An Inside Look into CUE’s AI-Driven Shopping Experience

Since the 1960s, CUE has been at the forefront of womenswear’s latest trends, with a deep understanding of what customers want. As retail develops and continues to grow, retailers must move swiftly and stay ahead of the curve — or get left behind. 

CUE’s target audience is a woman who understands the new and now trends and wants to look their best. In a report from WP Engine, 60 percent of Gen Z shoppers in Australia said they’d expect to see a personalised shopping experience online, with a further 44 percent saying they would abandon a retailer if it didn’t predict the products they like, want or need. 

While personalisation has become a buzzword for the retail industry, it’s more than just a trend for CUE. Personalisation has always been a priority. The retailer knew they had to bring their amazing in-store experience to their E-Commerce platform. 

CUE introduced AI into its store to further assist with deeper levels of customer personalisation. So, when it came to replicating the in-store experience online, a hyper-personalised feel was essential. “For us, hyper-personalisation is top of mind,” said Shane Lenton, the CUE Chief Information Officer.

Of course, replicating the in-store experience on screens is easier said than done, so CUE needed to work with a partner that had advanced personalisation, marketing segmentation, and customer journey orchestration capabilities.

CUE sought a provider that matched its passion for one-to-one customer journeys. Enter: Insider, a Growth Management Platform (GMP), helping marketers drive further growth across the funnel. 

A stock-standard platform no longer cuts it when it comes to creating a coherent and consistent customer experience. Personalisation, as a term, has been thrown around for years in the E-Commerce landscape, but now it’s more than just a word having its 15 minutes of fame. 

To survive in a post-COVID world, retailers must have a thorough and holistic understanding of their core audiences. Not only does this expand the knowledge of their customer base, but it can help with retention, loyalty, and trust with shoppers ⁠— something that is becoming increasingly important in a tech-led world. Moreover, a nuanced understanding of each segment helps businesses proactively respond to customers’ wants and needs and extend the in-store experience they know and love, online. 

Insider offers automated software that can predict and understand how the customer thinks, strengthening each shopper’s trust in a brand. 

“The Insider platform helped us understand customer behaviour and execute things like Mobile Exit Intent, Likelihood to Purchase, and Discount Affinity,” said Lenton. “These are things we couldn’t have dreamt of previously.” 

When a shopper would initially land on the CUE website, there was no real opportunity to have a conversation with them. CUE and Insider implemented WhatsApp Business API to turn the website into a powerful marketing channel and captivate visitors and nurture intimate relationships.

A fully-executed dialogue with the shopper from the home page to checkout isn’t just a handy tool for customer service. It also builds a rapport with the audience in real-time, which can help retail teams engage with visitors and create an enjoyable shopping experience from start to finish. 

How did Insider and CUE work together to develop and execute this innovative personalised platform? Lauren Cantwell, the E-Commerce Manager at CUE, said they took a two-pronged approach to the customer success team. 

“Firstly, they would look at the strategic point of view; they would look at the overview of the business goals and objectives, and they would act as a consultancy,” she said. “Secondly, they would look at the day-to-day operations and assist in that aspect.” 

The outcomes of this process go far beyond using personalisation and marketing segmentation to create a singularly great online shopping experience. CUE’s marketing team has reduced its workload and executed the right tools they need to capture an audience with trust and reliability. Furthermore, it assisted in customer retention and new shopper acquisition with greater returns.  

“[Insider has] reduced our workload, and they’ve allowed us to get better ROI and enhance our customer acquisition strategy, and we’ve been able to innovate with them as well,” said Cantwell. 

Find out more about Insider and request a demo here. 

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