Dreamstime has announced the release of a new personalization feature, as well as a new social media function.
The new personalization feature, “Designers Also Selected These Stock Photos,” is available via algorithms that utilize data coming from the consumers themselves, and then uses the wisdom of the gathered data to suggest the best products to customers based on personal preferences and interests. These new personalization features allow users to view similar products based on the current item(s) being viewed in their shopping cart.
Dreamstime, as well as most other microstock agencies, have had a “Most Downloads” feature for some time by sorting on the number of downloads of images that contain a particular search term.
The new feature goes farther. It's not related just to downloads, but to how the designer is downloading various concepts to use in a single project. Some of the images may not even be downloaded yet (i.e. saved in a thematic lightbox).
“This new personalization feature appeals to both natural creativity and curiosity, as well as the desire to be current, up-to-date and relevant,” said Serban Enache, CEO and co-founder, Dreamstime. “It’s an effective motivator in getting customers to check out the images that other people are buying, by means superior to keywords-search or visual search. By paying close attention to our customers’ shopping behavior and actively listening to what they are saying, we are laying the foundation for important opportunities both now and moving forward.”
So, how does the new personalization feature work? Connecting technologies and algorithms to data stored in various repositories, the feature compares information in a user’s profile—i.e., past purchases, demographic information, browsing history—to create a dynamic experience unique to that particular user. Dreamstime’s “Designers Also Selected These Stock Photos” feature points customers in the direction of other images that are relevant to photos they have already selected, or other merchandise that is currently popular.
According to Enache, Dreamstime’s other new feature– a social media function–was created to help give a further boost to shared images. Dreamstime, is in fact, the first stock agency to factor social media into algorithms, helping to further improve search. The images that end up being shared in social media accounts by various designers, photographers and other users can return a wealth of data, he said.
“We turn this data around to help create a better, overall user experience,” he said. “In an effort to expand our horizons, both of Dreamstime’s new features are key in driving user discovery, as well as assist customers in easily finding contemporary stock images that they never knew existed. Users will now have the opportunity to take a
peek at stock photos that other designers and photographers are selecting, and have the option to further explore on first sight.”