Delivering Value Through Personalized Email Marketing

May 4, 2017

Think about the last time you went to buy a car. Odds are, you didn’t just walk into a dealership and buy�one immediately. You probably looked at a few, test-drove some of them, and then picked one or two you really liked to mull over.

How about after you left the dealership? There’s a good chance you saw the car(s) you loved all over the place. Why is that?

It’s not because the dealership planted more cars out there to make you think about them. Rather, it’s just peaking your interest because that car is on the top of your mind.

The same principle can be applied to your marketing. You may think your marketing campaign is personalized but according to Dynamic Yield, over 70% of companies fail when it comes to personalizing their websites. And the juice is certainly worth the squeeze: MarketingProfs found that businesses with personalized web experiences saw a 19% increase in their sales.

What about your email? The same applies here. Experian found 70% of companies don’t personalize their emails. But the companies that do saw a 29% jump in their open rates and 41% higher click-through rates.

Getting Started

Many�companies stick with variable tags so someone’s name is in an email, and that’s about as far�as their personalized marketing goes. While it’s a good starting place, there are tons of other ways to personalize your other content.

Take a look at your segmentation. Even if the services or products you offer aren’t specific to a certain location, you can still use lookalike segmentation in your favor. Look past the everyday basics to see what your VIP customers have in common. Then you’ll be able to see how you can offer special bonuses and content directly relayed to them.

Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium did something similar. When they were looking to increase their zoo memberships, they used data to figure out their biggest fans. Then they looked at each membership and found which ZIP codes were from guests who visited often. Their next step: Offer a discount membership to people in those areas, resulting in a 13% increase in membership during their first quarter.

Enlist the Right Help

Use DemandBase to your advantage and it’ll be like having your own personal assistant. You can use this program to send personalized emails forms, websites, and landing pages. An example of this: If you know of a potential candidate’s role in their company, you can feature a white paper right on your homepage that is directly related to the person’s position.

Keep an Eye on Purchase Behavior

Gourmet coffee retailer Boca Java narrowed down their lists on one key factor: How many bags of coffee each customer ordered. Then, they sent out an email offering a discount depending on how many bags purchased. The company discovered that people who bought 2 bags in the past were more likely to use the discount, so they were able to see who was more likely to respond to their ads and use it in their favor.

You can use this in your favor as well. Run a series of tests with personalized content and offer a discount based on previous purchases. See what hooks the customer and send to a larger audience.

Consider the Time Zones

Any change makes a difference, no matter how big or small. Need evidence? Company BustedTees increased its email revenue by almost 10%. Here’s what they did: Instead of doing constant email blasts, they started personalizing their send-times based on two key factors: previous openings and time zones. This way, they were sending their emails during key business hours, rather than in the middle of the night.

If you’re looking for a way to increase your sales, while boosting the amount of loyal customers, personalizing your marketing campaign is the way to go. Offering specific content and making your marketing – whether it’s an ad or email, web page or billboard- feel like it has a sense of identity will stick with the customer for long periods of time. You’ll be creating your own success and building up a strong brand to form an even better reputation for your company.

Editor’s note: This is an extension of a previous video on Insivia’s website from July 2016.



About Insivia

We're a SaaS Growth Agency scaling SaaS & technology companies through brand positioning, integrated marketing, web design, sales and retention.