What is Email Personalization and the Importance of Email Personalization

Email Personalization is pretty much a self-explanatory term. However, email personalization in context with email marketing is the practice of writing emails to your customers or prospects using the data or information you have about them.

This information can be their first name, last name, last order they made at your store, discarded products from the cart, their location, or any other important information with regards to your business you have about them.

Introduction to email personalization

There can be different levels of email personalization. The most common and very basic level of email personalization is using the receiver’s name in the subject line.

A more advanced level of email personalization can be changing the content of the email based on gender, buying behaviors, location, etc. Personalizing your email content is a proven way of increasing your open and click-through rates. Personalization of emails can have a measurable impact on your ROI and revenue.

Research has shown that emails with personalized subject lines are 22% more likely to be opened as compared to non-personalized subject line emails. When you have meticulously drafted your marketing email in a highly personalized way, it will make your prospect engage more with it.

Similar subsequent emails sent as a follow-up communication will gradually build trust and loyalty.

Email personalisation best practices

Having known what email personalization is, the following 3 elements are the most important areas of practice.

1. Relevancy of the email – One of the most important parts of email personalization is that the content of your email should be very relevant. Having a subject line with the recipient’s name is just not enough.

You need to gather some important data or information about the user to further personalize the message which grabs his attention. If your email doesn’t directly make an impact on users, your efforts in email marketing are most likely to go down the drain.

2. Timing of your email – It is important to keep a track of your subscriber’s / users’ customer journey. Sharing a customized recommendation or Call-To-Actions (CTA) can bring a huge conversion out of your email marketing activity.

3. Human-like sending – The receiver of your email will trust and relate to it more if it was sent by a person and not by a business. You need to add a person’s name in the “from” field and a profile picture instead of the logo.

Statistical summary of email personalization

According to a recent survey Emails with personalized subject lines are 24.5% more likely to be opened and the click-through rate is just above 3.8% compared to a non-personalized ones. More than 70% of marketers say that personalized emails increase customer/ prospect engagement.

-Personalized emails deliver 4x higher transaction rates compared to non-personalized emails. On average, 34% of prospects have expressed an interest in buying personalized products or services. Personalized calls to action convert 64% better than default calls to action.

Importance of email personalization

1. Customer retention and brand loyalty – When you send personalized emails to your prospect or the existing client, It makes them feel special and also establishes a better connection. This makes the clients/ prospects develop an interest in your brand/service and stay longer with you.

2. Provide better recommendations – As we have seen a big technological advancement in email marketing, we can also send “event-based or triggered emails”. If we personalize these emails, the relevance of these emails will be good and you can get more conversions out of your email marketing activity

3. Generate more revenue – analysis has consistently shown that email marketing with a personalized message results way better than a non-personalized email message. Relevant “subject lines” increase the open rate and the personalized message inside engages the audience better, and you get more conversions. It helps you close more sales and generate higher revenue.

4. Faster sales – Email Personalization not only helps you generate revenue but also achieves the same faster. The most important reason for the same is the personalization of the email helps the reader make the decision faster. A non-personalized email doesn’t attract attention as well as it can be seen as a fishy activity

5. Increase conversion rates and engagement – With the help of tracking systems in place, marketers can create email lists for dedicated campaigns based on user behavior, consumption pattern, location, language or even event tracking. With the segregation of email IDs, one can create a separate communication for each email list which will get more open rates, click rates and conversions

Impact of email personalization on email deliverability

Personalization in cold emails is about tailoring your message to meet the unique needs of each recipient. Proper personalization increases customer satisfaction and the likelihood of future engagement. Improper personalization, however, can lead to poor email deliverability, with emails landing in spam folders.

Effective email personalization involves more than just including basic details like the recipient’s name or company. You should also add specific references to their previous work, projects, or industry activities. This shows you’ve done your homework and genuinely care about their interests and needs.

Good personalization boosts open rates, reduces unsubscribes, and minimizes spam reports. To avoid your emails ending up in spam, invest time in researching your recipients and crafting unique messages for each. Highlighting recent blog posts, tweets, or company achievements can make your emails more engaging and relevant.

Remember, personalization is key to showing recipients that you value them, leading to higher response rates and better email deliverability.

Tips on using personalized subject lines and leveraging automation tools

Personalized Subject Lines

1. Use the recipient’s name: Including the recipient’s name in the subject line grabs attention and adds a personal touch.

Example: “John, Boost Your Sales with Our New Tool!”

