Faiz Varghese September 20th, 2019

7 Techniques to Nail your Email Personalization

If you think including “Hi [First name] in your email completes personalization, you have probably got the personalization concept wrong.

In Fact, this is only the beginning.

Personalized content is an integral part of modern marketing and Email is no different. Consumers expect to see a more humanized version of the brand both offline and online and expect relevant content tailor-made for them. Brands are trying new techniques to show authenticity in communication improve consumer experience over the internet.

Personalization is one of the best ways to improve those conversion rates. Personalized email marketing is vital to make your email stand out. It has proved several times from the statistics of many companies' conversion rates! Here are a few:

  • 93% of companies experienced an increase in conversion rates after personalizing their search engine marketing.
  • 92% of companies saw a hike in conversions with personalized emails.
  • The same was true for 94% of companies that personalized their website.

Source-Econsultancy

Personalization can create a significant impact on conversions as we have seen from the numbers. But unless it's done rightly, marketers and companies will not experience its full benefits! In fact, personalization is a complicated strategy to nail.! From the stats, only 19% of companies in the Econsultancy study found it easy, but 39% found it highly challenging.

Many companies are only getting minimal results from their efforts. For driving conversions through personalization successfully, it is vital to focus on the customer! It means you must focus on the minutest details of a customer's experience that can effectively influence their purchase decisions.

Here we will go through the seven effective techniques to nail the email personalization that will help you boost your conversion rate.

1. Start by obtaining valid data for personalization

Collecting the right information is essential in the initial stage of personalization. You can start by collecting data from readers on sign-up forms. As a subscriber adds themselves to your email list, you will be able to ask them some questions other than an email address or a name. 

You can ask for details like their location, birthday, occupation, and more., but always try to keep the field short but sweet. You can start by asking for a few bits of information without pushing a customer to exit the form before signing up. You can also make use of Integration to obtain more data.

If you don't have the right resources for collecting information, integration is a perfect way of getting them. Many businesses claim they don't possess enough employees to carry out or monitor data collection! You can look for some Integration Software. There are many CRM software available.

Finally, you should formulate a subscriber preference center if you want to discover what your readers want to view in the first place! These settings will allow the users to update their subscription details to keep unwanted emails out of their inbox. This way, you won't waste time sending them.

This technique allows subscribers to make their own choices, making them feel more in control of their inbox. 

Once you've started collecting the proper data, you can begin to personalize your subject lines!

2. Move on to personalizing your subject line

In email marketing, the subject line has been of great importance. It is also the personalization tactic that has to be most precise to work! The subject line must vary from industry to industry, audience to audience, and so on. Subject lines may seem like a small section of your message, but they're one of the first impressions you have on your email receivers. Creating a catchy subject line is a marketer's ticket for standing out in a crowded inbox.

Do an A/B testing for uncovering the styles preferred by most of the audience. With proper testing, you will be able to modify the subject line of your content based on the data collected regarding the subscriber's needs, interests, age, and more. This way, open rates, and conversion rates will start to go up! You can do A/B testing with most of the email services. This is what it looks like on MailChimp.

Once you have successfully got your subject lines set, you should move focus on triggered emails!

3. Make use of behavior-triggered emails

Behavior-triggered emails are real-time feedback on how your customers are using the product! One great example is Facebook. They send an email if you don't log in for five days, and this is a behavior-triggered email! 

These emails have higher open rates in comparison to traditional methods. They are an essential communication tool impacting many customers to stay for a lifelong! Trigger emails are easily automated and are sent to customers for multiple actions like up-selling and cross-selling, re-engagement, and the list goes on! 

Especially a strong eCommerce email marketing strategy should include behavioral triggered emails, as for instance, the abandoned cart type emails are both very engaging and profitable. These types of emails, abandoned cart statistics say that 50% of the people who click – eventually buys. The need to start tracking these and start to gather more website click data is apparent and very lucrative!

The use of behavior triggers is a smart move as it brings back most of the users back to their website and gets them to use the products! If timed and implemented correctly, you will be able to see the difference is those conversion rates.

4. Personalize based on the number of visits

Personalizing based on the number of visits has been adopted by many businesses by displaying personalized dynamic content! Displaying offers based on the users' previous browsing history is a great way to attract potential customers based on their requirements.

