No one seems to know that much about AI, but no one can get enough of it these days either. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has come a long way since the days of Siri and Alexa. What wows (and panics) people today is the development of advanced language models such as Chat GPT or AI-generated visuals, like those produced by Midjourney, which spark all sorts of debates about the role of machines in creative industries. Yet, everyone is using AI anyway, or hoping to.
IBM surveyed over 5,000 C-level executives about AI and found that 93% are considering AI adoption. Another survey by Ascend2 and Oracle reported that 42% of marketers already trust AI to personalize content and offers in real-time, while 30% fear they may be missing out on AI capabilities. It seems like there's always some new tech, marketing or product update to implement, making it harder than ever to get an edge. Customer expectations are sky-high, and competition is fierce.
Despite the uncertainty around this technology, one of the non-controversial things about AI is its use for eCommerce in general and for product recommendations in particular, which is the topic of this post. With the help of AI-powered product recommendations, businesses can offer a personalized shopping experience to their customers, increasing the likelihood of purchases and driving revenue.
GetResponse gets AI
In 2022, our Poland-based e-mail marketing company partners from GetResponse acquired Recostream, an AI product recommendations startup whose advanced AI/machine learning software integrates with most eCommerce platforms. This allowed GetResponse to expand their product offer to integrate personalized product and content tips based on AI-driven analysis.
So let’s beam you up, Scotty and discuss GetResponse's product recommendation feature to see how it can help your business optimize conversion rates and stay ahead in today's highly competitive, and constantly changing, digital landscape.
How do GetResponse’s AI product recommendations work?
AI-enabled product recommendations work by identifying customer preferences through analysis of their rating of products, shopping/browsing history, purchase habits, similarity in purchase patterns, and more.
The benefits of AI-enabled product recommendations are significant for both company and customers. They reduce time spent searching for items, provide a more personalized experience, and offer an opportunity to pursue new interests based on deep analysis of current customer and market trends. That’s great for customers. They increase order intake, provide targeted marketing strategies, allow for the provision of content based on deeper analysis of customer needs, and improve customer attraction, satisfaction, and retention. That’s great for companies.
AI product recommendations uses artificial intelligence to match your product offerings to the preferences, needs, and habits of each of your store visitors – suggesting the products and services they’re most likely to buy.
GetResponse
The GetResponse product recommendation feature is designed to boost conversion rates by displaying products to visitors who are most likely to make a purchase, based on their past behavior and transactional history. This not only increases upsells and cross-sells but also improves the store's UX by serving as a navigation tool, thereby increasing the amount of time customers spend on the website and ultimately driving more conversions.
By leveraging AI to analyze store traffic and user behavior, businesses can make informed decisions that lead to better outcomes. The beauty of the feature is that it offers cutting-edge tools to drive conversions without the need for increased budgets or lengthy implementation cycles. Another gem is that it verifies each product against stock availability, ensuring there are no missed clicks for customers, which significantly increases the return on investment (ROI) and average order value (AOV) for merchants.
Numbers and tips
These are the figures provided by GetResponse:
- Up to 10% sales increase thanks to AI-driven recommendations.
- Up to 30% sales attributed to product recommendations.
- Up to 70% increase in click-through rates on a website or email.
- Up to 33% increase in average order value.
And these are 5 practical ways in which you can grow your eCommerce revenue with AI Product Recommendations:
1. Personalization
The concept sounds so impersonal, and yet one of its most useful features is its personalization power. E-commerce customers expect personalization every step of the way, which leaves it up to you to make sure they get optimized product pages, curated communications, and unique deals based on their online behavior. This process can be made much simpler with GetResponse. The recommendation engine will study your audience’s behavior on your site and use automation to deduct which products they may be interested in the next time they visit your store.
2. Omnichannel presence
Another popular buzzword here. To improve your omnichannel presence you can use the product recommendations feature to gather data across your customers’ channels and suggest products they liked or clicked on social media ads or other places as they complete their next purchase.
3. Optimization
Everything needs optimization. Your store needs to run and look equally well on desktop and mobile devices, your visuals need to be optimized for accessibility and load speed, your copy needs to be optimized for SEO and your messaging needs to be different for each social media platform. Know what else you can optimize? Product recommendations. GetResponse's product recommendation feature can help by automating upsells and cross-sells based on the products your customers are interested in.
4. Social eCommerce
Social media platforms are not just for posting beautiful product pictures and updates. A smart social media strategy can help businesses weather the storm of possibilities, enhance their brand’s growth and reach new audiences. Even if you prefer to use social media as an additional distribution or promotion channel, there are many things to do beyond posting memes. Even beyond creating shoppable posts and videos.
GetResponse’s AI Product Recommendation feature allows you to take advantage of highly visual platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest. By grouping items on your shoppable posts, you can easily cross-sell, create curated looks and collections. You can also showcase how your customers mix and match your products. The possibilities are endless, so let your human powered creativity run wild!
5. Animate the Anonymous
Personalized product recommendations are super useful to increase sales and reduce cart abandonment rates. But what about anonymous visitors who don’t have an account with you yet? With GetResponse AI product recommendation feature, you can embed an automated code on your site that tracks visitor behavior in real-time, which means you can provide personalized recommendations to first-time visitors too.
Implementation
There are different ways to implement AI Product Recommendations. You could build your own recommendation engine from scratch, which will require a lot of time, money, and expertise. Alternatively, you could rely on external recommendation engines, but this still requires a significant investment in time and resources. The easiest and most effective option is to invest in an out-of-the-box solution, such as GetResponse MAX.
Your team will only have to add a short code snippet to your website's header, and that’s it. GetResponse takes care of all the data processing and maintenance, and their design team will create mock-ups for your product recommendations UI to ensure it matches your store's branding. Their algorithms only recommend products that are in stock. This means you never have to worry about missed clicks or wasted promotion potential either. All the visitors’ data can be integrated with your Google Analytics account to give you even more insights for future strategic decisions.
The product recommendation feature offers a range of recommendation types, including "Recommended for you," which uses a self-learning model to display recommendations with the highest probability of conversion for each customer. The algorithm also recommends the "Most viewed in category" and "Most similar in category" products, as well as products based on customers' previous visits to the store and those that others have viewed or purchased. Shop owners can also define rule-driven recommendations to promote specific products to their customers.
Scenarios like "others also bought" and "similar products" allow you to customize and optimize your product recommendations easily. And you can always use product recommendations in your email marketing campaigns for lead nurturing and returning customers.
Ready to try?
To experience the potential of GetResponse's AI product recommendations, you can try it for free with the MAX plans. Give it a try and discover how effortless and effective personalized product recommendations can be for your ecommerce business. Or contact us for a free consultation of our email marketing services.
