Maximizing eCommerce Sales with Thoughtful Product Curation in 7 Steps

Product curation is the foundation of online retailer success. 

When done right, it involves carefully selecting, presenting, and promoting products to craft a compelling narrative that aligns with customers’ desires and expectations. It also answers your most important retail KPIs. 
And when done wrong? 

A disjointed shopping experience, unmet customer expectations, and, ultimately, a decline in sales and customer loyalty.

And how do you create a product curation strategy that establishes a compelling and personalized shopping experience, from research to sorting? 

By following these seven steps:  

Let’s jump in. 

1. Build Comprehensive and Detailed Customer Personas

Developing detailed customer personas is essential in tailoring your product curation. This allows you to better meet different shopping segments' specific needs and preferences. 

By offering products that resonate with each unique audience group, you: 

• Enhance customer satisfaction
• Improve engagement
• Drive higher sales 
• Improve long-term growth and profitability 

Let’s say you are an online fashion retailer. You could develop detailed personas for different customer segments, such as "Young Professionals" and "Eco-Conscious Shoppers," to curate products specifically for them. This would enable you to increase engagement, satisfaction, and sales.

So, what’s the best way to do it? 

How to Build Comprehensive and Detailed Customer Personas  

1. Get comprehensive with your CRM and sales data to identify patterns and trends in customer behavior, purchase history, and preferences.
2. Use behavioral analytics tools like Hotjar or Crazy Egg to track customers' interactions with your website and products, gaining insights into their shopping habits and preferences.
3. Engage with a select group of customers through detailed shopper interviews to uncover their motivations, challenges, and product expectations.
4. Incorporate psychographic data (from customer surveys, social media interactions, website analytics, and market research studies) to learn more about specific customers' lifestyles, values, and interests.
5. Analyze your complete customer journey data to map out customer touchpoints and interactions with your brand and then identify key influences and decision-making moments.

Once you have a comprehensive list of data and insights, you can build comprehensive persona profiles that include demographic information, behavioral patterns, psychographic insights, and specific product preferences to guide your curation strategy. 

The bottom line is that research into your data is key. Here’s a TLDR video from Masters in Marketing. 

2. Unlock Opportunities with In-Depth Market Research

Staying ahead of trends to meet evolving customer preferences is crucial to your product curation strategy. Therefore, the next step is to set up regular in-depth market research.

A deep understanding of your market will help you identify emerging opportunities, mitigate risks, and make better data-driven decisions that enhance your catalogs and collections. It also guarantees you can better sell within them. 

That’s the why; now, let’s look at the how.

How to Conduct In-Depth Market Research

1. Employ advanced analytics tools like Google Trends, Semrush, and social listening platforms to identify emerging trends and shifts in customer behavior
2. Analyze competitors’ product lines, pricing strategies, and customer reviews to find gaps and areas for improvement in your own product lists 
3. Implement predictive analytics to forecast future market demands and identify which products will gain traction, before they do
4. Use sentiment analysis tools like MonkeyLearn or Lexalytics to gauge customer opinions and feelings about current and potential products, ensuring your current inventory aligns with real-time customer wants
5. Design personalized surveys targeting your existing customer base to gain insights into their evolving needs and preferences

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3. Refine Your Sorting Strategy with Smart Categorization

Once you have worked on sourcing (by drilling down to your exact shopper and sourcing products these customers are actively looking for), it’s time to work on the presentation side of your curation strategy. 

This means embracing smart categorization to showcase the most relevant products in an organized and intuitive manner. This, in turn, means customers can easily and quickly find products that match their preferences — AKA, advanced product sorting! 

For instance, an online electronics store could implement smart categorization by using advanced filtering options such as "Budget-Friendly Gadgets," "Top-Rated by Customers," and "Newest Innovations."  

This step improves product discoverability, reduces friction in the shopping process, and increases conversion rates by organizing and intuitively presenting relevant products.

How to Implement Smart Categorization 

1. Leverage AI-powered tools like Kimonix and machine learning to automatically categorize products based on multiple parameters, such as personal preferences, profit margins, product attributes, and sales data
2. Use real-time data to adjust categories dynamically so that the most relevant products are always highlighted, based on current trends, seasonality, and stock levels
3. Offer advanced filtering options that allow customers to sort products by specific criteria such as price, popularity, customer ratings, and specific features, enhancing their ability to find exactly what they’re looking for
4. Develop detailed subcategories and use tags to further refine product organization so that it’s easier for customers to navigate large inventories and find niche products
5. Adjust categorization strategies based on customer feedback and evolving shopping behaviors to maintain an intuitive and effective product organization system

4. Infuse Your Curation Strategies with Storytelling 

The power of storytelling shouldn’t just be used for brand blogs and social videos; it can also help synchronize your entire curation strategy journey. By using storytelling, you transform your inventory into a cohesive and engaging narrative so that customers connect emotionally with your brand. 

This approach enhances the shopping experience, builds brand loyalty, and encourages repeat purchases by creating a memorable journey for your customers.

For example, an eCommerce fashion retailer could create a themed collection called "Summer Escape" featuring beachwear, accessories, and travel essentials, accompanied by lifestyle images and videos that tell the story of a perfect beach vacation. All designed to draw customers into an aspirational and emotionally engaging shopping experience. 

