thecleanTusk

The world of fashion and the commercial systems that back it have always been subject to both creative application and strategic planning. Over the past two decades customer journeys have moved from solely uniquely curated in-store experiences to a platter of web pages and apps, bringing in the concerns about loss of consumer connect, loss of tactile interaction and most importantly, loss of interest due the similarities of digital spaces. All of these concerns have the potential to impact customer experiences in the digital realm and ultimately impact the financial continuity of brands. Last week’s article focused on the internet’s influence on pricing in the luxury market. This article examines various personalization methods undertaken by fashion brands to enhance their digital customer’s experiences.

Digital customer experiences are the interactions that customers have with a brand’s digital selling platforms, these interactions are led by the user journey that is designed to generate conversions by providing the customer a seamless set of steps to follow which are meant to be intuitive. Personalization is an added enhancement which not only aids this customer journey but provides a deeper connection with the customer by giving them the power to dictate certain aspects of their journey and yet still provides them with the core product. Let’s unpack a few popular methods of personalization and their impact on the digital customer experience.

AI Infused Moments
Chatbots, shopping assistants and AI driven content are just one of the latest ways that support personalization in the digital customer experience. Together with the freedom to ask AI features what information they are looking for, customers can also expect to receive tailored webpage experiences based on preferences that have been analyzed through the various MLs that support the AI features functionality. Farfetch is a luxury and premium fashion digital boutique which offers customers recommendations based on their previous interactions with the website. AI provides a path to facilitate more natural human exchange through digital mediums and helps companies bridge the gap of providing an individually tailored interaction that would happen in a physical store.

What’s My Size?
There are several ways that personalization can enhance the shopping experience and even reduce returns. One such example is the “What’s My Size?” feature on the Zara website which guides the customer to calculate their size by asking a series of questions they need to answer. Such features reduce the time the customer takes to understand the offering and leaves the customer satisfied as the probability of returns is minimized. In the beauty industry there are features which help customers identify their foundation shade. These omnichannel features transform common in-store customer assistant processes into digital ones.

Craft Of Customers
Brands like Louis Vuitton and Nike are just a few names which help the customer release their creative flare by allowing them to customize features of their products. Where Louis Vuitton gives the customer free reign to pick colors and fonts to paint their initials on luggage, Nike allows customers to pick colors and textures for the various panels of material that their sneaker designs are composed of. These features motivate engagement with the brands and make the customer feel that their unique needs are cared for.

Augmented Reality
“Seeing is believing” as the old saying goes, through augmented reality features many fashion brands have helped customers visualize living with their products. These features help customers try products in the comfort of their homes, boosting the chances of the customers justifying a purchase in their minds and reducing the friction between adding to cart and check-out. AR and VR filters on websites and social media also help entertain the customer, improving their brand awareness and bring attention to new product releases. Bulgari has made it easy for consumers to try on popular jewelry like their Serpenti Tubogas watches which often get updated with limited edition iterations.

As evidenced, there are many new and evolving methods available for the personalization of digital customer experiences. Decision makers must decide what impact they want to create on the customer journey to justify the implementation of personalization features. These features and touchpoints must help the customer connect emotionally with brands and also leave feeling satisfied with the digital journey.

Any features which do not help exceed customer expectations and do not aid in improving customer loyalty must be reconsidered as implementation and maintenance of these tools comes at a cost to the business. Fashion brands must innovate towards personalization as a way to enhance brand loyalty providing meaningful customer interactions, because some of the craziest ideas often create timeless memories!