Steve Hamm — August 24, 2017 — August 24, 2017
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Email marketing is a type of relationship marketing. Unfortunately, it’s often carried out in ways that fall short of this. For example, mass mailings of the same content to everyone on a list, while convenient, aren’t personal. They are generic and come across this way. They work to some extent because the email recipients have at least a few things in common that motivated them to join the list. However, mass mailings don’t convert as well as they did in the past. The reason for this is that most people are deluged by mass mailings from many other businesses as well as spammers.
On the other hand, personalized emails that target the individual interests and needs of each list member will stand out and get improved conversion rates. Although it’s impossible to get to know each member as you would a close friend, there are a number of email personalization techniques that bring your relationship marketing closer to this ideal:
Personalize the Subject Line
The first hurdle is enticing the recipient to open the email, and this requires a good subject line. Include the person’s name as well as any information you’ve received on forms she or he has filled out, or from actions taken on your website such as a specific purchase. For example, a subject line wishing the person a happy birthday and a discount offer made within the email is highly effective. An email subject line that offers tips on how to best use their recent purchase is another effective form of personalization.
Segment Your List
Use the information you have about your list to segment it down into smaller parts. This could be the area where they live, their purchasing preferences, or the price levels with which they are comfortable. Integrate the information about each segment into the subject lines (as discussed previously). When you have a special offer on a specific product, announce it to the relevant segments. This spares the rest of your list from receiving irrelevant emails that may cause them to disregard future emails.
Use Behavior Triggers
Emails sent on the basis of user behavior work well at re-engaging people who haven’t used your services or logged into their accounts in a while. These emails put you back in their minds and indirectly tell them that they matter to you.
Implementing the above personalization suggestions in a practical way is not as difficult as you might think. In fact, automated marketing and CRM technology make it very doable.
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