This narrative not only makes the products more appealing but also fosters a deeper connection with the brand, encouraging repeat purchases and customer loyalty. 

How to Add Storytelling to Your Curation Strategy 

1. Develop a brand narrative that reflects your values, mission, and products' unique selling points to form the foundation for your storytelling efforts
2. Create thematic collections by grouping products in a way that tell a story, such as "Sustainable Living," "Urban Adventure," or "Vintage Chic"  
3. Use a mix of blogs, videos, social media posts, and infographics to weave your story across multiple platforms, enhancing the narrative with rich, engaging content
4. Showcase customer testimonials, reviews, and UGC to add authenticity to your product stories
5. Embrace high-quality images, videos, and graphics that not only display your products but also evoke emotions and illustrate the story behind each collection 

5. Personalize Product Discovery  

By personalizing the shopping experience, you can tailor retail product recommendations and displays to individual customer preferences. This increases engagement and purchases. It’s a data-driven approach that optimizes inventory selection and presentation, increasing engagement, conversion rates, and customer loyalty.

To keep your products more relevant and appealing, use customer data to select and showcase products that align with individual wants.

A beauty retailer, for instance, could use customer data from a well-placed quiz to recommend products based on individual skin or hair types and previous purchase history, displaying personalized product suggestions on the homepage and during checkout. 

This is precisely what Chāmpo does. 

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How to Personalize Your Shopping Experience 

1. Leverage AI-powered recommendations that can analyze customer behavior, purchase history, and browsing patterns to deliver personalized product recommendations in real-time
2. Segment shoppers based on behavior, such as past purchases, browsing habits, and engagement levels, to create targeted marketing campaigns and personalized shopping experiences
3. Use dynamic content that changes based on individual customer data, displaying personalized banners, product suggestions, and tailored offers on your website and in email marketing
4. Offer interactive quizzes that help customers discover products that best match their preferences and needs, enhancing their engagement and providing a more tailored shopping experience
5. Develop personalized email campaigns that provide product recommendations, special offers, and content tailored to individual customer interests and past behavior, increasing the relevance and effectiveness of your communication

6. Tap into Influencer Insights and Customer Feedback for Better Curation

Influencer and customer reviews enhance curation by providing social proof and building trust. This helps curated products appear more appealing and credible to potential buyers. They also offer valuable insights into which products are popular and well received, guiding the selection of high-demand items for curated collections. 

Therefore, by leveraging the voices of real users and trusted influencers to guide your curation strategy, you highlight products that have proven appeal and positive feedback from your target audience.

This is a strategy that Sephora are experts on. 

Sephora identifies high-demand and well-received products to feature prominently in their curated collections, such as the "Sephora Favorites" sets, directly from beauty influencers and customer feedback. This strategy means you are able to highlight products with proven appeal and positive feedback, building trust and increasing product allure.

How to Leverage Influencer and Customer Reviews for Product Curation

1. Partner with influencers who align with your brand values and have a strong following within your target market, and then use their insights and endorsements to curate products that resonate with your audience
2. Encourage customers to share their experiences and product reviews on social media and on your website, and feature this UGC prominently to highlight popular and highly-rated items
3. Use advanced analytics to sift through customer reviews and ratings to identify common themes, preferences, and pain points
4. Integrate customer testimonials and influencer endorsements into your product descriptions to provide immediate social proof and enhance product credibility
5. Develop curated collections based on top-rated products and influencer favorites, and then highlight these collections as “Customer’s Choice” or “Influencer Picks” to attract attention and drive sales

7. Optimize Product Curation Through Real-Time Sorting

Implementing real-time sorting doesn’t only improve the shopping experience for your customers, but also your bottom line! 

To confirm that customers see the most relevant products you want to dynamically prioritize the most relevant products based on current trends, customer behavior, inventory levels, and your business needs. This increases the likelihood of conversions while also earning the most profit for each sale.

Footwear brand Yellow Shoes embraced this exact automated strategy. By using the advanced sorting Kimonix provides for each of their primary collections across their sites, they increased the YoY add-to-cart rate by 30%. 

How to Implement Real-Time Product Sorting

1. Integrate advanced analytics tools to gather real-time data on customer behavior, sales trends, and inventory levels
2. Create adaptive sorting algorithms that can adjust product rankings based on real-time insights  
3. Employ machine learning models to continuously learn from customer interactions and preferences and help predict which products are most likely to appeal to different segments 
4. Integrate your sorting system with real-time inventory optimization to automatically adjust product visibility based on stock levels
5. Offer personalized sorting options that allow customers to sort products based on their preferences, such as popularity, new arrivals, or price

Or you can just use Kimonix to do all that, and more! 

Download the Shopify app, or reach out to us here for a free demo.  

Wrap Up 

A well-executed product curation strategy should include meticulous selection, presentation, and promotion of products to craft a compelling narrative, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and loyalty. Conversely, a poorly executed strategy can lead to a disjointed shopping experience, unmet customer expectations, and declining sales.

Therefore, it’s well worth the investment in creating and building a comprehensive curation strategy that taps into trends and your shoppers’ most important needs to ensure you are always sourcing, presenting, and promoting the right products. 

And by following these seven steps, you’re well on your way to doing just that. 

Happy selling! 

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