3 tips for personalizing email
When should you use subscribers’ names in e-zines and email blasts?
After all, there are plenty of good reasons for personalizing emails:
- People are most interested in personal email messages, as well as in messages from organizations they’re affiliated with, according to a study by MailChimp.
- Some 28% of U.S. internet users would be more loyal to a brand if its email messages were personalized, according to a survey by Fresh Relevance and YouGov.
- And given all the tools for email customization out there, readers have grown accustomed to receiving personalized messages. Ignoring this can make it look like you’re behind the curve.
But name-calling in emails can be cheesy — even creepy — if you don’t handle it well.
When to personalize email
Personalize your email message if you are delivering information:
- That subscribers requested on the sign-up page
- Based on subscribers’ buying or search history
- Targeted to subscribers’ location
In these cases, using subscribers’ names will help signal that they’re receiving customized information.
Aeroplan, for instance, sent out a newsletter that included recipients’ rewards balance and points history along with its current promotions. It used the recipients’ full name on the subject line and in the body of the email.
That’s customized, not just personalized.
Note that including some information — names and partial account numbers, for instance — can distinguish your message from a phishing expedition and assure subscribers that you are who you claim to be.
What techniques do you use to personalize emails?
How can you get your emails read?
American professionals receive an average of 121 emails a day — times each of their two or more inboxes. No wonder 276 emails languish unread in the average inbox at any time.
In this environment, how can you write email newsletters, email marketing campaigns and other emails that get read?
Find out at Think Inside the Inbox — our email-writing workshop that begins Dec. 12.
You’ll learn to write email leads that get read (our fill-in-the-blanks formula will change your life), avoid the No. 1 reason people unsubscribe and pass a simple test for getting the word out via email on mobile.
Save up to $100 with our group discounts.
