Adobe Sensei in e-commerce: smart AI for more conversion and personalization
Published by Nathalie De Martin
Artificial intelligence is no longer future talk, it's the driving force behind successful e-commerce today. Adobe Sensei, Adobe's AI technology, is cleverly integrated into Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento) and helps webshops personalize smarter, convert better, and work more efficiently. But what exactly does Adobe Sensei do for your webshop, and how can you benefit from it optimally?
What is Adobe Sensei?
Adobe Sensei is Adobe's AI and machine learning framework that offers powerful capabilities for e-commerce. For Adobe Commerce, this means your webshop can learn from customer behavior, analyze data, and smartly respond to what your visitors want to see. The great thing is that this happens completely automatically once you've activated the Sensei modules.
Adobe Sensei combines three powerful elements: artificial intelligence for pattern recognition, machine learning for continuous improvement, and deep learning for more complex analyses. These technologies work together to make your webshop more intelligent.
Adobe Sensei is integrated into Adobe Experience Cloud, Creative Cloud, and Document Cloud. For e-commerce, the AI technology is available through Adobe Commerce modules like Product Recommendations and Live Search, which you can activate to make your webshop more intelligent.
Concrete applications in Adobe Commerce
Product recommendations that truly work
One of the most visible applications of Adobe Sensei in Magento is smart product recommendations. Instead of showing standard "related products," Sensei analyzes the behavior of thousands of customers and predicts which products your visitor will likely find interesting. This happens in real-time and is continuously refined based on new data.
The system looks at what other customers with similar preferences have purchased, which combinations are often bought together, and what fits the current browsing session. The result? Product recommendations that feel as if you have a personal shopping assistant for every visitor.
Smart search functionality
Adobe Sensei also optimizes the search experience in your webshop. Live Search, powered by AI, understands what customers mean, even with typos or vague queries. The technology learns which search terms lead to purchases and continuously adjusts the results accordingly.
Think of synonyms that are automatically recognized, popular products that rank higher in results, and even visual search options where customers can search for similar products using a photo. This significantly shortens the path to purchase
Predictive analytics for better decisions
For webshop owners and marketers, Adobe Sensei offers valuable insights. The AI predicts trends in customer behavior, helps optimize pricing strategies, and alerts you when inventory levels need attention. For example, you'll receive notifications about products that are likely to become popular, so you can respond to demand in time.
Customer Lifetime Value calculations are also refined by Sensei. You know which customers are likely to be most valuable and can tailor your marketing and service strategy accordingly.
Automatic content optimization
Adobe Sensei automatically tests different variants of content, banners, and product presentations to see what converts best. This is A/B testing on steroids, fully automated and learning from millions of interactions. Your webshop continuously improves without you having to manually set up tests.
Why Adobe Sensei matters for your webshop
The e-commerce market is becoming increasingly competitive. Customers expect a personalized experience, quick answers, and relevant suggestions. Webshops that can't provide this miss out on revenue.
Adobe Sensei helps you make a difference in three areas.
- First, it improves the customer experience as visitors find what they're looking for faster and receive more relevant recommendations. This leads to higher conversions and more returning customers.
- Second, it saves time and resources. Instead of manually creating segments, setting up A/B tests, or analyzing product combinations, the AI does this automatically and much faster. Your team can focus on strategy and creativity.
- Third, it provides data-driven insights that help you make better decisions about inventory, pricing, and marketing. You're no longer guessing but working with predictions based on millions of data points.
Recent developments and updates
Adobe continues to invest in Sensei and has rolled out important updates recently. The integration with Adobe Experience Cloud has been further strengthened, allowing you to combine data from different channels (webshop, social media, email) for even better personalization.
There have also been improvements in processing speed and prediction accuracy. The AI now learns faster from new trends and can better handle seasonal influences and sudden changes in customer behavior. For B2B webshops, specific functionalities have been added, such as smart price proposals and predictions about reorders.
Another important development is the expansion of visual AI capabilities. Think of automatic product tagging, smart image optimization, and the ability for customers to search for products using photos
Personalization in Adobe Commerce goes beyond product recommendations
Personalization with Adobe Sensei goes beyond showing relevant products. The technology can adapt entire website experiences based on who you are and what you're looking for. A new visitor sees different content than a returning customer. Someone who often makes business purchases sees different information than a private shopper. This happens in real-time and ensures that every visitor gets an experience that matches their needs.
Email marketing also benefits from Adobe Sensei. You can synchronize the smart product recommendations and customer segments that Sensei generates with your email marketing tool. This way, you automatically send relevant products to the right customers, for example with abandoned cart reminders or personalized newsletters.
For those who want to go even further, Adobe Campaign (as an extension to Adobe Commerce) offers advanced AI features such as predicting the best sending time per customer and analyzing open rates to continuously optimize your campaigns.
For marketing teams, Adobe Sensei means they can work with intelligent customer segments that are automatically updated based on current behavior. You no longer need to manually create and maintain lists—the AI does this based on what customers do and what they show interest in.
Is Adobe Sensei right for your webshop?
Adobe Sensei is available for Adobe Commerce users through modules like Product Recommendations and Live Search. These AI-driven tools are not a standard part of every installation but can be activated to take your webshop to the next level. For Magento Open Source users, these features are available through separate licenses.
To benefit optimally from the AI capabilities, good configuration is essential. The system needs sufficient data to make accurate predictions. For smaller webshops, it may take some time before the AI has learned enough, but once you reach a certain scale, AI truly makes a difference in conversion and customer experience.
It's also important to actively use the insights that Sensei provides in your strategy. The technology makes suggestions and predictions, but you determine how to handle them. A good balance between automated decisions and human expertise delivers the best results.
Privacy and data usage are other considerations. Adobe Sensei works with customer data, and it's important that you're transparent about this and comply with GDPR regulations. The good news is that Adobe strongly focuses on this and provides tools to ensure privacy.
Ready to get more out of your Adobe Commerce platform?
Adobe Sensei offers powerful AI tools that make your webshop smarter, more personal, and more effective. From product recommendations to predictive analytics, the technology helps you grow in a competitive market.
At PHPro, we have extensive experience with Adobe Commerce and know how to optimally deploy Adobe Sensei for your specific situation. Curious about the possibilities for your webshop? Contact us for tailored advice without obligation
