Do you want to suggest products that match the needs of every individual customer? Are you looking for ways to engage your audience and increase time spent with your brand, especially today when there is a significant shift to online shopping?
Imagine making your product suggestions more personalized and straight to the point. We are not talking about the generic “best-selling items” or “people also bought.” We are not referring to fancy product recommendation engines either.
Today, personalization matters more than ever. Therefore, you will convert more if you recommend products to every individual visitor based on actual preferences, not previous purchase history. We will show you how to do this with one of the most innovative solutions – a Product Recommender that suggests products online in real time.
In this blog post, you’ll learn the following:
- The definition of a Product Recommender
- The benefits of using Product Recommender
- How to suggest products based on different approaches
- Create a Product Recommender step by step
- How can B2B companies suggest products with a Product Recommender
- The benefits of B2B Product Recommenders
The definition of a Product Recommender
A Product Recommender, also known as product quiz or e-commerce quiz, is a type of Interactive Content that does the selling for you, available 24/7 on your eCommerce site. Imagine a digital tool that acts like a salesperson, greeting your shoppers, asking them questions, and offering them the perfect products. This is what a Product Recommender could do for you!
It works the following way: you create a series of questions. You tie the answers to specific items that would make a great match based on custom criteria. Users answer the questions, revealing data on their needs, preferences, budget, style, and the type of product they need. As a result, they get accurate product suggestions straight away.
Therefore, a Product Recommender is an exceptional online experience. It reduces choice paralysis and nudges your visitors into buying. Furthermore, it allows you to uncover your potential customers’ specific needs, characteristics, and preferences while also educating them.
If you are familiar with Guided Selling, you might think it is the same concept. However, the difference is that Guided Selling is a big concept that regroups into smaller groups, such as Product Recommenders or Solution Builders.
If you want to understand all these concepts better, we recommend reading What is Guided Selling and What is a Solution Builder.
Benefits of suggesting products with a Product Recommender
This paragraph covers the most prominent benefits of offering eCommerce product recommendations through a Product Recommender.
1. Engage and Entertain Your Audience
In contrast to product recommendation engines, a Product Recommender takes visitors on a journey. They don’t just get a list of products they might like. They interact, answering questions and participating actively in creating their own product recommendations. Therefore, you get to increase customer engagement like never before.
You must include a series of questions in your Interactive Experience. That’s why it is also commonly called a Shopping Quiz. However, you don’t have to limit yourself to asking a few questions. You can make your Product Recommender much more exciting by adding gamification elements. For instance, you can invite participants to scratch a card to get discount codes on their favorite products. As a result, you will also entertain your audience.
2. Boost Your Sales & Customer Satisfaction
With the right questions, you uncover customers’ needs in a non-intrusive and seamless way. Your visitors no longer have to browse through an ocean of identical products, struggling to choose. Instead, you get to impress them by kindly asking questions that will make the decision-making process much easier. As a result, you boost customer satisfaction.
At the same time, delivering personalized recommendations will help you boost sales. A whopping 80% of consumers are more likely to buy if the company provides a tailored experience. A Product Recommender is the best solution for crafting tailored journeys and charming customers.
3. Capture Audience Insights
With a Product Recommender from Dot.vu, you can record every single answer helping you gather valuable insights. For new and existing customers, you’ll learn their preferences, expanding your insights into which products your audiences prefer. No more guessing. Furthermore, you can gate your Product Recommender to generate email leads. Later, you can successfully send retargeting emails promoting products you know subscribers have favored in the past.
How to suggest products using different approaches?
In this paragraph, I will give a quick guide on the different approaches you can take with a Product Recommender. Also, you will see some Product Recommender examples so that you can better visualize the concept. So, let’s see them all.
1. Based on personality
You could, for instance, recommend clothes based on personality types. So, you could ask questions about favorite brands, colors, movies, genres, and so on. The point is to ask basic questions that uncover some of the personal characteristics your potential customers have. After you assign them to a personality type, you define and suggest products based on this Personality Type. Of course, your Personality Types can be based on your segments and buyer persona.
Here is an example of a Product Recommender based on personality – Predict my summer. Users click on an icon they like, revealing data on their favorite summer activity. Then, the template reveals some corresponding product recommendations.
Take a look at another Program Recommender example based on Personality Types. You need to click on the image to try the Interactive Experience!
2. Based on style
The second approach is to go by style. For example, you have a beauty product online store. Your visitors land on your makeup page, unsure of what to buy. You could leave them to browse among thousands of items, overwhelmed by the choice overload. Alternatively, you could insert a Product Recommender with questions about their style, revealing the best makeup products matching their preferences.
Another great idea is a Product Recommender with photos instead of questions. Visitors can simply swipe right or left, indicating which styles they fancy. For example, you would show a picture of a pair of sneakers, and if your customer likes it, they swipe right. This will give you incredible insights into what they like and what they don’t like. After a short time, you’ll have a full picture of their preferences, enabling you to better tailor the communication and the offers. Isn’t that amazing?
3. Based on needs
Here is another way. You can go with more specific questions about needs and preferences. Thus, if you sell clothes, you could ask questions like:
- What types of clothes would you like to buy?
- Do you need jeans, dresses, or T-shirts?
- Do you prefer low, mid, or high wasted jeans?
- What is your preferred color for jeans?
- What is your budget?
You will uncover what shoppers came for by asking these questions. Also, the amount of money they are willing to spend. As a result, you can suggest products that you know will help them make the best decision.
