Email marketing is elusive to many small businesses because there’s so much to figure out: how to build a contact list, what content to send out, how often, who should get which emails, and how to make emails appealing enough to open, let alone convert. All valid and important questions but today we’ll focus on a strategy to increase the open rates and conversions using personalization.
What is Email Marketing Personalization?
Email personalization is a strategy that uses email subscribers’ personal data to create customized messaging directed at them. This data can include name, birthday, previous purchases, gender, abandoned cart items, items viewed on the website, and location. These personalized emails make consumers feel as though you are talking directly to them versus a generic email sent to the masses. So naturally, you can see the appeal. Think of it like this, are you more likely to open an email that looks like an ad or an email that directly has your name in the subject line? Most likely the latter because it piques your curiosity and seems like it might be important.
Read: 11 Free Email Marketing Tools on Sprout Social
Why is Personalization Important?
Consumers are flooded with emails daily (if not hourly) from various vendors and companies, so personalization is a way to differentiate your company from others. The specific information used can also act as a reminder to customers which can be an extremely helpful strategy. If a potential customer gets distracted during purchase and abandons their cart, then a few days later receives a reminder showing your abandoned cart with a coupon or promotion reminder they are more likely to go back and finish the sale. I personally have been targeted by this approached and successfully converted (I’m a habitual cart abandoner, blame it on my ADHD). It also just makes the customer feel more connected to the company and relationship building is vital to small business marketing. See the image below by IDM that shows the impact of personalized emails based on their study.
It is important to try to capture as much information about your customers and leads as possible. Email sign-ups are good but often don’t ask for much information to avoid scaring off the consumer. So loyalty program signups, surveys, customer site login profiles, and appropriate site analytics could produce the information needed to create engaging email marketing messages. Personalization can be added to subject lines, message content, or coupon codes.
Be consistent and relevant and your open rates and conversions will increase in no time! You got this!
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