The challenge
WMF products stand for quality and beautiful design. In order to strengthen customer loyalty outside of the brick-and-mortar store and at the same time increase sales, the company decided to test personalized ecommerce and newsletter content.
After initial implementation, WMF compared the product recommendations that had been selected manually with the recommendations calculated automatically by the AI in the newsletter. The positive results of the AI led WMF to expand the personalized customer approach to other formats.
The solution
The implementation of AI in the form of AIR | Personalization with the Add-On Newsletter and the Add-On Profiler was carried out in 2020 in WMF’s German online store and newsletter. In the regular WMF newsletter, recipients receive article recommendations based on various recommendation types. The Add-On Newsletter generates the content only after opening the newsletter in real time based on user behavior in both the online store and newsletter.
The company pays special attention to its automated campaign newsletter. The Profiler add-on selects customers who are interested in a particular product or product category. Customers of the WMF online store receive a newsletter campaign with recommendations from their favorite category promptly after their visit. The data collected regarding customer product preferences is recorded in WMF’s CRM system.
In addition to the various newsletter formats, WMF also tailors ecommerce content to its visitors. Customers benefit from this personalized shopping experience, which can be offered on the homepage, category pages, item detail pages or shopping cart pages. The recommendations displayed promote cross-selling in the WMF online store and ensure higher shopping cart values.
The result
Through the use of AI, WMF achieves a successful personalized customer approach in both the online store and newsletter, thus strengthening its customer loyalty.
In the regular newsletter, the personalized content led to a 66% increase in click-through rates on products, compared to the original newsletter. The automated email campaign that recommends products from the customer’s favorite category also achieves a high response; the click-through rates of the recommendations are in the 2-digit range. Lastly, the recommendations in the WMF online store achieve a high level of acceptance among store visitors. The turnover from recommendations is currently over 11%.
WMF is constantly testing and improving the various personalization formats. As part of the upcoming shop relaunch, the company plans to implement further personalization and loyalty use cases.
