In this case study, we'll show you how we would personalize the discount rates in banners on Michael Hill’s homepage to create better customer experiences based on customers’ loyalty and shopping behavior.

Before diving into the personalization, let's look at what Michael Hill is:

Michael Hill

Michael Hill is a specialty retailer that offers to craft distinct and appealing jewelry and accessories in North America and Oceania since 1979.

The Background of the Personalization Journey

If you're a business, you know that acquiring and retaining customers is essential to your success.

And if you're looking for ways to improve your conversion rates in a direct-to-consumer environment, leveraging shopping data for personalization may be the answer.

Offering the same discount rate in the banner to:

• potential customers

• existing customers

• loyal customers

is not the best way to optimize your customer experiences.

Therefore, by adding personalized experiences layer of customer understanding to your website, you can create a more tailored experience for all of your visitors, regardless of who they are, which will improve engagement and conversion.

The Opportunity

Is it really necessary for businesses to personalize their shopping experiences for their potential customers?

The answer is a resounding yes, and here’s why.

There is a huge opportunity lying under personalized offers because according to research by Accenture, 91% of consumers say they are more likely to engage with brands that provide offers and recommendations that are relevant to them.

When done correctly, personalization can lead to higher conversion rates, as well as increased customer engagement and loyalty.

Pets Deli, one of the online retailers in Europe, increased its conversion rates by 51% compared to an industry conversion rate of 10 to 15%, according to a McKinsey report.

Read More About Pets Deli: Using Personalized Content to Supercharge Conversion Rates

Adding Personalized Experiences Layer to Michael Hill

Step 1: The Tech Stack

To personalize the discount rates in banners on the homepage, Michael Hill needs to leverage the shopping data to identify new customers and existing customers’ loyalties.

For this personalized experience, Michael Hill will need the following tech stack:

• Headless CMS → Contentful for content management

• Personalization as a Service → Ninetailed for personalized experiences

• CRM → Salesforce for customer data

• Commerce → Vue Storefront & Salesforce

Step 2: Defining Hypothesis and Methodology

We hypothesize that by personalizing the discount rates in homepage banners based on customer loyalty and status, Michael Hill can increase the likelihood of clicking through and making a conversion for potential visitors and existing customers.

Step 3: Defining Personalization Signals

To create this type of personalized experience, Michael Hill will use the ‘Number of Previous Orders’ or ‘Previous Order Value’ as a personalization signal:

• Number of Previous Orders = 0, show x% discount

• Number of Previous Orders > 0, show y% of discount

• Number of Previous Orders > 5, show z% of discount

Step 4: Personalization Journey

In order to better illustrate the personalized web experience for Michael Hill’s visitors, let's define a hypothetical personalization journey:

1. Michael Hill defines the personalization signal as the ‘number of previous orders’ and attaches discount banners with relevant customers

2. A visitor lands on Michael Hill’s website and sees a personalized hero section based on its shopping behavior, if:

   • Number of Previous Orders = 0, show x% discount

   • Number of Previous Orders > 0, show y% of discount

   • Number of Previous Orders > 5, show z% of discount

The Result: Before vs. After

So far, we have talked about the hypothesis, methodology, signals to use, and required technology stack.

Now let's look at the visuals to better understand it.

As we defined earlier potential visitors and the existing customers will see different banners with different discount rates:

The Next Steps

Although we showcased one way of personalization based on shopping data, there are endless ways of personalized experiences.

Personalization is a continuous journey, which means that once one implementation is completed, companies will return to the beginning of the framework to analyze acquired data, discuss new ideas, hypothesize further improvements, and so on.

Through continuous learning and experimentation, this strategy enables various teams

• content marketing,

• growth,

• product management,

• development

to create meaningful personalization experiences.

How Pets Deli Increased Its Conversion Rates by 51% with Personalization