New ways to personalize your email marketing Smart marketers use personalization in their email strategies because it works. But as the saying goes, “too much of everything is as bad as too little.”
Personalized email is the strategy of using subscriber data in your email content to make it tailor-made for each recipient. Personalized email marketing can drive growth: 93% of companies with “advanced personalization strategies” saw revenue growth, according to behavior expert Jennifer Clinehens. And personalization can drive long-term customer value. Brands that had the highest personalization ROI focused on loyalty as their top KPI. (Key Performance Indicator)
Consumers crave products that cater to their needs and are made just for them. Investing in personalization efforts can pay off big for brands and drive-up revenue as much as 30%. 70% of consumers say they will shop exclusively with businesses that personally understand them, says Forbes customer experience specialist Blake Morgan.
With that said, how do you keep your personalization fresh and relevant?
How do you cut through the “personalization clutter” and go beyond putting your customer’s name In the subject head?
We made it for you, {name.}
Hi, [name], quick question for you
Hey {name.} we think you’re going to like this.
Here are some other ways to personalize your email marketing:
5 NEW WAYS TO PERSONALIZE YOUR EMAIL MARKETING
SEGMENTATION
One of the best ways to personalize your emails is by segmenting your list. Segmentation is simply grouping your list into segments that have some things in common. Emma by Marigold gives us a few examples including:
- Location
- Gender
- Role in an organization
The criteria you use for segmenting your list depends on the kind of business you’re in and your goals for the campaign. By using a little bit of data in your email, your user will feel like you know them on a personal level. This will result in them connecting to your email, engaging with it, and hopefully, completing the action you want.
Segmentation is the foundation of most, if not all, personalized email marketing strategies.
EMPATHY
Do you market to Millennials or Gen Zers? An overwhelming number of today’s consumers expect brands to take a stand on social issues, so it’s essential for brands to incorporate purpose-over-purchase communication strategies.
Be as transparent as possible. Travel agencies and airlines have been dealing with environmental issues in their marketing for years. The travel industry contributes significantly to carbon emissions, and consumers are aware of the impact their purchases and choices have. In fact, a recent Deloitte survey found that nearly 1 in 3 consumers stopped purchasing from certain brands because of sustainability concerns.
Google came up with a new feature that shows customers the environmental impact of flights. Users can see carbon emissions estimates for nearly all flights in their search results.
BROWSING HISTORY
Another good way to personalize your email marketing is by gathering a user’s browsing data and sending them an email asking about the products they were looking at. You can use a subject line like “Still Thinking About It?” Then give them a discount.
This kind of personalization is also effective when it comes to personalizing abandoned cart recovery emails. It’s also useful if your customer purchased a product that requires some accessories. Learn more about accessing browsing history by clicking here.
MILESTONE EMAILS
You’ve heard about this type of email, and you might even think it’s corny and cliché – but sometimes corny and cliché works. Milestone emails can be triggered for certain events such as a subscriber’s birthday or subscription anniversary. You can expand this with location personalization that mentions events where they live, and/or loyalty offers.
Milestone emails also assist in maintaining a lasting relationship with your readers and making them feel like they are valued customers. Personalized milestone emails boost customer retention, response and conversion rates and is a great way to engage customers.
Everyone loves to celebrate anniversaries, especially their own. Beyond remembering your subscriber’s name, you can add another level of personalization by remembering essential dates in their journey with you.
However, wishing someone an automated “happy birthday” when it’s not their birthday is poor personalization and can cost you dearly.
CREATE AN AUTHENTIC EMAIL LIST
Ok – this isn’t a new way to personalize your email, but it’s worth repeating. Here are some steps for creating personalized emails and collecting relevant subscribers who want to hear from you:
Opt-in Forms. You can use opt-in forms on your website to collect email addresses.
Lead Magnets. Lead magnets attract subscribers by offering them incentives (like downloading a pdf file) in return for their email address.
Social Media Posts. You can capture the attention of potential customers through social media and give them a link to sign up to your email list.
Invest in a Personalized Email List. There are companies that will actually personalize and segment an email list for you. This not only saves you time and money, it helps you grow a more robust email list.
In the vast world of the web where there’s so much anonymity, it’s
refreshing for someone to get something that’s personal. People overwhelmingly like being recognized and it can yield major dividends. With email marketing, it can improve your open rates up to 26%. The potential for profiting from personalization is big – so do it. If you don’t know how to do it, contact the email marketing personalization experts at the Email List Company – they’ll be happy to show you how to do it.