Online retailers have always struggled to make customer’s shopping experience more individualized and tailor made. However some of them are developing strategies to solve this issue by asking the customers to answer a series of questions designed to understand their tastes and preferences. Questions like; Who is your girl crush? Do you love or hate this bohemian ensemble? What size do you wear in J.Crew? In skinny jeans? The idea is to mimic the experience the customer would have if he/she was shopping with a friend who suggested her to buy certain clothing that they might look good in. The replies that the customer gives are fed into a computer, the computer with the help of an algorithm gives suggestions of pieces of apparel that the customer might like and may have missed. Its also adding a little human touch where after the results are retrieved, professional stylists sort them out appropriately. Narie Foster, MM.LaFleur’s chief operating officer calls it the sweet spot between truly personal and somewhat removed, where the customers are the most honest about their likes and dislikes. Online retailers have high return rates of 20% to 50% this strategy of knowing the customers’s preferences can help them reduce their return rates. Bombfell is another brand that is using the questionnaire strategy, however being a menswear brand they do it with a twist by asking customers “what they would never wear?”. Read full article here.