Nearly a quarter of shoppers feel more connected to enterprise brands that offer personalized features, but not every personal touch meets the mark. The challenge for retailers is knowing where personalization builds trust and where it crosses the line. Get to know what resonates, what backfires, and the type of customer personalization shoppers around the world really want.
What Makes Customer Personalization Valuable (Beyond “Hi, {First Name}!”)
Personalization works because it makes shopping more intuitive, which saves shoppers time – and builds trust. Shoppers stay loyal to brands that offer experiences that feel relevant, respectful, and real. So how can you make sure your brand experience offers just that?
Relevant: Tailor Value, Not Just Content
Personalized customer experiences go far beyond using someone’s first name. What really resonates are perks with substance. For instance, 38% of shoppers say exclusive discounts based on their shopping behavior are among their favorite personalized features. That’s a clear sign that when you add real value, the bond between shopper and brand grows stronger.
Use browsing and purchase history to shape recommendations, promotions, and the purchasing process – so the next best option surfaces fast and feels obvious.
Respectful: Let Shoppers Stay in Control
Create a bridge from “smart” to trusted by communicating how customer data is used and give shoppers control over it. When shoppers can toggle, limit, or refine what powers their experience, confidence rises – and so does trust in your brand.
Real: Keep AI Behind the Scenes
74% of shoppers are hesitant to trust AI in retail. Make AI the engine, not the face – especially in the UK, where respondents were 10-15% less comfortable with AI uses in retail than other countries.
Customer Personalization Features Shoppers Value
Shoppers worldwide agree on a few tried-and-true personalization moves, the ones that make them feel understood – not just targeted.
Tailored Discounts That Feel Earned
Start with the clear favorite: targeted discounts tied to real behavior. Across markets, personalized offers rank highest on shoppers’ lists. They want genuine rewards for their loyalty – not generic blasts. Align perks with purchase habits and engagement to show you’re paying attention.
Recommendations That Reduce Effort
Next, tackle decision fatigue. Use on-site signals (views, add-to-cart, category depth) to nudge the right products, sizes, and bundles. The goal isn’t to surprise and delight, but to shave seconds and doubt.
Want the country‑by‑country view of what shoppers call good customer personalization? Download the global shopper survey.
Loyalty That Grows With Me
Finally, make loyalty feel reciprocal. Customers connect when rewards reflect real commitment – especially in France, where nearly half of shoppers rate loyalty earned by true brand affinity as the feature that makes them feel most connected.
Customer Personalization in the Wild: A Market‑by‑Market View
The through‑line is universal – make it personal, not creepy. However, the dials shift by country. Here’s what three key markets value in terms of personalization.
France: Open to AI – If It Improves the Journey
To land the message, emphasize usefulness: faster discovery, better matches, fewer dead ends. When AI speeds up finding the right product, French shoppers lean in.
United Kingdom: Personalize With Extra Transparency
Set expectations early and often. UK respondents were 10-15% less comfortable with AI in retail than other markets. Offer these shoppers controls and detailed explanations alongside AI‑assisted features.
United States: Make Value Visible
American shoppers respond well to tailored savings and personalized product recommendations. The sweet spot is usefulness over spectacle, so win these shoppers over with timely, personal offers that feel like a real win.
Want to know what shoppers in other regions value? Download the global shopper survey.
What Enterprise Retailers Should Do Differently
If scale is your advantage, personalization is how you can ensure shoppers everywhere connect with your brand. Offer relevance, control, and value across the journey, and you’ll keep shoppers coming back. Here are our tips for creating more powerful personalized shopping experiences:
- Make relevance feel like mind reading (without being creepy): Surface the right thing at the right moment – quick, personalized suggestions beat generic taglines every time.
- Put shoppers in the driver’s seat: Give customers easy ways to customize their experience, like adjusting recommendations, managing data preferences, or setting communication frequency. When shoppers feel in control, “maybe” quickly turns into “mine.”
- Leverage AI as a personalization driver: Use AI to cut through the noise, narrowing down options to the most relevant few. Keep the engine invisible and the value obvious: fewer, yet smarter, choices.
- Make loyalty feel personal, not promotional: Give benefits that reward real loyalty and spell out the “why” behind each perk.
- Optimize your omnichannel journey: Carry preferences and progress across touchpoints, so shoppers never have to start over.
Tech Implications: Where Your Stack Should Flex
Personalization only scales if you have the right tech to support it. These are the levers to stay on your customers’ radar:
Data, Consent, and Governance
Use permissioned signals. Let customers set data preferences in your CDP/consent layer and keep audit trails visible. In markets hesitant about AI in retail, like the UK, clarity builds trust without adding friction.
Recommendations & On‑Site Merchandising
Turn browsing and purchase history into action. Feed models, then apply outputs to ranking, bundles, and discounts. That way the right products and perks show up naturally, beyond demo mode.
Loyalty & Messaging
Make rewards feel earned. Structure tiers so perks link clearly to actions (“because you did X, you get Y”). Visible reciprocity deepens trust and repeat buys.
Make Customer Personalization Personal: What to Prioritize Next
Personalization pays off when it’s relevant, respectful, and real. Anchor on value (tailored savings), give control, and keep AI subtle – then localize how you present it for each targeted region. Want to see exactly how your markets differ – and where to focus first?
Get SCAYLE’s Global Shopper Survey and benchmark your experience against what customers actually want.