Why should you care about personalisation and customer experience

Online marketplaces and platforms have grown substantially and online purchases of goods and services in 2019 accounted for an estimated total of 1.92 billion.

Technology today has become democratised to an extent where it is no longer the differentiator. People rarely need write code or algorithms from the ground up — for much is easily available via open source repositories that can be duplicated or branched. The thing that is difficult to replicate is the experience marketplaces can provide to its customers.

Marketplaces that will succeed in this decade won´t be the ones with the latest or shiny technology, but those that can offer the customer delightful experiences. For every marketplace has access to the same technology.

Personalisation is one aspect of customer experience, a very crucial one. In order to demonstrate, lets create a parallel — online marketplace experience to one in a restaurant. You go, you dine, pay and leave.

You often fail to acknowledge that going to a restaurant is a lot more than that. We leave much more than a payment and a tip — we leave our footprint.

Your visit to Restaurant: Lamu 🥘🍱🍢🍸

Visit 1: You go to a restaurant; the hostess tell you to wait 15 minutes until your table is ready; you sit at the table; you order food; you pay the bill and leave.

If you liked the food, so you will go back.

Visit 2: The hostess don´t remember who you are; takes you to your table after a 10 minute wait; you order some food; pay the bill and leave.

(You went back because of the food, not because of the service)

Visit 3: On your 3rd visit, the chef happens to be sick, so there is a different chef. The food this time ends up being mediocre. You pay the bill, and leave.

Your visit to restaurant: Milliways 🥘🌮🍱🍢🍸🍹🍾

Visit 1: You walk into the the restaurant; tell the hostess about your reservation.
You don’t have to wait; she shows you to your table. She pours water; helps you with the napkins and freshly baked bread. Leaves you with the menu and the wine list 🍷📖. She tells you about her favourites and asks about any allergies you might have.

She returns a little while later; takes your order; the food is served without an unsatisfactory wait. Your wine glasses is always topped up. Not one moment goes by where you feel something is lacking.

The hostess even gives you a small glass of their house champagne and dessert on the house.

(You think to yourself not the food but the service too was exceptional. The staff was courteous and cared about making you feel special)

Visit 2: You walk into the restaurant, the hotness actually remember you and asks if you would prefer to have the same table as last time or try another part of the restaurant.

She remembers which wine you ordered last time and suggests a wine which you might like based on that purchase. She even recalled your fish allergy and suggests a menu to accommodate that.

(You feel that the restaurant knows you really well and takes care of all your wishes)

Visit 3: Same experience as before. The hostess remembers you, shows you to your table.

But this time the chef is sick so there is a replacement and the food ends up being not so good.

The big question: which restaurant do you pick for the 4th visit?

The first two visits at both restaurants were splendid. The image of the delicious food served on your 1st and 2nd visits are the things of the past. You can barely remember.

The only thing that kept you going back to Lamu was the food, i.e. the product. The day the product failed to meet your needs, you will trade future visits for a new restaurant (new product).

If you’re like most people, when Milliways failed to deliver delicious food, you might be inclined to overlook the poor product because the experience of being at their pleasing to your senses. The fact the hostess remembered your name, the wine you usually order, the fact you’re allergic to fish, left an impression on you. You know they have your best interest at heart.

Returning our focus back to the online marketplaces and platforms. Much like Milliways, customers are more forgiving and willing to overlook occassional poor product mistake given they have a pleasurable experience otherwise. If you on the other hand you don´t focus on the customer experience, and you entire reputation is relying on your product, the day your product fails, customer will run to the next product.

In this era, the companies who will succeed are the one who are able to offer a truly memorable and pleasing experience to the customers.

Tl;dr

For online marketplaces, customers generate troves of data and leave a footprint. Companies should this to provide a tailored experience for the next time we come in to their online store. Luckily many companies are doing this already and it will improve even more over the years.

Companies that are able to build proactive systems for personalisation are bound to see customers acquiring more of their products. Personalisation leads to acquisition. This should come as no surprise because we all expect “special treatment”, much like how Milliways treated its customers making them feel special. Those that enable this special treatment for customers will see the biggest boost in performance and returning customers.

Most people today — through the mass adoption of mobiles and digital products — have a clear definition of what they believe to be a good experience on the web and mobile, with a set of standards that they apply to all products. This creates an expectation that spills over to all other products they try and drives customers to leave a website within minutes if its unattractive, difficult to use or offers a poor experience. This trend is forcing more businesses to redesign their products that offer a pleasing experience and is personalised to a point it helps customers make progress but isn´t creepy.

Today, if you have a poor experience on eBay or Gumtree, or find their website is ancient and difficult to use, you´re bound to switch to another marketplace like Amazon.

I believe customers will stop placing their loyalty amongst known brands, but rather on the overall experience. Online marketplaces and platforms that are able to differentiate themselves through a meaningful and personalized user experience will benefit the most. For, personalisation leads to acquisition.

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