2. Reference their company or industry: Mentioning the recipient’s company or industry shows you’ve done your research and are offering relevant information.
 
Example: “Innovative Solutions for [Company Name]’s Growth”

3. Highlight a recent achievement: Acknowledging a recent success or event related to the recipient can create a connection and spark interest.

Example: “Congrats on the New Product Launch, Sarah!”

4. Ask a question: Posing a question related to their business needs or pain points can intrigue them and prompt them to open the email.

Example: “Ready to Reduce Your Operational Costs, Mark?”

5. Offer value: Clearly state the benefit or value they’ll receive by opening the email.

Example: “Exclusive Tips to Enhance Your Lead Generation”

Leveraging automation tools

1. Segmentation: Use automation tools to segment your email list based on industry, job title, past interactions, and more. This helps you send more targeted and personalized emails.

Example: Creating segments for CEOs, Marketing Managers, and Sales Reps to tailor content specifically for each group.

2. Dynamic content: Utilize dynamic content features to automatically insert personalized details like names, company names, and specific references into your emails.

Example: “[First Name], here’s how [Company Name] can benefit from our solution.”

3. Behavioral triggers: Set up triggers that send personalized emails based on recipient actions, such as website visits, downloads, or previous email interactions.

Example: Sending a follow-up email with relevant content after a prospect downloads a whitepaper from your site.

4. A/B testing: Use automation tools to test different personalized subject lines and email content variations to see what resonates best with your audience.

Example: Testing two subject lines: “Boost Your Revenue, [First Name]” vs. “See How [Company Name] Can Grow”

5. Analytics and reporting: Leverage analytics to track the performance of your personalized emails and refine your approach based on data-driven insights.

Example: Analyzing open rates and click-through rates to determine the most effective personalization strategies.

Ways of email personalization

1. Asking the Right Questions – One way of personalizing email for your customers is to ask them the right set of questions. Let them choose the type of content they are interested in. Once you know the preferences of your audience you can create emailing lists and personalize your message for them.

2. Build Customer Personas – It is very important for marketers to know their customers. When you define certain attributes of your customers such as location, age, interests, preferences and problems etc. you can have accurate communication in place.

3. Personalized Recommendations and Landing Pages – track your customers browsing history on your website, keep a track of abandonments of the cart, Interaction with CTA buttons etc. With this data, you can be in the right place at the right time. Promote the products they often view, upsell a modernized product version, and cross-sell useful items.

4. Set up behavior trigger emails – When users perform a particular action, an email is sent to them in response, these emails are called trigger emails. For example, when someone subscribes to an email list, you can have a system in place that sends him a welcome message.

Similarly when someone orders, fills up a form, asks a question, etc. a personalized email can be sent to him. You can even send reminder emails to those who didn’t open your emails in the last six months. These emails have high open rates, better engagement, and more CTR.

5. Using Merge Tags – Merge tags are one of the most powerful tools in the email marketer’s toolbox. A merge tag is a specific code that allows you to insert unique user data from your mailing list into emails.

You can use merge tags and address your users by name. This helps to grab their attention, and it also helps to build a personal relationship with the reader. Your target audience (email list) contains audience fields (probably on the excel sheet) that refer to your contact’s information.

Each audience field corresponds to a unique merge tag, which looks like a snippet of text wrapped in special characters: *{{CUSTOMIZE}}*. When you insert a merge tag into your campaign, It replaces the tag with the content stored in the corresponding audience field.

For example, to include your contacts’ names in your email, you would place the *{{NAME}}* merge tag in your content where you want your contact’s name to appear. When your contact receives the email, they’ll see their own name where the merge tag was placed.

By using merge tags you can personalize your email content in creative ways for example – If you are a pet-care business, you can personalize an email for your client saying – “We haven’t seen Milo in the last six months. Time for a check-up!” or you can also personalize with info of the user’s last order that is “Enjoyed your cheese pizza on Sunday? Here’s a list of coupons exclusively for you!”

With the help of merge tags and conditional merge tags, you can hyper-personalize your emails. Dynamic emails work way better than just segmenting the email lists.

How are merge tags used? What are some of the ways to use merge tags and conditional merge tags to hyper-personalize your emails?

Summing up – Email personalization

Email personalization is one of the most important things in your cold email marketing strategy. Personalization with the use of merge tags helps you build a strong connection with your customers.

Email personalization makes the reader feel special and makes him engages with the content. This brings more open rates, click-through rates, and conversions from your cold email marketing activity.