By Ellie-Rose Davies, Content Executive at IMRG
In this blog we reflect on the type of personalisation customers want from retailers and share top tips for making personalisation work in 2025.
But first, why is personalisation important?
Personalisation has become a core strategy for boosting customer acquisition and retention.
According to Magda Schmid-Debska, VP Growth & Marketing at PXP, ‘Personalisation isn’t just what consumers demand—it’s becoming essential for businesses to thrive amid fierce competition.’
‘Beyond customer satisfaction, personalisation delivers critical merchant advantages. It serves as a powerful shield against fraud, ensures seamless regulatory compliance, and provides competitive differentiation. For merchants facing challenges or seeking market leadership, personalisation isn’t optional, it’s imperative,’ argues Magda.
Read on to find out which areas customers enjoy personalisation the most.
Where customers enjoy personalisation
Pre-purchase – recommendations and pricing
Many retailers are already doing an excellent job at implementing personalisation during the product discovery stage, e.g., through product recommendations. Seray Sezkir, Marketing Specialist at Prisync notes that ‘Retailers can innovate by integrating real-time behavioural insights into their strategies, ensuring relevance at every touchpoint.’
‘A great example is ASOS, which blends style quizzes with AI-driven recommendations, creating a seamless and engaging shopping experience that feels curated rather than algorithmic.’
Seray also gives the example of beauty brands who can ‘use quick surveys for first-time purchasers to gather information about their hair type, condition, and styling preferences to suggest well-priced product bundles. They can also assist customers with customised content about product ingredients and usage until checkout.’
Beyond this, personalisation can be useful when it comes to pricing; ‘companies implementing dynamic pricing in their stores can adjust prices based on demand, competitor pricing, and customer behaviour, increasing conversion rates,’ says Seray.
In addition to dynamic pricing, dynamic, personalised finance options can help improve performance.
Phil Alltoft, Commercial Lead at Novuna Consumer Finance says, ‘Retailers invest significant effort into creating tailored experiences, making customers feel valued throughout their buying journey – and we believe finance options should be no different.’
‘Traditional finance typically offers just two outcomes: accepted or declined. But we encourage retailers to extend personalisation into finance, with tailored decisions that meet individual customer needs. This continued commitment to a more personalised service can increase approval rates, enhance customer satisfaction, and ultimately drive revenue,’ shares Phil.
When having to make a return
One key reason consumers hesitate to buy is the hassle of returns, from lengthy processes to refund delays. Personalisation can simplify this experience, making returns smoother and driving online growth.
Nikhita Hyett, General Manager EMEA, Signifyd explains how this can work: ‘A personalised, checkout-like returns experience, driven by data-led insights into customer identity and intent, presents a new opportunity for retailers to optimise the shopping experience.’
‘By leveraging historical, behavioural and transactional data, retailers can implement smart returns decisioning. This allows them to tailor the process, offering instant refunds to their most trusted customers while applying additional verification only when needed. This approach rewards genuine customer behaviour, builds loyalty and helps retailers protect themselves from fraud and unnecessary returns.’
During post-purchase communications
In addition to returns, another key area where personalisation can make a difference is in post-purchase communications, helping to keep customers engaged and satisfied.
Gavin Murphy, CMO at Scurri provides insights from a survey of 1000 adult UK online consumers in February 2025. The results show that ‘Post-purchase is about so much more than just keeping customers up to date with delivery progress. It can be the beginning of the customer’s next purchase with the brand using personalised offers to drive repeat purchases, delivered at the very moment when the shopper is most engaged.’
‘Our latest set of UK consumer data* shows 49% of shoppers agree receiving personalised offers in delivery updates is a benefit that makes them more likely to repeat purchase (up from 42% in 2024). While a further 45% said personalised offers in post-purchase emails would make them more likely to try new products or ranges from the retailer – an increase of +5% from 40% last year,’ reveals Gavin.
Other key statistics from the research includes:
- 50% of shoppers surveyed agreed that receiving personalised offers in tracking updates gives them confidence in the brand they are buying from (an increase of +6% YoY)
- 68% of shoppers report that they are wary of unbranded or third-party delivery notifications as they believe they may be delivery scams
- 77% believe that post-purchase is becoming a revenue generating channel for businesses, but only 41% of enterprise retailers can currently retarget consumers with branded promotional offers after checkout.
