The State of Personalized Email Marketing

While digital marketers place much importance on social media these days, email is still a critical part of successful marketing strategies.

The recent State of Email Report from Litmus proves that point. The report details current trends in email marketing. Using factors like company or individual names, geographical locations, purchasing histories, previous interactions, and preferences all play a role in the digital marketing efforts of those surveyed. For example, eight out of ten digital marketers reported that they use client or organization names, and 64% said that they use customer segmentation to ensure they reach the right clients with the right content.

Personalization is a significant component of email marketing strategy. As a marketer, you must take advantage of what email marketing has to offer by taking customer relationships to a higher level – you have to get personal.

Why Does Personalization Work?

Imagine that you run into two acquaintances who you don’t know well. One of them remembers some detail about you from your first conversation, while the other doesn’t. Wouldn’t the individual who remembered something specific about you be more meaningful to you? Wouldn’t it make beginning a friendship easier?

That’s what personalization is. Everyone likes to feel special – your clients included. Applying personalization to email involves tailoring email content to be specific to the individual or company you’re sending it to. That may include their names, interests, locations, previous purchases, or other collected data. Personalization in an email makes your message more effective because it’s more relevant to the recipient. It can also help your brand stand out from your competitors.

Creating Personalized Emails That Work

Personalizing email content should start with using the client’s or their business’s name, but it can’t end there. You have to employ other best practices to create effective marketing emails. Here are four that should be at the top of your list:

1. Segmentation – Customer segmentation begins with collecting the right data from clients – everything from their demographics to purchasing habits, engagement level, and preferred devices. The more information you collect, the more effective segmentation will be. Once you have your data, you can segment them by the specific group you want to address. For example, if you sell products or services with significant price tags, you may want to target customers with higher incomes.
2. Automation – Keeping up with all the customer data and emails manually may be challenging, especially if you have a large client base. Fortunately, some personalized emails can be automated. For example, behavior-triggered emails are a great way to reach customers when they take specific actions. Consider automating welcome emails, lead nurturing emails, reminders, and other messages you define.
3. Customization – Dynamic content, or content that is specific to particular recipients, is another good way to give your customers information that is relevant to them. With dynamic content, you create multiple versions of the same email and customize the content’s parts that change based on the customer group you’re sending it to. The changes in the content may be based on the recipients’ behaviors, interests, and preferences.
4. Recommendations – Using previous buying behaviors, purchasing histories, and browsing histories, you can create specific recommendations, offers, and promotions for customers. Emails including these suggestions will show your customer that you understand their interests and preferences.

Don’t Forget to Test

Like any other marketing tactic, you must test your email campaigns. It will make every email you send more effective. Be sure that when you add personalization or automated email triggers, you send test messages to a team member or yourself to ensure that everything is correct. Additionally, be sure that you look at test emails on various devices. Many people check their emails from smartphones or tablets, so you’ll want to make sure it looks good on those too.

Final Thoughts about Personalizing Email Marketing

Getting the most out of your email marketing efforts has to include personalization. Using your client’s name in the email greeting is an excellent place to start, but your strategy must build on that. Segmenting customers, automating triggered emails, customizing content, and making relevant recommendations are what it takes to create the most effective marketing emails that will catch the readers’ attention and increase their engagement. Use the tips above to do just that.