For our new blog series, we’re asking our trbo colleagues what their favorite feature is in the trbo tool. Our personalization, segmentation and dynamic segment specialist Minea finds personalized product recommendations particularly exciting and gives us some insights into how to make the most of this feature.
1. Which trbo feature do you enjoy implementing?
The feature I’m most excited about implementing is personalized recommendations. Once everything is set up correctly, the campaign runs on its own, always showing the user relevant products based on their preferences. However, to make the page entry particularly prominent without preparing various graphics, I like to use our Dynamic Affinity Inpage template. This element was just released recently and has a quick implementation time.
2. Can you describe the functions in more detail? Where can retailers integrate recommendations on their website and what opportunities does this give them?
Both measures benefit from the user preferences analyzed by the algorithm. This means that if a user is interested in certain categories or brands, it gets reflected in the respective dynamic segment. If the affinity can’t be built up further because the customer becomes interested in something else, it is then dismantled to reflect the change. All in all, the whole thing is dynamic and always up-to-date because it’s based on the current preferences and interests of the user.
trbo recommendations can be integrated in many different places. I recommend interacting with the user as soon as they enter your website, which means putting a lot of focus on the homepage and product detail pages. You can also should recommendations on 404 pages, which can help to nudge the user back on track to their customer journey.
The Dynamic Affinity Inpage template, on the other hand, is most useful on the homepage. It shows returning users recommendations based on their previous interests, but also shows new users, who don’t have any known preferences yet, which top categories might interest them for a fast and easy start.
3. Why do you like these functionalities so much?
These particular functions are true all-rounders for me. The dynamic segments have to be created first, of course, but there is no maintenance required afterwards. That’s why I find these measures particularly useful for any store that wants to personalize their online shopping experience.
4. Let’s say an online merchant wants to implement recommendations on their website. What would you advise them to do before implementation?
As with any feature, you need to consider what you intend to achieve with the new campaign and how that success can be measured. The effect is usually best measured using an A/B or multi-variant test. To get more performance data, you can also conduct an evaluation with your preferred performance analytics tool.
5. Is this option a classic favorite or do you think its impact is underrated?
For me, as a personalization specialist, it is an absolute classic feature, but I think that the topic of “personalization” is still very much underestimated. Many shops end up focusing more on promotion and other measures that have been proven successful in the past. Website personalization often falls by the wayside—which is a shame, because the Dynamic Affinity Inpage element, especially, is a simple setup and only requires styling and placement. It can even be considered a usability measure. After all, what could make entering a online shop easier than immediately seeing your previous interests or the shop’s top categories already picked out for you? Customers visiting your site without a clear idea of what they want will be glad to get some sort of guidance on where to start.
Would you like to get to know our trbo tool and its many applications? We’d be happy to show you now your webshop can benefit from our platform. Schedule a free demo with us now!