Automat Roundtable Reveals eCommerce Personalization ROI is Clear Yet Execs Struggle to Prioritize Implementation

MONTREAL, Quebec, June 23, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Following a series of closed-door roundtable discussions with leading global eCommerce executives, website personalization platform provider Automat has released survey data revealing that these leaders find themselves on the horns of a dilemma: The executives agree that eCommerce personalization is their next area of competitive advantage, but find it challenging to get their initiatives resourced.

Attendees questioned why they were spending so much time and money getting people to their website, and so little time actually making sure the website is helping potential customers find the right products for them.

Some highlights from the survey:

• 78% of the executives polled felt that their company website is not doing enough to provide consumers with the help they need to find the right products.
• 89% of executives felt that website visitors are hindered in making confident purchase decisions since it's unclear how product benefits meet the consumer's individual needs.
• 92% of executives said their website could meaningfully benefit from a greater level of personalization - with 92% citing the potential for increased sales and 83% pointing to higher consumer engagement.

Their focus on eCommerce personalization is validated by a recent Wall Street Journal article on the topic that suggests that many online direct-to-consumer sellers are stuck in the muck; what the article refers to as "Personalization 1.0." Succinctly put, most eCommerce personalization engines are currently using a user's historical data such as click-path and previous purchases to make recommendations. To keep pace with consumer expectations for personalization (Personalization 2.0 and beyond), these recommendations must come from zero-party data, which is data proactively provided by the website visitor. This evolution in personalization has the effect of co-creating the sale outcome with the customer's direct involvement, leading to greater purchase confidence and satisfaction and, as current data suggests, a three times increase in typical conversion rates.

"At Automat we've always believed that brands perform better when they build direct relationships with their customers," said Automat's Founder and CEO, Andy Mauro. "Recent security and data privacy upheavals relating to Apple's introduction of App Tracking Transparency and Google Chrome's upcoming 3rd party cookie changes, have made this a necessity. While companies like Klayviyo and Attentive are helping brands build their direct channel, at Automat we aim to help brands deepen their understanding of their customers by learning about them in the most natural way possible: conversations. Of course the only way to make this work at scale is with technology which is why we've built the most advanced Conversational AI product ever assembled to ask questions, listen to customers' needs and help them achieve their goal while they're on your site. We are proud to be part of a broader movement helping brands shift away from the ad and attention economy towards owning their customer relationships."

"We've recently launched a free ROI calculator to help brands express the return on personalization spend (ROPS)," adds Automat Co-Founder and CTO, Erdem Özcan. "All the data we have points to significantly shorter time to conversion and an immediate lift of 10%, before optimization. There's an unignorable business case for these companies to steal from the advertising budgets and start investing in personalization. To build meaningful connections with their site visitors and customers, at scale."

Media Contact

Jennifer Bell, Automat Technologies, +1 4168066923, [email protected]

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SOURCE Automat Technologies