Tips to make personalisation work
Now it’s time to reflect on wider tips to make personalisation work for online retailers.
To let or not let AI take control of personalisation?
Andre Brown, Advanced Commerce reflects on this, saying that ‘There is an ongoing debate among retailers: some believe it is essential to curate key pages, including personalised product recommendations, while others argue that the process should be entirely automated.’
‘Merchandisers would contend that their role is to uphold the brand’s identity, which they achieve by crafting brand narratives through careful page curation. On the other hand, some would argue that AI and machine learning are continually improving and will ultimately deliver better results.’
Andre’s personal view is that ‘a balanced approach often seems to work best. Curating the initial experience for first-time visitors can be highly effective, while allowing personalisation to take over once a shopper has returned a few times and their browsing habits have been established tends to yield better results.’
Get clean accurate data
Barley Laing, the UK Managing Director at Melissa recommends that retailers prioritise clean and accurate data for effective personalisation.
He reflects on the cruciality of ‘obtaining clean customer data – name, address, email address and phone number. This data helps retailers to have a single customer view (SCV), which aids the personalisation of communications, drives sales and customer loyalty.’
Barley says ‘One good starting point to source clean data is through address lookup or autocomplete. But effective personalisation can only take place once deduplication of customer data has taken place. With duplicate rates of 10 to 30 per cent on customer databases not uncommon, the creation of a ‘single user record’ can help to deliver a SCV, with the insight from this used to improve and personalise communications.
‘Embarking on data cleansing or suppression activity to highlight those who have moved or are no longer at the address on file is a very important step in the personalisation process.’
Be careful to not be invasive
Previous IMRG research has shown that over 18% of customers find personalisation ‘creepy’ so it is important to find the right balance.
Alexander Otto, Head of Corporate Relations at Tradebyte says ‘must feel natural, intuitive, and genuinely useful rather than intrusive – content that is tailored rather than targeted.’
‘The challenge is striking the right balance. Overly specific recommendations can feel invasive, raising privacy concerns. Brands can leverage AI and data ethically to create meaningful, relevant interactions that drive loyalty without overstepping. Transparency is key—71% of consumers won’t buy from brands they don’t trust.’
Alexander continues, ‘Done right, personalisation fosters engagement and strengthens the brand-customer relationship by making interactions more relevant while striking the balance between pertinence and privacy.’
Dan Bond, VP of Marketing at RevLifter echoes this, saying that ‘In 2025, customers expect tailored experiences but resent intrusive ones. The sweet spot lies in “invisible personalisation” – helpful enough to improve shopping but subtle enough to avoid the creep factor.’
‘We find three approaches driving the highest conversions: context-aware product recommendations, intelligent offer timing, and personalised navigation paths. But more isn’t always better. Each additional personalisation element delivers diminishing returns – and increases the risk of crossing into ‘creepy’ territory.’
Dan urges retailers to ‘remember the point of all this: results. Personalisation is a means, not an end. It’s only valuable when it drives conversions, increases order values, or builds loyalty.’
CRM Manager at NOVOS, Amelia Clarkson, reflects on a conflict: ‘many customers feel that overly obvious personalisation can feel invasive and off-putting, and businesses feel that they lack the internal resources to create sufficient content to suit every customer type.’
‘Fortunately, says Amelia, ‘advancements in automation, segmentation and personalisation enable brands to deliver subtle personalised experiences without extensive additional resources to implement. For example, retailers can use dynamic content blocks in email and on their website to ensure customers are seeing the right product at the right time.’
A core thing to remember, expressed by Poppy Scott, Tech Partner Consultant at Awin, is that ‘Yes, personalisation can make customers feel valued. But it can also be overwhelming. Think regular pop-ups for the same ‘personalised’ product.
Subtle personalisation, such as tailored product recommendations or personalised offers, enhance the shopping experience without being intrusive.’
What are your top tips for using personalisation? Share your thoughts on our LinkedIn post.
Published 28/03/2025
