Email personalization: how to make it work for your business

If you’ve done any email marketing at all, you’re probably well-versed in how to personalize your marketing emails with a recipient’s first name. We often see emails start with a personalized greeting like “Hi Bailey,” and you may have even added the first name field to your subject lines, which can increase open rates by 50% (source: Litmus).

However, simply adding the first name to your email isn’t maximizing the potential that personalization can have on your email marketing efforts. Email personalization extends far beyond “Dear [FirstName]”

“If the only personal data you’re using in your emails is “Dear [FirstName],” you’re only just starting to personalize your emails…

Your audience data is a resource that you should be tapping into to create powerful email marketing campaigns.”

What is email personalization

Email personalization is the practice of creating email communications that speak to the needs and unique perspective of the person receiving your email. What you’re trying to achieve with personalization is a sense that the email is tailored to each recipient.

This can look differently based on industry, email type, and the purpose of the email, but the important thing to remember is that your audience data is a business resource that you should be tapping into to create powerful email marketing campaigns.

When used together, email personalization and audience segmentation show a staggering 760% increase in revenue,* which has the potential to transform almost any business from “getting by” to thriving.

Data sources for personalization

If you know any of the following information about your audience, you’re ready to use personalization to uplevel your email marketing:

• Name

• Physical location

• Past purchases

• Browsing behavior

• Age or life stage

• Job title, industry or employer

How to incorporate personalization into your email marketing

The better you understand your customers, the better personalization will work for you. Take the time to understand what the ideal customer journey looks like. Whether that’s looking at how often your most loyal customers make a purchase, or which product mix your most satisfied clients subscribe to, the more you know about your target audience, the more you can guide your prospective customers toward the ideal outcome your business can deliver.

Creative email marketing personalization ideas

➡️ What to do with your recipient’s first name

• In addition to personalizing your email greeting using the first name, you can just as easily personalize your CTA, which can increase your conversion rate by 202%! (source: CampaignMonitor)

• “Subscribe here” becomes “Erin: subscribe here” or “Start your subscription, Erin”

• “Join us” becomes “Will you join us, Matt?” or “Matt’s registration link”

• “Redeem coupon” becomes “Lena, redeem your coupon” or “Lena’s unique coupon code”

And personalizing your subject line can increase the likelihood that your emails will be opened by up to 50% (source: HubSpot). Simply adding your recipient’s first name in the subject line is a powerful way to grab attention in a busy inbox.

➡️ If you know your recipient’s location, you can:

• Personalize the email’s send time to be customized to each recipient’s time zone

• Reference seasons, weather or local events; this is an effective way to acknowledge what your audience may be experiencing and build trust

• Invite them to local events you’re hosting

• Provide the business location that’s nearest to them within the email if you have a franchise or multiple locations

Even if you don’t have an address on file, you may be able to determine an approximate location based on IP address, so get creative with how you may be able to use location to your advantage.

➡️ How to use industry or company name to increase engagement

This type of personalization works VERY well.

Here are a few examples to spark your creativity:

• “19 of your colleagues at Arrow Electronics are attending - will you be there?”

• “We need to hear from more accountants in the food & beverage industry - survey closes Friday”

• “Bakeries in San Francisco are increasing their average sale by 23% with our POS software. Be the first in Seattle to try it out.”

➡️ Using past purchases to personalize your emails

Knowing your audience’s past purchase history can enhance your emails by allowing you to serve up complementary products, encourage them to repeat a past purchase where applicable, or upsell to a more premium offering.

• Example: if a customer purchases an online puppy training course, it would make sense to offer an upgraded offering for live 1:1 online training sessions or puppy training treats within a few weeks. An offer for puppy training sessions and treats may fall flat for most of your subscribers, but for those who have a new puppy at home, extra training and tools may be just what they need, right now.

• Example: if you sell non-toxic cleaning products and know that your happiest customers buy both kitchen and bath products, you’d offer up bathroom cleaning products to customers who purchased dish detergent, or kitchen degreaser to customers who purchased toilet cleaner.

The more you know about your best customers, the more you can guide the rest of your audience toward the optimal experience with your company.

A warning: taking email personalization too far

If you have access to customer data, you must acknowledge the responsibility that comes along with that access. It is possible to take personalization too far, resulting in mistrust with your audience.

Here are some guidelines to ensure you’re using personalization to build trust instead of suspicion:

• DON’T indicate that you’re tracking their every move

  It’s completely acceptable to serve up products that a recipient was looking at if they were logged in or accepted cookies on your website, but you don’t want to give the impression that you’re tracking every web page they visit. It’s creepy.

• DON’T include overly personal information in emails (For security reasons! Obviously.)

  Show your audience that you’re being careful with their information.

• DON’T become manipulative

  Nothing’s worse than a desperate “Where’d you go?” email. You can follow up with timely, relevant suggestions without crossing the line into trying to control your recipients every move.

Success with email personalization

If you have any personal audience data–even simply first name–you can use it to increase email opens, conversion rates, and revenue. However, it’s worthwhile to look beyond the first name into your audience data to determine how you can provide a fully personalized email experience. 

Use the data you have to build trust with your audience and guide them toward the ideal outcomes they’ve come to your company looking for. If you need support, schedule a call to discover how we can make personalization work for your business.