Men’s online fashion retailer Woodhouse Clothing has revealed that visitors to its site are 44 per cent more likely to make a purchase, following the introduction of an AI-based personalisation engine. The technology, which works across both mobile and desktop, is also helping to increase the retailer’s average order value, which is up seven per cent.

Woodhouse has implemented personalisation technology from Nosto which uses AI machine learning algorithms and other statistical techniques to predict and automatically deliver the most relevant shopping experiences to its online visitors in real-time. The conversion rate on the fashion website, where around two thirds of visits are from mobile, has risen by 44 per cent. Abandoned shopping carts are also down by three per cent.

Woodhouse, which sells fashion goods from over 50 leading brands, including BOSS, Armani and McQ, is able to automatically display real-time personalised product recommendations and onsite pop-up messages based on visitors’ onsite browsing behaviour. The Nosts platform also delivers personalised email campaigns.

“We understand that all of our customers are different and unique, and we needed a way to personalise their experience by presenting the most relevant brands, products and messages to each individual,” said Woodhouse visual merchandiser, Sophie McFegan. “Nosto has allowed us to really dive into the personal approach of online shopping, creating unique offers and recommendations tailored specifically to our customers.”

By analysing data it collects about which items are commonly bought or browsed together, the platform helps Woodhouse to enhance the shopping experience on product pages, by automatically displaying the most relevant cross-selling recommendations. Individual visitors are recognised and presented with recommendations personalised to their brand, style and product preferences, while those who are completely new to the site are presented with recommendations based on real-time bestsellers.

Personalised recommendations have also been added to the shopping cart page to remind shoppers of items that had previously sparked their interest but were not added to the cart.

Personalised behavioural pop-ups are used to enhance the shopping experience while making sure visitors do not feel pestered by them. For example pop-ups offering discounts are only shown on the brands that shoppers have shown most interest in. Or they are used to provide key information such as the start and end of sales periods or the last ordering dates for Christmas.

Welcome pop-ups are displayed only to new site visitors after a couple of pages have been browsed. And pop-ups for mobile and desktop incorporate different images to prevent boredom or irritation among those who browse the site on multiple devices.

Woodhouse is also using Nosto to personalise its email campaigns to increase sales and customer loyalty. For example shoppers with abandoned shopping carts or browsing sessions are automatically retargeted with emails showing them products they had left in their cart or shown an interest in before leaving the site. This has helped to trigger an increase in email click through and conversion rate.

Transactional emails have also been personalised with the addition of order-related recommendations that suggest “complete-the-look” follow-up purchases.