Ecommerce Personalisation: How to Deliver Relevance at Scale

In today’s ecommerce landscape, customers expect relevance. With more brands competing for attention and more data available than ever, personalisation is the baseline for modern customer experience.

Winning ecommerce brands are the ones that personalise across the full journey—from first click to re-engagement—by turning data into meaningful interactions. And they’re doing it in real time, across channels like chat, email, web, and messaging apps.

In this guide, we’ll break down what ecommerce personalisation really means, why it matters, and how to deliver it at scale.

What is ecommerce personalisation?

Ecommerce personalisation refers to the process of using customer data to deliver experiences, offers, and messages tailored to each user’s preferences, behaviours, and context.

It spans every stage of the customer journey—from homepage recommendations to WhatsApp-based support—and shows up in many formats:

• Product suggestions based on browsing history
  
  
• Abandoned cart emails or chatbot nudges
  
  
• Custom promotions triggered by past purchases
  
  
• Dynamic homepages that adapt per customer segment

To do it well, brands need to build ecommerce tech stacks that combine CRMs, CDPs, and messaging platforms—and the strategic intent to act on the insights.

Why personalisation matters

In a market flooded with choice, relevance is what makes brands stand out. From boosting conversion rates to building loyalty, personalisation improves every stage of the customer journey.

Customers expect personalisation

Modern shoppers expect brands to know who they are and what they want. 91% say they’re more likely to shop with brands that offer relevant recommendations, and 80% of frequent buyers only shop with brands that personalise. Relevance is the new baseline.

Personalisation drives loyalty and LTV

Personalisation doesn’t just lead to more conversions, it keeps customers coming back. It increases average order value by up to 20% and plays a key role in improving customer lifetime value.

Poor personalisation pushes customers away

The downside is just as powerful. 63% of consumers stop buying from brands that deliver irrelevant experiences. In a world of one-click alternatives, poor personalisation leads to lost trust and lost revenue.

Key personalisation strategies

Here are five strategies modern ecommerce brands use to scale personalisation:

Real-time product recommendations

Use behavioural and purchase data to recommend the right products at the right time, when customers are browsing. Dynamic suggestions increase AOV and reduce bounce rates.

Triggered messages based on user intent

Send follow-ups, reminders, or incentives based on customer actions like viewing a product, abandoning a cart, or spending time on a category page.

Dynamic bundling and upsells

Tailor product bundles or upsell opportunities based on past purchases, preferences, or cart contents. Smart bundling increases checkout value without pushiness.

Messaging-based re-engagement

Use WhatsApp, Messenger, or SMS to reconnect with customers at key moments: restocks, price drops, or repurchase cycles. Messaging makes re-engagement feel personal, not promotional.

Customer segmentation via CRM/CDP data

Segment customers by behaviour, demographics, and preferences—and use that data to personalise offers, emails, chatbot responses, and more.

Personalisation in conversational channels

Messaging apps are no longer just support tools—they’re high-converting sales and engagement channels. Brands using WhatsApp, Instagram, and chatbots are redefining and scaling personalisation in retail.

With conversational AI, you can:

• Recommend products in real time based on a user’s inputs
  
  
• Route queries to the right advisor with full customer context
  
  
• Automate loyalty reminders or back-in-stock alerts

Conversational commerce makes personalisation scalable, without compromising on relevance or empathy. Sales AI Agents, in particular, play a crucial role here. They replicate the consultative feel of in-store associates, using CRM data and real-time inputs to guide shoppers to the right product or offer.

Benefits?

• Faster time to value
  
  
• Higher CSAT scores
  
  
• Increased basket size

Brand examples that prove ecommerce personalisation works

Hubtype clients show how messaging-led personalisation can improve ecommerce’s customer experience. With tailored recommendations and real-time support, they turn everyday interactions into standout shopping experiences.

Guess – Personal Shopper via Messaging

To bring the high-touch in-store experience online, Guess implemented a conversational personal shopper powered by Hubtype’s Sales AI Agent. Customers received tailored product recommendations and real-time styling advice directly in WhatsApp. The result?

• +60% increase in average basket size from users engaging with the personal shopper flow
  
  
• +40% higher average spend, driven by personalised, pre-purchase support

By replicating 1:1 service through messaging, Guess turned mobile conversations into a high-converting sales channel.

Global Fashion Brand – Style Advisor on WhatsApp

This leading fashion retailer launched a style advisor inside WhatsApp, offering curated outfit suggestions and an embedded product catalogue. With smart automation and AI-powered guidance, customers could browse, get advice, and build a basket without ever leaving the chat.

• Delivered a seamless shopping journey that mirrored in-store assistance
  
  
• Significantly boosted engagement and conversions through conversational, guided discovery

These results show how conversational personalisation is more than a CX upgrade—it’s a proven revenue driver.

How to get started with ecommerce personalisation

Not sure where to begin? Start here:

• Go headless or composable to free your frontend and backend for rapid experimentation
  
  
• Choose messaging-first CX platforms that integrate with your stack (like Hubtype)
  
  
• Align your teams—personalisation doesn’t sit only with marketing or CX. It’s a shared strategy.
  

And remember: you don’t have to personalise everything all at once. Start with the areas where relevance will drive the most impact, like product discovery, re-engagement, or cart abandonment.

Personalisation isn’t optional

Generic journeys don’t cut it anymore. If you want to drive revenue, reduce churn, and increase loyalty, personalisation isn’t optional—it’s fundamental.

And the brands that deliver it, across messaging, chat, and web, are the ones that win.

Want to scale personalisation across messaging and chat? Let’s talk!