Why Personalization Matters in Email Marketing and How to Get It Right

Why Personalization Matters in Email Marketing

Personalization in email marketing can begin before the customer even opens the message, starting with who it’s from and the subject line.

Personalization can be as simple as customizing the from line to be the name of each customer’s salesperson. Now the email feels custom and important instead of a mass email that everyone got from the company.

The subject line is another crucial opportunity for personalization that could influence whether the customer opens or deletes it. 

For example, imagine that a customer has been browsing your apparel site for a new wool sweater. You start a 25% off sale and send an email with the subject line: Limited Time 25% Off. 

While the subject line uses all aspects of good email marketing copywriting (i.e., it’s short, instills a sense of urgency, uses numbers), it might not speak to the customer directly.

Now consider this personalized subject line: 25% Off Your Cozy Wool Sweater. Grab It Before It’s Gone.

Yes, it’s longer. But it puts the most important information first in case the subject line gets truncated. And it tells the customer exactly what they want to know.

Once they open the email, instead of generic images of some of your most popular items – which might not resonate with the customer – they see that sweater in the color they browsed. And you can style it perfectly with a pair slacks or fleece-lined leggings. Now, you have a winning strategy that can make the customer say, “I should get that now that it’s more affordable.”

The Psychology Behind Email Personalization

Aside from the fact that consumers don’t want to have to sift through complicated emails to find what’s relevant to them, personalization plays into a customer’s desire for relationships.

Email personalization comes from deep research into consumer psychology. Several factors impact why personalization is so powerful.

1. Curiosity: Humans are naturally curious beings. By playing into that curiosity, brands can write subject lines that make consumers wonder what the email is all about. This can lead to higher click-through rates as consumers want to know what they don’t know. That’s one reason why subject lines with questions work well.
2. Social proof: Let’s go back to the wool sweater example. The company might be one that offers its best price every day, meaning there is no sale to send the customer to entice that first purchase. So they have to find another way to reach the customer. They pull in short, clear aspects of a review on the product. For example, now you can write a subject line that says: “Winter’s Must-have Warmest Sweater.” Or you could even pull from the consumer’s state if you have social proof related to where the consumer is located: “Every Minnesotan Needs This Sweater” – Customer. Social proof can help customers relate to one another and show what it’s like to use your products.
3. Emotion: A large difference between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom is our ability to feel and relate to one another. Using emotion in email can urge consumers to act. We don’t want to miss out on anything, which can make the emotions of excitement, intrigue and anticipation work well for email marketing. Storytelling is another powerful tool for reaching customers based on emotion. Humor plays on another area of emotion through entertainment and lightheartedness.
4. Connection: Consumers want to feel like brands match their goals for life. For example, sustainability-focused companies resonate with consumers because their priorities align. You can highlight these aspects of your company with consumers who have shown an affinity for these community involvements.

How to Get Personalization in Email Marketing Right

Personalization in email marketing relies on data. To get it right, you need effective forms, browser tracking, advanced marketing automation systems, and marketers who know how to analyze and use that data.

1. Effective Forms

Email subscription forms are a fast and simple way to gather information about your customers. While only asking for email can make that process even faster, it won’t help you reach the consumer effectively.

Ask for additional fields, such as their name, location and non-invasive interests. Make sure that what you require on the form is information that the customer would be comfortable giving. 

Make all additional questions hyper-relevant to your brand. So don’t add a form field just because you’ve seen it elsewhere.

2. Browser Tracking

Once you have a known visitor through online forms, you can start tracking their online behavior to learn more about what interests them. This requires good technology in your website and your CRM to recognize and gather this information. 

But once you start gathering this data, you’ll see how powerful it can be in telling you more about your customers, such as what products they like and what topics interest them. That way, you can send them highly targeted email, such as in the case of advertising the specific wool sweater they had browsed. 

3. Advanced Marketing Automation Systems

Your marketing automation system must have deep integration with your CRM and e-commerce/website platform. That way, you have access to all data about a customer and can segment your marketing lists accordingly.

Bringing together your data sources will give you a clearer picture of who a customer is and what drives them.

It also allows you to send messages based on niche information about a customer, such as where they live combined with the products they shop, as in the example of sending the customer interested in the wool sweater a review from another person in their area.

Personalization in email marketing varies by the capability of the marketing automation system. Some allow only basic personalization, such as adding the customer’s name or using segmented subject lines. More advanced systems can dynamically insert product images or compile a list of relevant blog posts based on browsing history.

4. Marketers Who Know How to Read and Use Data

Having data is one thing. Knowing how to interpret and use that data is something else. Dealing with complex data requires deep expertise and hiring that expertise into the average marketing team can be complex because of the demand for such marketers.

You need a team that can do the following.

• Segmentation: Within your total email marketing audience there are many subsets based on what you know about your consumers. However, knowing how to segment your audience based on this information can be confusing and complex if you’ve never done it before. That’s where working with a team of experts can help.
• Dynamic content: Email views and information can be so granular that they customize the email’s appearance based on the data you know about a customer. For example, one of the most successful Coca-Cola campaigns was the Share A Coke campaign. It encouraged consumers to find cans and bottles with their name or that of a loved one and share it with someone they love.  Imagine sending an email where the image has the consumer’s name printed on a can or bottle. That is the power of dynamic content.
• Subject line personalization: The simplest form of subject line personalization uses the consumer’s name. But you can get much fancier than that even in making the consumer feel important based on what you know about them. Customize it to the weather, such as sending a message about how sunny it will be and how much your customer needs your newest sun hat. Or publicize your snow shovels when a major storm front is forecasted in the consumer’s area.
• Triggered emails: One of the greatest strengths of an email marketing system is the fact that you can trigger emails based on consumer behavior and actions. Common triggers include cart abandonment or downloading a PDF. Then you can trigger an email immediately to encourage the customer to take the next step.

New Light Digital is a skilled team of digital marketers who know how to set up your online assets for success and use data to inform decision-making and email strategy. Schedule your free consultation to learn how we can help you improve your open rates, click-throughs and conversions with email marketing insights and conversion rate optimization.

Further reading:

• How to Use Landing Pages to Improve Email Marketing Performance
• Outsourcing Email Marketing: The Ultimate Guide to Boost Results Without the Hassle
• Dynamic Ads: Personalizing Campaigns for Higher Conversions
• What Is Marketing Automation and Why Does It Matter for Small Businesses
• The Multi-source Attribution Model