Online boutique drives personalization with the help of AI

Getting personal with customers is high on the to-do list for retailers whether they're global or whether they're a curated boutique experience.

That's because consumers are craving personalization — nearly half of consumers are willing to provide data in order to get it. And it's not just contact data like email and phone. Shoppers are willing to share all types of data for a personalized experience.

Online boutique kicks off personalization

Tuckernuck, an online retailer offering a boutique shopping experience for the classic All-American lifestyle, wanted to provide a more personalized experience for the 12-year-old brand's customer base without increasing the workload when it came to email content planning.

"We were struggling with how to transition from a strategy where all of our shoppers received the same content each day, and also with how to decrease the level of email content planning and creative development that was taking time away from our team's other projects," CC Green, growth marketing analyst at Tuckernuck, said in an email interview.

Tuckernuck turned to Movable Ink, an AI-driven content personalization platform, to end the struggle.

The first step was identifying browsing behavior so Tuckernuck could better connect its customers with the content they were looking for and personalize their email experience.

"We want our customers to feel as if we know them. We're still developing this strategy, but we've already come a long way from where we were," said Green.

Movable Ink has also helped the retailer to plan content further in advance.

"Our creative and merchandising teams used to have to replace sold-out product images in our emails the day before or even day of a campaign send, but now we're able to utilize custom-designed product feeds to dynamically pull in available products without any additional effort from our team. These feeds are in our brand look and feel, so they still look engaging and as if our creative team hand-designed the emails," said Green.

Tuckernuck customers now receive content that fits their individuality and unique styles — just like customers shopping at other Movable Ink clients that list includes Ulta, DSW and Victoria's Secret.

The technology, according to Green, is unlocking new levels of customer experiences.

How Movable Ink works

Movable Ink Studio scales content personalization by automatically transforming data into personalized content, unique to each customer, at the moment of engagement.

"The leading brands leverage Movable Ink to personalize every customer engagement through automation and AI. By seamlessly converting data into personalized creative, Movable Ink maximizes revenue, simplifies workflow, and helps retailers achieve the optimal customer experience," Alison Lindland, CMO at Movable Ink, said in an email interview.

In 2023 Movable Ink rolled out several new product enhancements, including expanded Universal Data Activation capabilities and a new Mobile Software Development Ki, as it continues to deliver innovative data access features enabling brands to generate personalized content at scale.

"We recently unveiled our annual Audience of One report where one-third of retailers point to balancing long-term strategy with short-term trends as their biggest struggle when adapting campaigns to changing consumer behavior. I think we can all agree the pace of consumer-related change is neither slowing down nor remaining stagnant," said Lindland.

The report revealed what benefits retailers are realizing with AI. The list includes content personalization (55%) and sentiment analysis (44%), to send-time personalization (43%), and content ideation and brainstorming (43%).

"For retailers, using AI has some remarkable advantages that can increase customer engagement and retention," said Lindland. "However, with every new technology, there are some challenges that can arise. For most situations the difference is minute, but there are some datasets that can cause major repercussions for brand integrity."

Tips from deployment

When it comes to deployment, Green advised marketers to play an active part in ensuring objectivity, including ensuring the brand is leveraging diverse datasets, has a checks-and-balances strategy in play and leans on AI solutions that use proprietary data so reliable.

She also offered key advice for brands taking a similar pathway.

"Take the time to set up email templates that will serve custom content to different audiences based on their browsing behavior," she said, adding, " Whether you're targeting them with items left in their cart, personalized product recommendations, or products from different categories they're browsing, this content will be relevant and interesting to your customer."

While Tuckernuck has just begun benefiting from Movable Ink's technology capability, Green is looking forward to what it brings into play down the road.

"We have just scratched the surface of how Movable Ink can enhance our many other partnerships as I know they'll be super valuable in our abandonment and post-purchase strategies, especially."