Pro tip: You can transform your Product Recommender into a Gift Finder. For instance, you can help your customers find Christmas gifts, which is among our favorite Christmas marketing ideas this year.
Here is a Product Recommender based on needs. Electronics Product Recommender is perfect for electronic eCommerce shops. The questions cover laptop features, purposes, and budget.
Take a look at this Car Recommender example based on needs & preferences. Click on the image to try the Interactive Experience!
4. A mix of personality, style, and needs
Of course, you could also create a questionnaire where you mix questions about styles, personality, and needs to have a complete overview. But, keep in mind, the more questions you ask, the more effort it takes to engage with your Product Recommender. So, you want to keep it as short as possible while still being insightful.
On top of the above-mentioned best practices, you can also twist your Product Recommenders a bit by adding more information to them. So, let’s say a customer filled out your questions. Instead of just displaying a couple of products, you can add social proof. With that, you’ll provide an extra layer of awesomeness as you are not only recommending but also including reviews from other customers.
Create a Product Recommender step by step
We would like to mention the following five simple steps to make a Product Recommender:
1. Reuse existing content
As a starting point, revise all the content you already have on your website and social media channels. You might find articles, landing pages, or polls that already guide your customers’ choices efficiently. You can reuse and transform these into an engaging Product Recommender to boost user experience. Nine out of ten B2B buyers claim that online content has a moderate to major effect on their purchasing decisions. What a great reason to refresh online content! How can you do that? For instance, a part of your blog content might focus on important product information that helps visitors make a purchase decision. Or you might have created long product category descriptions. The benefits of repurposing these texts into Interactive Experiences are countless!
2. Create your Product Recommender
Write down all the questions you want to ask and the products you wish to promote at the end. Make sure to have the following aspects clear:
- Product categories to recommend
- Questions and answers for the quiz
- Feedback based on the answers given during the quiz
- A catchy title and an introduction to the upcoming Shopping Quiz
Consequently, you can either produce the Product Recommender yourself using a template or an editor; or sign up for agency services. Make sure to select a design that is consistent with your brand identity. Our marketplace has several easily customizable templates – maybe you will find exactly what you are looking for! Have a look:
3. Deploy your Product Recommender
The position of your Product Recommender is crucial. If the tool covers all your available items, you can embed it on the homepage. However, if you have many different types of products and the Product Recommender is about one of them, place it on the corresponding category page. For example, you own an eCommerce site for alcoholic beverages, and you have created a Wine Product Recommender. The best page to insert it is the wine category page.
Speaking of wine – here is a great Product Recommender for wine, based on food preferences:
Pro tip: With Dot, you can also embed your Product Recommender as a popup. Explore different types of popups to get some inspiration.
4. Promote your Product Recommender
Once you embed the interactive Product Recommender to your online shop, it is time to attract some users. You can do this by promoting the newest addition to your website. Promotion is crucial to your Interactive Content strategy. Even if you create the most engaging, helpful, and informative experience, the performance will disappoint you if no one interacts with it. Make your target audience aware of your Product Recommender and its benefits.
5. Monitor results
Interactive Content Experiences allow you to collect data on your visitors’ interactions. Utilize all information to monitor the performance of your Product Recommender.
Related: 10 Ecommerce best practices
How can B2B companies suggest products with a Product Recommender?
Product Recommenders are not B2C only! You can use them to shorten the decision-making process in a B2B context too.
The organizational buying process is often complex and unpredictable. The purchase decisions are information-intensive and require a lengthy process of comparing and analyzing alternatives. Delivering a great digital experience for B2B clients is essential to your brand reputation and, of course, revenue. In fact, 80% of all B2B buying decisions are based on the buyer’s customer experience. A Product Recommender can help you enhance your website’s quality because it helps you suggest products online. Furthermore, it can take a heavy load off your sales representatives’ shoulders.
Follow the steps from the previous section to create an engaging B2B Product Recommender.
What are the benefits of a Product Recommender for your business customers?
The great shift to online shopping requires companies to improve the digital user experience on their channels. 68 % of B2B customers prefer to research independently online. Therefore, your organization needs to provide extensive information to help them out. Despite the online shopping convenience, some customers struggle to make online purchase decisions. You can make it easier and more engaging for them. A Product Recommender has the following advantages for your clients:
- They find the right product. A well-designed Product Recommender will suggest products based on your client’s needs.
- Their user experience has improved. The more engaging your Product Recommender is, the more seamless the experience.
What is in it for you as a B2B company?
Embedding a Product Recommender to your B2B online shop has the following benefits:
- Boost sales. You increase the chances of making a sale; because you make a product recommendation based on your clients’ requirements. Pitching the right solution will induce a purchase.
- Promote products. The Product Recommender gives a perfect opportunity to promote your best-performing products.
- Collect customer data. Dot.vu’s Interactive Content platform allows you to gather valuable client insights, as all answers are recorded. Furthermore, the lead forms help you grow your email lists. All answers are stored in your analytics, so you can take a granular look at all the steps being done.
Suggest products with a Product Recommender and make your customers happy!
Product Recommender is the perfect Interactive Experience for matching your customers with the right products. More engaging than all other product recommendation strategies, Product Recommenders will take your audience on a memorable journey.
Visit our marketplace to explore many ready-to-customized templates. With our intuitive Interactive Content tool, you can create your own Product Recommenders without writing a single line of code. Create a free account and start building Interactive Content that converts!