Personalized home page in the online shop: An individual showcase for every customer

Better leads and more conversions

First of all, a personalized home page improves the quality of your leads and thus increases your conversion rate: your shop visitors all have different interests, motivations, and expectations. Some are visiting your online shop for the first time, while others have already made several purchases from you. One customer prefers to browse your decorative items, while another likes to browse the book section. By showing your shop visitors something on the homepage that they are receptive to or are currently looking for, you increase the chance that they will stay and fill their shopping cart.

Unique customer experience

With a personalized homepage tailored to the individual needs of your shop visitors, users feel welcomed. Imagine going to your favorite bar and the bartender promptly preparing your favorite cocktail because he knows you so well. In the same way, you can create a unique shopping experience for your shop visitors that they will remember as a positive experience.

Stronger customer loyalty

Existing customers generate the majority of sales in your online store – and retaining them is much cheaper than acquiring new customers. With a personalized home page that displays relevant product recommendations, individual discounts, or exclusive offers for newsletter subscribers, for example, you can increase your existing customers' trust in your shop. They will feel more connected to your company, be more likely to buy from you again, and recommend your shop to friends and family. In short, customer loyalty is strengthened. All these advantages ultimately lead to more sales.

Personalize banners and content

At the top of the home page, you can personalize the banner by tailoring the image to your customers' interests. Content can also be customized on the home page. Tease content that could be potentially relevant to your target audience. If you want to learn more about content personalization, read our blog article on this topic.

Display personalized recommendations

Personalized recommendations are another way to grab the attention of your shop visitors. For new customers, these could be your top sellers. For shop visitors who already have a history, you can take their individual preferences into account in your recommendations and, for example, display products from their favorite categories.

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If your store also offers live video shopping, you can highlight this feature right on the homepage. By displaying video previews or recordings that are likely to interest each customer, you can use personalization to tailor the experience to individual shoppers. This also gives store visitors a quick introduction to the shopping process and allows them to access relevant content right away.

Personalized recommendations on the homepage immediately engage visitors and help them get started with their shopping experience right away.
(Source: Screenshot from shop-naturpur.de)

The layout of the homepage can also be customized: elements such as banners, product recommendations, or category sections can be tailored to users’ interests. This creates a more natural, relevant shopping experience that strengthens customer loyalty over the long term.

Adjustment depending on referrer

Take the lead source—the so-called referrer—into account when designing your personalized home page. For example, if shop visitors come from a price search engine, highlight the current discounts. If they clicked on an advertisement for a specific product and then navigated to the homepage, they should see that product there again, for example in a banner. If they access your shop from mobile devices or use your shop app, you can reward them with special discounts that are displayed on the homepage.

Different content for first-time visitors and returning shop customers

Design a default home page that all first-time visitors to your online store will see. Offer insights into your entire product range, provide information about current discount promotions, etc. Then use analytics tools to analyze the user behavior of your store visitors and automatically adjust the home page.

An example: You have an outdoor store. A customer is browsing the women's clothing category. When she returns to your home page, relevant images and content related to this topic will appear in this section.

Also the You can customize recommendations on your home page and display them in a personalized way.as soon as the shop visitor has a history. In this case, you can do the same as the Gepp's online shop First, display top sellers. If the visitor navigates through the shop and looks at various vegan products from the pesto & pasta section, for example, this can be taken into account when displaying recommendations when the user returns to the home page. The headline above the recommendation widget can also make it clear that these are personalized recommendations by displaying "Our recommendations for you" instead of "Top sellers," for example.

Once customers have a history, you can personalize the home page and display recommendations tailored to their individual preferences.
(Source: Screenshot from gepps.de)

Different approaches for new and existing customers

A personal approach works not only in newsletters, but also on a personalized home page. You can greet existing customers who already have a history with their first name, e.g., "Hello Max." New customers, on the other hand, should be greeted with a neutral greeting such as "Nice to have you here."

Special offers depending on the destination region

If you have special offers for a specific region, you can personalize your home page in this regard. For example, the company VWO was looking for new employees in Delhi, India. It created two different home pages: one for website visitors from all other countries and one specifically for visitors from India. In the second version, users accessing the website from India saw a note about the open positions: "We're hiring in Delhi." The click-through rate on the "Careers" section increased by 149 percent.

Balance between personalization and intrusiveness

A personal greeting on the home page creates a feeling of welcome and closeness. However , if customers feel that the online store has collected too much data or is pushing sales, it can seem intrusive and they will switch to another store. In Accenture's Consumer Pulse Survey, for example, the consumers surveyed consider it very intrusive when a chatbot can access their entire shopping history, previous interactions with customer service, or order history.¹

However, 74 percent of consumers in Europe would disclose more data if they knew exactly how it would be used.¹ Therefore, make sure you communicate transparently about what data you collect and for what purposes you intend to use it.