Retail surgery: How can data be used to drive personalisation?

Michael Schirrmacher, regional sales director at Webtrends, says the difficulty for retailers is that the ‘right’ experience is different for each customer. The question mark for many is how to use data to turn insights into actions that will ultimately generate sales.

Schirrmacher says this is where behavioural segmentation and targeting comes into its own. He says: “Data is only gold dust if you know how to make sense of it and act accordingly.”

Personalisation can be achieved through segmenting and targeting specific customers using the data collected, using segments such as the type of device used by the customer, language and geographical location. Some software also has the ability to capture all of the customer’s actions in real-time as soon as they occur, triggering relevant offers and content for them while they are browsing a site.

Schirrmacher says: “Retailers can use data to create customer segments based on a combination of in-the-moment and historical visitor behaviour, both online and offline through the use of in-store loyalty card schemes for example.

“This intelligence can then be used to target customers with relevant promotions and content that can encourage conversions and provide a far more personalised experience.”