Ever wondered why email marketing consistently results in a high ROI for organizations across industries? The key is developing email personalization strategies that take full advantage of all that email can offer. With personalized email, you can optimize your efforts to target specific audiences, boost conversions, and strengthen customer loyalty. Our team’s Mailchimp-Certified expert—Collin Quinn Rice--recently explained that an effective email strategy is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Quite the opposite, your emails should respond to your audiences’ behavior and anticipate what they want next. Collin's personalization advice: It's so easy to hit that unsubscribe button, but what keeps people in your audience is feeling listened to and providing content specific to their needs. Let’s Get PersonalEssentially, email personalization uses analytics, data, and content to make your customer (or member) feel special. Put another way, it’s about reaching the right person with the right message at the right time. The results can be significant:
Personalization goes beyond simply adding a recipient's first name to the greeting. To fully utilize the magic of email, it’s best to develop a complete email personalization strategy. Here’s an overview: 1. Define your audience and goals.You can’t reach an audience you don’t know. Developing buyer or customer personas— semi-fictional representations of your current and potential customers—is essential in segmenting your emails and tailoring your messaging. Consider all aspects of your ideal customers, from geographic region and income level to social media habits and favorite hobbies. Customer personas also provide key insights into your goals for this email strategy. Are you hoping to increase the open rate for your emails? Improve the click-through rate? Defining your outcomes can clarify your approach, as well as how you’ll track and evaluate outcomes. 2. Create sign-up opportunities.From creating a Facebook ad to creating a blog that readers can subscribe to, there are many ways to grow your email lists. This is important whether this is your first dive into email marketing, or you’re a seasoned veteran. Customers can always unsubscribe, so it’s important to continue to find ways to renew and build your email lists. It’s okay to take your time—don’t get tempted into buying or renting email lists. It not only violates data protection rules, it violates your audience’s trust. The State of Personalization 2021 report by Twilio found that 7 out of 10 consumers say that personalization is appreciated—as long as they have directly shared their data with a business. 3. Craft your copy and choose your visuals.Here’s the fun part (for some of us): From subject line to CTA (call to action), there are numerous opportunities to personalize your email to meet different customer needs. HubSpot offers some great tips for adding tailored experiences for different customers, including:
Visuals are just as important as wording. The overall design of an email can influence whether your target audience invests their attention on your message or says TLTR (too long to read). Some general visual and styling strategies to keep in mind are:
4. Bonus Step: Utilize segmentation and automation.Although not exactly the same as personalization, taking bonus steps to utilize segmentation and automation can strengthen your email marketing even further:
This process can feel a little overwhelming at first, but Collin's advice is: Take your time! It might feel like you have to solve everything at once, but the last thing you want to do is scare your audience away with drastic changes. Personalization is key here—what is your audience already telling you? What do you need to ask them directly? Then, make some small changes: try something, take copious notes, review your metrics, and try again. Ready to Try It?We have in-depth knowledge of audience personalization, segmentation and automation tactics for email marketing. From crafting copy that speaks to the needs and wants of your customers, clients, or members, to tracking and distribution, we can help craft an email marketing strategy that builds relationships with your readers, no matter where they are on their sales journey. Visit our Email Marketing Services page to learn more. Comments are closed.
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