Think for a moment about the last marketing email you deleted. Our guess is it found its way into your trash folder for one of two reasons: it just wasn't relevant or it made you feel like you just didn't matter; like you were just one of many customers.

In our eyes, there's nothing worse than an email that starts with something like: 'Dear Customer'; after all, a company which doesn't care enough to call you by your first name isn't really worth your custom. I mean, it can't be that hard can it?!

But thanks to some quick and simple personalisation techniques, you can ensure your email doesn't suffer the same, miserable fate as many others: the solitary trash can.

As a marketer, it's important you work hard to personalise each and every mail you send out; it makes your customers feel special, not like they're one of hundreds of thousands you're pinging your campaign out to. Do it right and you could double, triple or even quadruple the level of customer engagement for the emails you've spent so much time crafting. And well, ensuring you personalise your emails in as friendly way as possible ensures your customers feel great, too. It really is win-win.

Here's how you can ensure similar success for your own email communications:

1. Discover What Your Customers Are Interested in...

When it comes to your email communications, it's important you find out what your customers are interested in before blindly targeting them with anything and everything. Spend time learning more about your customers' interests, simply by asking - via existing mailing lists - which sections of your company's frequent emails they're keen to hear more about. If competitions and promotions are their thing, for instance, give them the option to opt in to receive content containing giveaways and other chances to win and save. Likewise, if tips-based posts tickle their fancy, tailor your content accordingly. You'll quickly notice a boosted open rate, followed swiftly by an improved conversion rate. Ask the right questions and you'll never (or very rarely) have to worry about your email making it to the trash baskets of email platforms everywhere.

2 ...and Then Tailor Your Content Accordingly, Sending Regularly...

So we've briefly mentioned you should tailor your content - and that's as important as asking the right questions. Why? There really is no point asking and waiting for the answers if you're not going to listen to them. Start by segmenting your audience based on the subjects that interest them and then ensure you ping your email out at a time to suit them. You can work this out by giving split testing a go, making the most of the optimum time to post out an update or two. Pay attention to a customer's location and perhaps the time they previously opened an email from you - all these factors add up to personalised emails done well.

3. Monitor the Results

Has something worked well? Maybe it's worth doing it again - just don't overdo it. Customers will quickly get wise to it and they won't want to be bombarded with emails, either. Just ensure you use the data discovered via your stats intelligently, tailoring to each individual as you go to ensure every email is that bit more suited to your intended recipient. Of course, different markets, audiences or customers have different requirements; they key is simply tapping into what they're looking for and ensuring you give it to them.

With 94% of companies saying personalisation has been critical to their current and future success, isn't it time you gave it a go too?

 

By Lauren Holden, Communications at INK Digital Agency.

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