How to Leverage Customer Preferences to Unlock More Revenue

While most ecommerce brands are still guessing what customers want based on their clicks, the smartest ones in 2025 simply ask — and the revenue gap is staggering.

Companies that excel at preference-based personalization generate 40% more revenue than competitors still relying on behavioral guesswork, according to McKinsey. The difference isn’t just revenue; it’s customer acquisition costs dropping by up to 50% and loyalty that survives pricing pressure.

The winning strategy is remarkably straightforward: Ask customers what they want, remember what they tell you, and deliver experiences tailored to those preferences across every interaction.

This direct exchange — information for personalization — is creating a category of customer data called “zero-party data:” the preferences, intentions and personal context that customers explicitly share with a brand, rather than information inferred from their behavior.

Related: Do You Know What Your Customers Want? Are You Sure?

Why asking beats guessing

Consider two scenarios: Your analytics show a customer browsed winter coats but didn’t purchase — you’re guessing about interest, price sensitivity or sizing concerns. Alternatively, that customer engages in a two-minute interactive experience, such as a style finder or guided shopping session, where they share they’re shopping for a ski trip, prefer sustainable materials and wear size medium. This personalized interaction not only enhances how they shop but also provides you with actionable insights, so you know exactly what to show them.

But you don’t need to be Stitch Fix to see results. Take Pela Case, a mid-market accessories brand. After adding a simple product finder quiz to their homepage, they saw a 48% increase in add-to-cart conversion rates and 38% increase in purchases. Customers who shared preferences about phone model, style preferences and sustainability priorities bought more and returned less. The quiz captured certainty where analytics only showed ambiguity.

This difference between inference and certainty is reshaping retail economics. When customers tell you their preferences, they create data that competitors can’t replicate by analyzing purchase patterns.

Capturing preferences across every touchpoint

The most sophisticated brands recognize that preference data doesn’t just come from surveys — it emerges from every customer interaction.

Glossier demonstrates this brilliantly through Instagram, where beauty enthusiasts naturally share their needs and product wishes. The brand monitors comments, engages in DMs and uses social listening to capture these voluntary insights. When followers mention they’re searching for a gentle cleanser or prefer cruelty-free products, Glossier captures that intelligence and activates it across email, website personalization and product development. Their Milky Jelly Cleanser famously originated from social media conversations about customers’ dream cleanser attributes.

This multi-channel approach matters because customers express preferences wherever they’re comfortable: Post-purchase surveys capture satisfaction and future needs; preference centers let customers control communication granularity; quiz-style interactions work particularly well for complex products. Each channel generates relevant data that informs everything from recommendations to inventory planning.

Real-time activation creates seamless experiences

Having customer preferences matters only if you activate them instantly across every touchpoint. When a customer shares that they’re a “beauty novice” or “beauty enthusiast,” that single data point should transform every subsequent interaction.

Mecca, the Australian beauty retailer, uses this elegant segmentation to tailor content and frequency: Novices receive carefully paced educational content and just a few emails yearly, while enthusiasts get frequent updates on new products and trends. The communication always feels relevant, never overwhelming.

Related: Why Knowing Your Customer Drives Smarter Growth (and Higher Profits)

A legacy brand rebuilt on personalization and preference-led experiences

Bringing preference data together with commerce operations has shown remarkable potential to elevate the customer experience. One example is Z Gallerie, the iconic home décor brand now entering a new chapter under Karat Home’s ownership. Founded in 1979 as a humble poster shop in Sherman Oaks, the brand grew into a nationwide destination for glamorous home décor with a devoted customer following. That legacy of bold design and emotional connection makes personalization especially powerful in its modern relaunch.

Building on that legacy, the company made personalization a pillar of its comeback strategy. With 1,500+ newly designed SKUs and a refreshed design identity, the brand needed to ensure every shopper, whether browsing online, visiting a pop-up or exploring design services, received relevant, curated recommendations aligned with their personal style and project needs.

It now captures and activates customer preferences across every touchpoint:

• Wishlist behavior now informs tailored product recommendations.

• Loyalty engagement and rewards activity shape personalized incentives for high-value segments.

• Design service inquiries and style notes sync directly into unified customer profiles, giving teams the context needed to recommend pieces aligned with a customer’s aesthetic.

• In-store interactions connect back to the ecommerce profile, ensuring omnichannel personalization stays consistent.

This shift toward a preference-led, customer-centric model supports the brand’s broader transformation, where glamorous design meets modern personalization.

Instead of relying on assumptions about what customers “might like,” Z Gallerie can now leverage zero-party and first-party data to deliver what customers actually want.

The alternative, stitching together specialized tools through APIs and custom code, creates what Deloitte identifies as the primary barrier to effective personalization: data silos. Brands that achieve unified customer profiles spanning all touchpoints see conversion rates 16 percentage points higher than competitors struggling with fragmented data across disconnected systems.

The measurable impact

The financial case extends beyond customer satisfaction. Boston Consulting Group’s 2024 Personalization Index found that personalized offers deliver three times higher ROI than mass promotions. A 20% off sale might drive volume, but a personalized offer for the exact category a customer expressed interest in drives both volume and margin.

Deloitte’s research confirms that brands successfully implementing preference-based strategies see Customer Lifetime Value increase by 20 percentage points through improved satisfaction and retention.

• Conversion rates improve when recommendations match stated preferences.

• Average order values increase when cross-sell suggestions align with articulated needs.

• Most valuable of all, preference-based personalization creates sustainable competitive advantages. Customer relationships built on understanding stated needs generate loyalty that survives pricing pressure.

When customers trust you to remember their preferences and deliver relevant experiences, they’re far less likely to comparison shop on price alone.

Related: How to Revolutionize Your Business With a Customer-Centric Model

Start building preference-based personalization

For brands ready to move beyond behavioral guesswork, start here:

• Identify your highest-friction moments. Where are customers getting stuck or abandoning? A quiz that helps them navigate complex product catalogs or find the right gift can simultaneously capture preferences and improve conversion.

• Create clear value exchange. Customers share preferences when the benefit is obvious — “Answer 5 questions, get personalized recommendations” works. “Complete our survey” doesn’t.

• Start with one channel, then expand. Begin with post-purchase feedback or a homepage quiz. Once you’re capturing and activating preferences effectively in one place, expand to social listening, preference centers and SMS.

• Unify your data infrastructure. Preference data locked in survey tools or buried in customer service transcripts can’t drive personalization. Ensure preferences flow into your customer profiles and activate across all touchpoints automatically.

The brands winning in 2025 aren’t those with the most sophisticated tracking algorithms — they’re the ones brave enough to ask customers what they want, disciplined enough to remember the answers and smart enough to act on them immediately.

The question isn’t whether to build preference-based personalization. It’s whether you can afford not to.

While most ecommerce brands are still guessing what customers want based on their clicks, the smartest ones in 2025 simply ask — and the revenue gap is staggering.

Companies that excel at preference-based personalization generate 40% more revenue than competitors still relying on behavioral guesswork, according to McKinsey. The difference isn’t just revenue; it’s customer acquisition costs dropping by up to 50% and loyalty that survives pricing pressure.