Accelerating Revenue with Recommendation-as-a-Service (RaaS): The Power of Personalized Experiences

Published May 4, 2023   |   
Sunantha Sanjeeva Rao

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As much as we joke about Google not letting us finish our sentences, we now expect it to do so. If the drop-down list doesn’t appear when we type the first few letters, we tend to think the Internet is acting up.  

This expectation has crossed the lines of search engines. On any platform or app, customers want a similar experience. According to a Salesforce report, 73% of them, want brands to understand and respond to their unique contexts.  

Enter Recommendation-as-a-Service (RaaS) 

Before we go any further, what exactly is RaaS? It is a type of cloud service that uses algorithms and data analysis to provide personalized recommendations to users based on their past behavior, preferences, and other relevant data. It allows businesses to offer tailored products or content suggestions to customers, which can improve engagement, satisfaction, and ultimately drive sales. 

Because who doesn’t like getting what they want? 76% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a company that offers personalized experiences. So much for brand loyalty! Today, it is all about who knows their customer best and caters to their wants and needs.  

Let’s take the case of Billabong, a swimwear brand. By rolling out AI-powered real-time personalized recommendations, the brand witnessed a 533% increase in conversion rate. Their recommendation logic was optimized based on  

  1. What the AI knew about the customer, and 
  2. The current context (which page they are viewing) 

It might sound simple to plug in any recommendation engine with a similar strategy to get similar results. But opting for the first result in your search won’t cut it. Finding the right one for your enterprise factors in big time. When streaming platform Hotstar switched their personalization solution, they scored a 30% increase in watch time and 50% higher click-through rate.  

When it comes to travel, customers look for intuitive experiences and personalized travel itineraries. A leading bank in India worked with Crayon Data’s flagship platform, maya.ai, to cater to this demand. The first step was mapping connections between different countries and cities. Based on affinity, the next-best international destination for a customer was recommended. This drove approximately USD 100 Mn in spending in both international and domestic travel categories! 

Ultimately, it’s all about delivering a better customer experience (CX). After all, CX “encapsulates everything a business or an organization does to put customers first, managing their journeys and serving their needs. In essence, RaaS is an integral part of creating a CX strategy that works.

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Let’s dive deep into three aspects of RaaS that are sure to make an impact on any business. 

Reduced Cart Abandonment 

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Ecualama, an Ecuador-based retail shop that deals in fair-traded handmade products, was looking to combat its low conversion rates contributed largely by cart abandonment. Because no business wants to lose out on potential customers. They’ve already shown both interest and intent. The only thing left to do is take the leap from cart to payment and shipping.  

RaaS can provide personalized and relevant recommendations to customers during the checkout process. By analyzing the customer’s browsing and purchase history, it can suggest additional products or services that are likely to appeal to them. This increases the likelihood that they will complete the purchase.  

Additionally, RaaS can provide targeted promotions or discounts for the items in the customer’s cart, incentivizing them to complete the transaction. Going back to Ecualama, they’re a great example of how even small businesses can see instant results with such strategies. In just 30 days, they generated an additional revenue of $16.5K 

Increased Average Order Value (AOV) 

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A customer won’t know what products or services a business offers unless it is displayed. Think of it as a digital store window. With relevant product recommendations supported by RaaS, prospects are made aware of multiple options that are available to them. They are then more likely to add to their purchases than stop with what they came for. What are the chances of that happening? 49% of consumers who received personalized recommendations say they went for a product that they did not initially intend to buy.  

Natural Baby Shower, a UK-based company specializing in sustainable baby products, struggled with a wide product range that fell short on categorization. Misspelled product searches returning empty-handed, and lack of product recommendation displays hampered the sales greatly. Personalized recommendations came to the rescue, and this is what happened: 

  • 31% increase in basket size 
  • 21% increase in AOV 
  • 349% increase in conversion rate 

Better Conversion Rates 

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With the number of competitors out there, businesses need to give buyers a reason to choose them. Personalized experience can be a swaying point for most of these conversions. This applies to well-established businesses as well. Resting on past laurels can make the business pay a heavy price. 

Lacoste, a global clothing brand, understood this well and decided to give its website visitors something more than a standard search result. Their RaaS strategy resulted in  

  • +150% sales from search 
  • +210% search activity, of which mobile searches saw +314% 
  • +37% conversions, of which mobile conversions grew by 62%  
  • -88% bounce rate 

So, what does all of this add up to…? 

Revenue, of course. Happy, engaged customers are repeat customers who bring in more revenue. They also spread the word, leading to new customers, who bring in even more revenue!  

Crayon Data’s maya.ai platform offers an all-encompassing RaaS that’s focused on such revenue growth and creating additional revenue streams. While staying GDPR compliant and without using PII.  

Enterprises can profile, engage, and drive transactions with our proprietary TasteGraph™, ensemble of 50+ algos and our lineup of studios: 

  • Taste Studio: Identify relevant recommendations based on customer’s taste 
  • Commerce Studio: Optimize recommendations for context (location, day, etc.) 
  • Engage Studio: Showcase recommendations on the enterprises’ digital assets 

 Recommendation as a Service

The maya.ai platform has a modular construct, offering three other key ingredients that enable superior customer engagement at an individual level. This includes 

The four modules can be deployed seamlessly, in whichever order the enterprise needs. 

Want to know more about maya.ai’s modular construct? Speak to our AI experts today!