Notifying them about any changes in the price or any new deals can be an ideal driving factor but always keep in mind to send promotions to those who have shown an interest in a related topic rather than sending them randomly! 

Another excellent dynamic personalization method is to present a welcome popup for first-time visitors with a great video or a message to get them acquainted with your brand and website!

If customers do not convert initially, providing them with valuable resources that they find beneficial can help build a good relationship with them.

5. Personalize based on the location and time of the user

One of the primary factors affecting conversions in marketing and business is customer experience! Any inconvenience caused can frustrate your customer and lower your chances of converting them!

It is a proven fact that sending emails during certain times of day proves to be better than others! However, You can A/B test this and plan a time to send your mails. It is unlikely that all your customers are in the same location or respond to emails at the same time. They can be from different geo-locations scattered across different time zones, and possibly receive emails at non-optimal times! 

A dynamic geo-location personalization can be an excellent solution for boosting conversions. You can perform this by using the customers' data you have collected for scheduling your emails at the best time! Sending mail at a personalized time can create an impact on the open rate, but keep in mind to keep the content relevant to the subscriber! You can analyze the customer data showing past open histories and send an email at the most optimum time! 

Personalized timings can win you consistent customers in the long run, so be sure about getting those timings right!

6. Personalize based on the device type

Personalizing based on the type of device customers use may seem like a primary method used by many these days, but it is more than just designing a mobile-responsive site! Mobile-responsiveness can help improve site navigation but does not significantly boost conversion rates. There are many ways to personalize the activities of your mobile and tablet visitors so that they convert!

You can begin by making it easy for first-time shoppers to complete their shopping by offering social login options. Many Wordpress plugins are available for adding a social login option on your site!

You can also illustrate a click-to-call button on your contact page, social media page, or effective landing page to increase the number of leads. You can display them in your search ads too for getting good responses. 

Google allows you to create call extensions and add them to your ads, and these extensions allow people to tap on your phone number and call your business directly!

7. Increase your success rate with personalized Landing pages

Pairing personalized emails and landing pages can push your success rate further and can prove to be effective in creating a successful email outreach campaign. You have to make sure that landing pages are matching with what you are sending them. It shouldn't seem like your recommendation email has no links to the actual product you are trying to sell!

This the reason to always make sure there are relevant landing pages in your emails! You can increase membership subscriptions and generate more leads by pairing personalized emails with landing pages that matched different customer segments! This way, both the email and the landing pages will contain the same content focusing on converting customers based on their specific interest!

Always make sure the landing page relates to the customers you are targeting and the buying stage they are in for getting leads and eventually converting them!

Summing Up

Email personalization is a simple and very effective way to gain new and paying customers. These seven techniques are effective in boosting conversion rates. Here, the main focus was getting personalization right resulting in the delivery of relevant real-time experiences for every customer!

featured image by Austin Distel on Unsplash

Faiz Varghese

Faiz Varghese is a social media marketer at TechWyse, an internet marketing agency in Canada, who is a knowledge craving techy. He loves to write quality content on the internet and has a passion for his job.

12 comments

  1. That’s quite interesting and special. The most important way of Nail your Email Personalization that quite special for us if we move to make our profile personalization.

  2. Email personalization is not new. Since you are looking for the best possible ways to personalise your email content, I assume you have already decided on an email marketing tool. If not, let’s start with identifying an email marketing tool that will boost your email marketing campaign.

    There are many options available, each one best in their own ways. It depends on what you want to achieve with your email campaign. Almost all the email marketing solutions now include sending one-to-one personalised email campaigns feature. Talking from the perspective of costs, I have tried Mail Chimp, AWeber, Get Response, and Constant Contact till date. All of these tools are awesome and have great features. But technically, EasySendy is one tool that beats them all in terms of features, integrations, cost, and on-boarding process.

  3. Usually, I do not post comments on blogs, but I would like to say that this blog really forced me to do so! Thanks, for a really nice read.

  4. such a wonderful post you explained each and everything about Email personalization I’ve using mail chimp from past 2 years and i think nothing can beat it, thank you for sharing new tips.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *