Personalization in Email Marketing: How Startups Get It Right

Effective email marketing follows the 3 Rs rule: send the right message at the right time to the right person. When done well, adhering to this rule can change a marketing email into a message that really speaks to the recipient. 

A personalized email matches the content to the person’s needs or interests. In this way, the email is more likely to connect with the recipient, help build better relationships and get more responses. For example, it can increase sales six times more than standard emails and keep 56% more of your audience coming back. 

It’s surprising how many companies still don’t personalize their emails. Personalization is a chance for new businesses to stand out by using this strategy. Personalized emails aren’t just nicer: They work better too.


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Email personalization: How to get it right

Email marketing offers many opportunities to personalize messages. Personalization, when you use it skillfully, can greatly enhance the effectiveness of a carefully planned content strategy.

Personalized subject lines

Personalizing email subject lines goes beyond just including the recipient’s name. By crafting subject lines that resonate with the email recipient’s interests and needs based on collected data, you can capture the person’s attention. Personalizing subject lines can boost your open rates by up to 35.69%.

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Addressing email recipients by name

Although addressing recipients by name is the most basic form of personalization, it lays a crucial foundation. It signals recognition and respect. By addressing recipients by name, you can increase their engagement with your emails.

Audience segmentation by customer data

Effective personalization relies on the segmentation of the customer list based on several criteria:

  • Geographical location: Tailoring content according to where the customer lives
  • Order history: Reflecting past purchases in recommendations or offers
  • Customers’ preferences: Using data gathered from interactions and expressed interests
  • Behavioral or predictive segmentation: Anticipating future behaviors based on past actions
  • Loyalty programs: Rewarding repeat customers with personalized offers
  • Milestones: Celebrating personal events, such as birthdays or anniversaries, with relevant offers
  • Send time: Adjusting email delivery times to match the subscribers’ locations or typical email-checking times to ensure messages arrive when most convenient, boosting engagement and showing respect for personal schedules
  • Life cycle: Segmenting customers based on their relationship stage with the brand — just registered, newbie, involved customer, loyal customer, or inactive

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Email localization

In relation to the “right message” component of the 3Rs rule, email localization plays a key role. It goes beyond mere translation, adjusting not only the language but also the cultural context of the content. By tailoring emails to align with the cultural and linguistic specifics of each market segment, you can ensure that all communication is relevant and resonates with the recipient.

It’s important to note that geographic location alone should not be taken as an indicator of cultural/linguistic determinants of email content. For example, English is not the primary language spoken by one in five Americans at home. Moreover, several countries have multiple official languages, underscoring the need to consider both location and language preferences in emails.

In summary, email localization involves considering not only geographic location but also cultural and linguistic aspects. You should also consider other factors, such as local holidays, when sending emails.

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Email localization involves considering cultural differences, local holidays, and language variations specific to a region. 

The studies show:

  • Making your emails multilingual can boost conversion rates by 30%.
  • More than half (56.2%) of people surveyed said they preferred reading content in their native language rather than getting a cheaper price.
  • Sending emails in a recipient’s native language can increase open rates by as much as 1000%.

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How AI can help you personalize your emails

Enhanced user profiling

With AI, you can collect and analyze large amounts of data to create comprehensive customer profiles that are helpful in various scenarios, such as e-commerce personalization, content customization, service reminders, customer loyalty programs, and cross-selling opportunities. In this way, you can tailor email content to individual preferences and behaviors.

Localization

With AI, you can adapt content to match local dialects, regional customs, and cultural contexts, enhancing the relevance of your communication. AI can also help ensure accurate translations, maintain a consistent tone, optimize messages for different demographics, and prevent misinterpretations, making communication personalized and culturally sensitive.

Predictive analysis

AI-driven predictive segmentation enhances personalized communications by analyzing customer data to forecast behaviors and preferences. Thus, AI enables personalization of email content and timing, allowing you to tailor messages to anticipated needs and optimize send times for maximum engagement.

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Tips for adopting personalization in email marketing

To implement personalization effectively, you should:

  • Avoid over-personalization to prevent appearing intrusive.
  • Start with basic personalization strategies, such as including the recipient’s name in the subject line, and gradually implement more advanced personalization techniques over time.
  • Utilize dynamic content and email automation to manage personalization at scale efficiently.
  • Regularly test the performance of personalized emails, focusing on one variable at a time to accurately measure impact.

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Ethics in data collection for email personalization

Transparent and responsible data collection is mandatory. The collection of data must adhere to the following protocols:

  • Ask only for essential information that will be used only for personalization.
  • Be transparent with customers about how their data will be used.
  • Ensure compliance with data protection regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA, which dictate how personal data should be handled and protect the rights of individuals.
  • Committing to not selling personal data to third parties.
  • Implementing robust security measures to prevent data breaches and ensure the utmost security of the collected data.

In summary, always use the information shared with you responsibly. You must find a balance in email personalization, ensuring you deliver relevant content while respecting the email recipient’s privacy and adhering to all data regulations.

Conclusion

For startups, excelling in email personalization can forge deeper customer connections and catalyze substantial business expansion. By concentrating on appropriate personalization techniques and tools, upholding ethical standards, and consistently honing strategies based on performance data, startups can harness the power of personalization to carve a unique niche in a saturated market.


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