Want to increase your sales through email marketing? Email marketing can be a powerful way to increase brand exposure and loyalty and ultimately lead to more purchases from more customers. A key part of any successful email campaign is personalization. Learn why personalization matters and how you can start implementing it today.
Why Personalized Email Marketing Matters
The average consumer gets a barrage of marketing emails in their inbox every day, and many go unread or only get a quick glance before the recipient moves on to other things.
It’s no wonder that marketers are looking for ways to make their emails stand out, with 78 percent of marketers using personalization in their email marketing. Because so many are using personalization, you can’t afford to settle for generic emails—you have to embrace personalization and do it better than your competitors are doing it.
Personalized emails can increase sales substantially. Studies have shown that personalized subject lines make your emails 26 percent more likely to be opened. Once a recipient opens the email, seeing content that’s tailored to them and their interests is sure to have a bigger impact than a generic sales or marketing email ever could.
Personalized Email Marketing Strategies for Major Impact
1. Connect with customers: Swap out generic terms for specific ones.
No one enjoys reading a generic marketing message. Look for opportunities to replace impersonal phrasing in your emails with something that speaks more directly to your recipient. Personalization opportunities exist in both the subject line and the email copy.
Consider the difference between these two email messages from an office furniture brand:
- “Hi! Is your office chair helping you kill it at work or is it killing your back?”
- “Hi, Stephanie! Is your office chair helping you kill it as a data analyst for Northeast Research Firm, or is it killing your back?”
When a consumer sees their name or another personal detail in an email, it’s likely to leap off the page and grab their attention, making them curious enough to read the rest of the email. Personal, specific text isn’t just a gimmick to grab consumers’ attention—it also helps to cultivate a relationship with your brand that can turn into long-term loyalty.
2. Understand your customers: Target their position in the sales funnel.
You shouldn’t treat someone who’s ready to make a purchase the same as someone who’s only shown some initial interest. Each consumer you email is at a particular point in your sales funnel, and this should inform how you connect with them.
Use your data to determine where someone is in the sales funnel and segment them accordingly. The email they receive should be tailored to where they are, helping to nurture them to the next stage.
Maybe they’re in the early stages of researching a purchase and would appreciate some low-pressure information. Or maybe they’re considering making a purchase, and they just need the right product recommendation or a promotion to push them to take the leap.
3. Help your customers: Recommend relevant products.
A 2019 survey found that 62 percent of consumers are willing to give out their email address in order to receive personalized offers from companies. Personalized offers show that you care about helping the customer rather than just pushing a particular product.
A 2020 study found that a marketing email recommendation based on purchase history is far more likely to convince the recipient to make a purchase than a recommendation for a newly launched product, for example.
In addition to past purchases, you can recommend relevant products to customers in your emails based on factors such as:
- Gender
- Age
- Buying behavior
- Interests
- Browsing history
- Location
All of these factors can help you home in on the most relevant products for each customer. Be sure to include an image of the product(s) you’re recommending and a link so the recipient can immediately make a purchase if they’re ready or learn more on your website.
4. Reward your customers: Send personalized offers.
You can also engage email recipients with promotional offers designed just for them. Who doesn’t love a good promo code to use in stores or online? Even better when that promo code is an exclusive offer just for you.
There are many ways you can personalize offers for your prospects and customers. For existing customers, you can provide a promo to celebrate an occasion like the one year anniversary since their first purchase or since they joined your loyalty program.
You can also send a right-timed offer to a customer who has become disengaged and needs a push to shop again or revisit their cart.
Use Customer Data to Send Your Sales Soaring!
When it comes to connecting with, understanding, helping, and rewarding your customers, data is key. Baesman can help you execute highly effective personalized email campaigns driven by customer data.
Want to learn how you’re doing with your use of customer data? Take our free CRM & Analytics Checkup!
