it can irritate consumers immensely. Yet avoiding personalization altogether is no longer an option; Instapage reports that 74% of customers feel frustrated if website content isn’t personalized.
When it comes to online retail experiences, personalization can achieve great things. The same Instapage research found that personalized promotions on website homepages influenced 85% of online shoppers to make a purchase. For personalized shopping cart recommendations, the figure jumped to 92%. But a good personalization strategy shouldn’t only focus on sales – it should focus on enhancing the customer experience, according to Northfork Head of Sales US Erik Drew Hopp. He states:
“Personalization is about providing the customer with relevant content. It’s making their shopping experience more enjoyable or more convenient. If you can deliver personalization that saves the customer time, you’re on the right path.”
Northfork combines recipe metadata with a customer’s shopping history to serve relevant recipes. Its tech can suggest recipes based on favorite products or meals. It can also focus on criteria such as waste reduction, price or organic ingredients. This all helps craft a personalized recipe shopping experience.
Flexibility is also key. A weekend meal might need to serve six instead of four. Customers may want to remove items they already have in the cupboard from ingredient lists. They may want to swap an ingredient for a different product, replacing chicken with tofu or an expensive cut of beef with a cheaper one.
“Recipe shopping solutions need to factor in all this and more,” continues Hopp. “There’s the technical side of personalization, but consumers also need to be able to change things themselves. That part of the process needs to be frictionless if the overall experience is to be a positive one.”
Making the shopping experience more personal also means serving recipes relevant to the customer’s last basket. For a more dynamic solution, Northfork can also recommend recipes mid-shop, with suggestions based on ingredients already in the shopper’s basket.
At every stage, personalization is about making recipe shopping more natural. It adapts to the customer’s needs and behaviors, saving them time, energy and money along the way. And this is what keeps them coming back for more.
Louise Taylor
