From flash sales to “buy two, get three” offers, online shoppers are bombarded with ads and offers when they arrive on an ecommerce landing page. But are these generic promotions actually reaching the right customers? And if they’re not, how much potential revenue is walking away because the experience feels irrelevant? One way for your brand to break through is to use real-time personalization.
Nearly 75% of customers expect better personalization as technology improves. For example, a business could display relevant product recommendations based on a user’s previous browsing sessions, or feed location-specific promotions like “free shipping to Denver” to Colorado visitors. That’s the magic of personalized landing pages: The page quietly reshapes itself for every visitor, so more people stick around, click, and buy.
What is a personalized landing page?
A personalized landing page is a marketing web page customized for each visitor, often based on data about that visitor. It may greet the user by name, use a photo that is likely to resonate with them, or present headlines that reflect the user’s specific problem.
People sometimes call this type of page a dynamic landing page because the elements change to keep each visitor engaged with the version that fits them best. The goal is to make each visitor feel like the page was made especially for them, turning more page visits into paid orders.
Common use cases for personalized landing pages include:
-
New product launches. Showing different products or features to different customer segments (e.g., spotlight a men’s line to male visitors and a women’s line to female visitors).
-
Promotions and sales. Customizing sales based on customer or visitor history or segment (a returning customer might see a loyalty discount, while a new visitor sees a first-time buyer promo).
-
Special events. Creating landing pages for seasons or special events that swap images and copy to match the visitor’s location, local holiday, or time of year.
Static vs. personalized landing pages
Many businesses stick with one-size-fits-all landing pages that greet every visitor with identical content. These static pages are straightforward to build. Everyone gets the same message, but static pages can miss the mark with particular customer groups.
Unlike a static page that appears the same to everyone, a personalized page displays different text, images, or offers depending on who’s viewing it or how they arrived. The payoff can be higher engagement numbers and more sales, but building personalized landing pages typically requires significantly more resources than static landing pages.
Here’s a closer look at how static and personalized landing pages compare:
| Static landing pages | Personalized landing pages | |
| Technology stack | Basic HTML/CSS, simple CMS | Dynamic content engines, customer data platforms, and A/B testing tools |
| Setup complexity | Low: build it once | High: requires data integration, rules configuration, and testing |
| Product recommendations | Generic bestsellers or featured items | Items relevant to each user’s previous browsing and known purchase patterns |
| Pricing and promotions | Same deals and offers for everyone | Location-based shipping, loyalty discounts, and category-specific offers |
| Content relevance | Broad product categories and general messaging | Seasonal items, size availability, and regional preferences |
| Customer journey | All visitors see an identical experience | Recognizes first-time visitors, returning customers, and cart abandoners |
Areas of landing pages to personalize
Almost any element on a landing page is a candidate for personalization. Instead of changing everything, test one part of the page at a time to see what has the biggest effect on conversion.
Here are some landing page areas you can consider adapting to speak more directly to each visitor:
-
Headline and copy. Use dynamic text replacement to change the main heading or copy to address the visitor’s particular interests. You could, for example, reference a product category the visitor has shown an interest in based on their browsing history.
-
Hero image. Show a different featured image or banner depending on the visitor—perhaps displaying a product they’re likely interested in or using snapshots that fit their region.
-
Featured products. Present products that complement a visitor’s past browsing or buying behaviors. For example, a tech enthusiast sees electronics featured, while a fashion-focused shopper sees apparel.
-
Currency and location. Display prices in the visitor’s local currency and show region-specific information like shipping options, store locations, or availability. For instance, a visitor from Edmonton, Alberta, sees prices in CAD with “Free shipping within Canada” messaging.
-
Call to action (CTA). Personalize the CTA text or offer. A returning customer might see a “Shop Your Favorites Again” button, while a new visitor could see “Get 10% Off Your First Order.”
Data to base your personalization on
Data powers personalization. The more you know about your visitors, the better you can tailor your landing page to their needs or interests. Consider which data points are most relevant (and readily available) for your personalization efforts. Here’s the kind of data to collect and use:
-
Traffic source. How the visitor found your page—e.g., a Google ad, Facebook post, or email newsletter—can hint at what they were looking for or what messaging they’ve already seen. This can help you match the landing page content to the user’s interests.
-
Geolocation. The visitor’s location (country, region, or city) is another helpful data point. You might personalize the language, currency, or imagery based on where they are.
-
New vs. returning visitors. New visitors might get introductory content or a newsletter signup offer, while returning customers could see a “welcome back” message or product recommendations based on past purchases.
-
On-site behavior. Your website analytics and customer database track actions visitors have taken during previous visits, including pages or products they viewed, items they placed in their cart, or past purchases they made. If you know their behavior patterns, you can suggest accessories to a product they already bought, or make other personalized recommendations.
