Want to Generate More Business With Email? Get Personal.
No one likes to receive unsolicited emails, that’s why double opt-in policies are so great. Marketers know that everyone on their mailing lists is open to receiving their sales or campaign messages. That takes care of step one.
Step two, which is probably the toughest, involves motivating the recipients to buy a particular company’s products or use its services. And that means knowing how to grab their attention from the moment they open the message until they get to the call to action. One way of getting marketing emails noticed is through personalization.
According to a post on eMarketing.com, there are six ways to gain the desired response to marketing emails:
“Mix up your campaign styles and methods. Include messages sent from a specific sales representative in addition to those sent generally from the marketing department.
Segment based on behaviors. Combining ‘standard’ segmentation methods with behavioral data can dramatically increase conversion rates, according to Jupiter Research.
An email message is called a “message” for a reason. Use A/B testing in your e-mails to see which messages resonate with your audience.
Use “check-in” emails to build your relationships. Periodic surveys or questionnaires that ask customers or clients what they liked or didn’t like will make them feel valued and appreciated.
Move beyond open and click-through rates. Track how often prospective customers or clients visit your site and what pages they visit most.
Automate what you can, and leave more time for creativity and strategy. Allow marketing automation to determine which emails to send when and to who.”
Emma – a site that helps companies “manage their email and marketing communications” – has a list of “4 Ways to Personalize Your Email Campaigns,” as detailed in a response to a questions form “Mr. Personality” on the Ask Emma page:
1. Try personalizing with another field.
What do you know about your audience members besides their first names? The same trick behind first name personalization works for any other information you’re storing about your audience. If you know your subscribers’ city, company name or purchase history, consider making generic sentences a bit more personal:
-> We hope to see you soon at our store in [member city].
-> We’re looking forward to doing business with you and all the fine folks at [member company name].
-> Thanks for joining our customer loyalty program in [month joined].
-> Hey, I see that you’re wearing that [color of shirt] shirt again today!
Okay, so perhaps the last one is *too* personal. But whatever field you decide on, be sure and assign backup placeholder text for anybody whose information you may have missed along the way.
2. Create personalized content for special segments of your audience.
The most effective personalization doesn’t stop at a word or a phrase. Try crafting unique messages to appeal to different segments of your audience.
Let’s say you’ve got a big list of customers who’ve made a prior purchase. It’ll include both loyal shoppers and people who’ve only bought once. It’ll have both men and women. It may even include domestic customers as well as some who live in another country. Like Nebraska.
Those segments are vastly different, so shouldn’t the campaign content reflect those differences, too? Whether you vary the offer, the product or just the wording, personalize the content to connect with each segment of your subscribers. They’ll appreciate a message that’s meant for them, and you’ll appreciate the results – recent research by the Aberdeen Group shows that organizations that implemented this style of segmentation saw both their click-through and conversation rates increase by an average of 9%.
3. Use trigger emails to personalize the delivery.
Personalizing *what* people read in your emails is important, but you can also create a personal connection based on *when* your emails arrive using Emma’s trigger email feature. They let you reach your recipients on their individual schedules, and they do it all automatically. In a word, they’re neat.
For example, try setting up a welcome email that’s triggered whenever someone new joins your list. Your subscriber gets the joy of immediate gratification, and you get the benefit of sending an email the moment someone expressed interest in receiving it.
You can also base that personalized delivery on dates you’re storing about your members, simplifying how you communicate with your customers about birthdays, membership renewals, and surveys after a purchase. Oh, and the customized delivery of these tips is all thanks to the type of trigger that personalizes delivery around clicking a link in a previous email.
4. Personalize, but keep it personal.
Above all, remember that personalization isn’t only a matter of using these nifty database and segmentation tricks. Creating a personal connection with your customers can be as simple as keeping a natural, conversational tone in your email and finding warm, complementary images. It’s all about recognizing that your subscribers are more than just names you’re emailing – they’re people you’re having a conversation with.
Giving one or more of these helpful hints a try could make all the difference in the world. And in this economy, anything that can stimulate consumers to start buying again is worth a try.
