email marketing – personalizing your message

Somewhere back in the short history of email marketing someone had the bright idea of addressing each message to the person individually. By copying the mail merge function so beloved of office suite applications, so the reasoning went, we can insert a field in the salutation bit of the content and make the message instantly more personal. And the results proved the theory worked, thus spawning hundreds of pages from people all saying personalize your emails for better results. And to a point it still works.

The thing is, what was once A Good Idea is now more of a given feature. If you don’t insert the recipient’s name then there are really only two reasons why; you forgot, or the system you’re using won’t let you/it’s too complicated (and if that’s the reason then drop us a line as it’s easy with our engines) or your data doesn’t hold the details. Thinking about it, there is a third – the design doesn’t allow you the room – but if that’s the case then whoever created the template really needs a good talking to. Anyway, let’s take a look at this business of personalization as you could be missing a way to really bounce up your email stats.

The great thing about personalizing any piece of marketing is that it can give the perception to the reader that you are talking to them. That 1-2-1 feeling brings all those nice cosy business relationship feelings and drives them to think about you more for longer. You are more likely to receive a positive response, and if it is a negative you also tend to receive replies detailing why. So having a message that is personal get results.

So, having said all that, do you think inserting someone’s name in an email really goes far enough? Nope, thought not. You could have a lot more references in the content that focuses the messages specifically to the reader covering any subject. For example, you could use the business name, or the town/region where the contact is based, or a selection of the products/services they have purchased from your organisation. And don’t stop at thinking about their basic details either. You could upload data containing entire sentences based on their relationship with your company or the message you are trying to get across, so each mail becomes more and more unique and the reader feels a bit special.

I’ll give you an example. Ages ago in my youth, when I had less wrinkles than twinkles – okay, about 2002 – I was staging some business events around the country that were targeted at a couple of niche market sectors. The direct mail plan had gone okay but nothing spectacular and I’d just been let down on some telemarketing to do the following up work. I needed to get something out the door and an email seemed to be a good practical idea. But I wanted it to be as personal as possible, to really make the recipient feel that we had taken the time to write a message for them alone. So I created a really simple email in which the content was modular, containing merge fields which published varying types of copy depending on the recipient. The data used was segmented quite quickly according to two known factors in the data; their geographical location and their job title. Fields containing text relating to these factors were then placed alongside each contact. Finally, I put into the data two versions of the name of the organisation; the ‘proper’ one (ie the one that was used in the CRM system) and the ‘familiar’ one – the one used in normal conversation. With the data checked and exported, it was then uploaded into the system and the merge fields placed in the content.

The result was an email template that was way more personal than a mere salutation and the response rate was stunning. The recipients obviously took it as a message being sent on a personal basis and the replies were almost all positives. Even the people who couldn’t make it were worth following up as they gave some feedback on their needs/wants, so it was a useful excercise.

So what is the stumbling block to this idea? The first one is of course the extra time it takes to construct such a personal message, and for a lot of people creating copy that flows well despite it being modular is a challenge. Then there is the subject of the data you use. It has to be complete and detailed to begin with, perhaps more so than you may have been used to in the past, and some of the information isn’t a copy and paste operation either. It may need some research and getting other parties involved, which can of course delay projects if you’re facing a tight deadline. But if you plan ahead and get the data right, you’re halfway there.

So next time you’re thinking about diving into some email marketing, think about the personalization and just how far you could go. We think you’d be quite surprised.

Peter Crane is an email marketing specialist with over 15 years experience in devising strategic plans in enterprises. He advises domestic and international organisations on introducing and enhancing their email marketing strategies, with a unique blend of experience in both technical and commercial aspects to enhance content, deliverabilty, reputation and conversion.

You can find out more from visiting his company ArrowPoint Mail