How To Personalize Email: 8 Tips for Email Automation Success

Email personalization is creating emails designed specifically for each client based on their behavior and preferences. Personalized email aims to talk to the receiver as in a one-to-one conversation, matching their interests. With email automation, marketers can tailor their emails to each individual without manually drafting it.

What can be personalized? 

• Name

• Location

• Age

• Gender

• Products and services

• Images

• Design

• Links

• CTAs

Personalizing automated emails has many benefits for your business. Customer-centric email campaign goes a long way in increasing the ROI. According to Accenture, 91 % of customers are more likely to shop with brands that they remember them and send them relevant offers. 

Personalized emails increase the relevancy of your brand. If you do it correctly, these emails will drive engagement and inspire action. That also means a higher rate of customer retention and loyalty.

How does personalized email automation help your business?

• Increases open rates - If the recipient feels the email is designed directly for them, offering a solution or a specific product, the chance they open the email is getting higher.  

• Boost customer engagement - By creating emails based on your user's behavior, you avoid irrelevant content and recipients are more likely to explore the content or products you lead them to. 

• Improves relationship building - Deliver a personal touch. Communicate directly to the customer, get to know them, and talk about their interests. They will be more likely to communicate back to you and they might talk about your brand with their friends and family. Personalized experience allows customers to feel valued and fosters an emotional bond with your brand. 

• Drive sales - Take personalization as your competitive advantage and offer unique value propositions. Increase customer experience, and loyalty, and therefore drive sales.

You can’t possibly personalize emails if you don’t know anything about your customers. Data about your client's behavior and preferences allows you to segment your audience.

So, what is the step one? Get the right data. But how?

There are many ways how you can collect customer data.

First, and most simple is a sign-up form to approach a free version of your product, premium membership, or content on your website.

Surveys and feedback emails are a good way to learn more as well, but there is no guarantee clients will get back to you with their answers.

Lastly, integrating with CRM and e-commerce platforms or website behavior tracking is an effective option that can provide you with further information about your customers without requesting any action from them.

Segmentation is crucial to deliver the right message to the right people. It is a key to sending personalized messages based on your audience's preferences. When dividing customers into smaller groups it is much easier to understand what they want from you. That allows you to give them what they want - relevant messages.

Here are some ideas based on which you can segment your audience:

• Geography

• Participation in certain events

• Content download

• Interest in specific products

• Pages they visit

• Position in the marketing funnel

• The amount of money they usually spend

How do email automation and personalization work together?

Thanks to email triggers.

Your email automation platform allows you to set specific client actions within your web or app that will trigger sending an email with pre-built content. The pre-built content reflects an action triggering the email. The automation tool personalizes the text and design based on the client's data, such as greeting and product preferences. Do you wonder how? Check out our article on creating email variations based on the target audience.

What are the examples of email triggers? 

• Event registration

• Newsletter registration

• Canceling an appointment

• Cart abandonment

• Trial registration

Automated emails don’t always have to use sales language, such as “Buy Now”. There is nothing wrong with encouraging people to buy from you via email, but trying to help people is a more effective way.

What your customers want from you is the value. Can you answer their questions referring to a specific issue? Can you share relevant industry news? If so, you are on the right way. Recommend products and services your customers were interested in the past or similar to what they explored. Personalized email that will answer their questions and touch on pain points they might be facing is a way to build trust and loyalty to your brand.

Automated emails don't always use the same tone of voice. Your language depends on the nature of your relationship with each recipient. For instance, there should be a difference in the communication type between a prospective customer and someone who has been buying your products for years. Or, if you sell shoes for both men and women, you might need different email content for the two audience types. Still, on the same note, personalized email campaigns are a solution.

How to personalize email with name? Addressing a customer by their name in an automated email has got to be the most effective personalization trick. So doing it twice will even show a deeper connection. The second use of their name will probably catch them by surprise and you will have their attention. You can even go ahead and use their name in the conclusion. But it has to flow naturally.

Psychology has a huge effect, so remember your customers' birthday! Birthday is a special day, and special offers shouldn't be missing in your gratulation message. Your customers will feel valued, which can help reactivate their interest in your brand.

Treat personalizing mass emails as a continuous process instead of a one-time thing. You can personalize other touch points throughout your journey even after you’ve captured the customer’s name and other important details. That way, they will never feel out of touch with your brand.

Increase your effectiveness by doing more than sending automated emails to market your business. It is highly beneficial to integrate your email automation tools directly into your software. You don't need to open a separate application. You only open your main website within which you can edit all your emails and email templates. And not only you. You can collaborate on that with your colleagues, all transparent and stored in one place.

Let's have a look at an example of personalized email. What is the use case?

The company PetEarth sells food and equipment for pets. Their customers can register and create pet(s) profiles in their accounts. This allows them to get the data of their customers. Suppose you are their customer. The company knows if your pet is a dog, cat, or parrot. Therefore, they can add you to a specific segment or segments (if you have more than one kind of pet) of their target audience and suspect what products you are going to buy.

For example, I have a dog called Marley. In my profile, I stated it is a retriever. Therefore, I usually get emails offering new products or sales related to dog equipment and food for larger races. I am glad since I don't get any updates on toys for cats.

Lastly, I was about to order food for Marley, but I got disturbed and didn't finish it. By that, I triggered action in the automated workflow and got the following email. It reminded me of what I was about to order…and what I might still add there.

What is personalized you ask? Name, pet kind, image, design, product offer, and CTA.

Email is a powerful connection and communication tool for any marketer. However, there is a likelihood that your competitors are also sending personalized automated emails to their customers. The only way you can stand out is by showing your attention to detail in every email you send. 

Your email design might be one of the differentiators. But what about your capacity and resources? Doing all the design manually is demanding. Try a drag-and-drop email editor to save time. It allows you to use pre-built email templates and personalize them, or create your own from scratch. Use it as a standalone application or integrated within your app. Try our free trial and see for yourself.