The Nana Experience — Humanizing Shopify Personalization

By nuwudorder | September 23, 2025

The Vision

Think about the neighborhood market. Nana greets you by name, remembers your bread order, and slips you a new pastry to try. That’s personalization at its finest: warm, subtle, and trust-based.

Your Shopify store can (and should) feel the same. This isn’t about cold algorithms; it’s about using data to recognize, reward, and gently surprise.

Principles of Human Personalization

  1. Recognition, Not Surveillance

    • Greet return customers by name: “Welcome back, Alex!”

    • Pre-select sizes or colors only if the customer volunteered that data.

  2. Familiarity With Room to Explore

    • Show favorite categories first, but always mix in new arrivals.

    • Balance predictability (comfort) with novelty (discovery).

  3. Warm Language and Tone

    • Replace “Upsell” language with “You might also love…”

    • Acknowledge loyalty: “Because you’ve been with us for a year…”

  4. Moments of Delight

    • Geo-aware nudges: “It’s sweater season in Chicago 🍂.”

    • Loyalty surprises: “Your next order ships free—just because.”

Practical Examples

  • Size Memory on PDPs: Return buyers see their saved size pre-selected.

  • Seasonal Homepages: Weather or geo-based hero banners.

  • Loyalty Progress: Checkout banners that say “You’re 80% to Gold Tier.”

  • Thank You Page Delight: Personalized reorder buttons for favorite items.

Copilot Kit: Building the Nana Experience

Try these Copilot Agent Mode prompts in VS Code:

1. Personalized Greeting

Edit: "Insert Liquid code on the homepage that says 'Welcome back, {{ customer.first_name }}!' if customer is logged in, else 'Welcome to our store!'"

2. Balanced Recommendations

Ask: "Modify recommendations.liquid to include 80% personalized products and 20% randomized new arrivals."

3. Seasonal Banner

Create: "Generate Liquid + JS snippet that checks customer.location and displays a seasonal banner (e.g., jackets for cold regions)."

4. Loyalty Progress

Create: "Scaffold a Checkout UI Extension that displays a progress bar toward VIP tier if customer has a 'loyalty_points' metafield."

Why This Matters

  • Emotional connection: Customers feel cared for, not targeted.

  • Retention boost: Humanized personalization drives repeat visits.

  • Differentiation: Most Shopify stores stop at “related products.” You’ll create the local-market Nana experience online.

✅ Takeaway: The most advanced personalization is the most human. By mixing recognition, warmth, and a little surprise, you transform algorithms into relationships.

Posted in Blog

About nuwudorder