How to create personalized landing pages
- Collect first-party data
- Divide and conquer with audience segments
- Pick the right tools for personalization
- Design a flexible page template
- Connect each segment to the right content
- Test, learn, and refine
Here are all the steps you need to create personalized landing pages that could have customers browsing longer and buying more items per visit:
1. Collect first-party data
You can’t provide personalized experiences without the right information—it’s like trying to recommend a film to someone whose taste you know nothing about. The answer? Gathering customer insights directly from your own channels and touchpoints.
First-party data is information you collect and control directly from your customers’ interactions with your business, whether they actively share it (like through email signup) or passively generate it through their behavior (like browsing patterns). This includes data from first-party cookies—those your own domain sets—as well as form submissions, purchase history, page views, and time spent on different sections of your site. The distinction is ownership: You control the collection, storage, and use of this data.
Many ecommerce platforms automatically track much of this customer behavior and make it accessible through analytics dashboards. For example, Shopify provides several built-in tools to capture this data, including Shopify Analytics for tracking customer behavior and the Shopify Forms app for creating pop-up and inline email capture forms. The goal is to build a full picture of customer behavior that goes beyond basic demographics to include shopping patterns, product interests, and engagement preferences.
2. Divide and conquer with audience segments
Define who you’re personalizing for. Outline your key customer segments and what each group cares about. Customer segments typically fall into four main categories:
-
Demographic. Personal attributes like age, gender, income level, or education.
-
Geographic. Location-based factors such as country, region, city, climate, or currency.
-
Psychographic. Lifestyle choices, values, known interests, and personality attributes.
-
Behavioral. Actions like purchase history, browsing information, website engagement, or brand loyalty.
For example, your segments could be based on product interest (sneaker lovers versus formal shoe shoppers) or customer status (first-time visitors versus repeat buyers). It also helps to decide on the goal of your landing page for each group—is it to secure a purchase, an email sign-up, or something else?
Check whether your ecommerce platform has features to help with this. Shopify, for instance, lets you create customer segments using its query editor, where you can combine filters like purchase behavior, location, and spending patterns. You can even use plain language with the Sidekick feature to generate segments automatically from simple descriptions like “customers who have purchased in the last 60 days.”
3. Pick the right tools for personalization
Building personalized landing pages doesn’t require coding skills or much technical know-how—plenty of tools can do the work for you. First, check what your ecommerce platform offers. Shopify, for example, has apps and page builders via the Shopify App Store that can help:
Whichever solution you choose, make sure it integrates with your customer data (so it can use info like a visitor’s location or past purchases to swap in relevant content). Using software instead of hand-coding will save you time and reduce errors, so look for tools that offer easy-to-understand templates and keep your content in sync with your store.
4. Design a flexible page template
When building your landing page, create a flexible template that can accommodate different versions of content. Keep the overall structure and branding consistent, but identify which sections will change for different segments—for example, the headline, hero image, featured products, or CTA text.
It helps to start with a base version of the page for a broad audience, then duplicate it for each segment and swap in segment-specific elements for each target audience. Make sure each page variant is polished and on-brand—use high-quality images and clear copy that resonates with the segment. Above all, personalization should feel seamless—every version of the page should still look and sound like it belongs to your brand.
5. Connect each segment to the right content
Set up the rules that tell your system which content to show to which audience segment. You’re defining instructions like “If visitor is in Segment A, show Content A; if in Segment B, show Content B,” and so on. The exact method will depend on the tools you use—it might involve configuring settings in an app or using specific URLs or tags to differentiate audiences.
For example, you could show different homepage headlines based on how customers found your site—“Welcome back!” for returning visitors and “Get 10% off your first purchase” for first-time visitors. Always have a fallback default page for anyone who doesn’t fit a defined segment or for whom certain data is missing, so no visitor ends up seeing irrelevant content.
6. Test, learn, and refine
When your personalized pages are live, measure results. Monitor key metrics for each page variant (conversion rate, bounce rate, etc.) to see how each segment’s version is performing. Run A/B tests when possible; for example, compare a personalized page to a generic one, or test different versions of a page element to see what works best for conversions.
Use this information to improve the landing pages across your site. You might find some personalized touches aren’t making much difference, while others are big winners, so adjust accordingly. Tweak your pages as you learn what works—customer preferences shift, new products launch, and seasonal trends change, so adapt your personalization accordingly.
Personalized landing pages FAQ
What is a personalized landing page?
A personalized landing page is a web page tailored to an individual visitor or a specific audience segment. It auto-adjusts essential elements like text, images, or offers based on data (such as the visitor’s behavior, demographics, or source), rather than showing the exact same content to everyone.
Can I have a landing page without a website?
Yes. You can have a single landing page without having a full website with multiple interlinking pages. Many services let you create a single stand-alone landing page (for a particular campaign or promotion) and host it independently as a one-page site focused on a particular goal.
What are the four types of customer segmentation?
The four main types of customer segmentation are demographic (by personal attributes like age/gender), geographic (by location), psychographic (by lifestyle and interests), and behavioral (by actions like purchase history or online actions).
