by Wikus Engelbrecht
20. August 2010 00:02
It’s an old standby email marketers’ trick, but it still works: Personalisation.
Of course we all know that personalisation is a cheap trick – it’s not that the brand actually knows you personally, it’s a computer that automatically inserts your name in the allocated space. However, everybody does it. We’ve become so used to receiving emails personalised with our names that you notice when an email doesn’t address you by name. With every other business addressing their clients by name, you stand out like a sore thumb when you neglect to personalise your emails.
First things first:
In order to personalise your emails you first need to “know” enough about your subscribers. Make sure that your subscription form captures the necessary information. You can set certain fields, like name, surname, location or gender, to be required fields.
No idea how to set up personalisation for your campaign? Watch the video tutorial.
Ready? Right. Now here’s how to use it:
The personal nature of email is one of the advantages it has as a marketing tool – use this to your advantage by playing around with your personalisation; try using it in a way others don’t. For instance, while everyone else is on a first name basis, why don’t you try addressing your subscribers by last name? “Mr. Malema, your new Mercedes has arrived” or “Merry Christmas, Weasley family!” could put a new spin on things.
Another often overlooked method of personalisation, is to personalise your emails by location. Say, for instance, you’re sending out an email to announce your Spring Sale – you can tell subscribers to “rush over to their local ____ branch” and insert the name of the store closest to their location.
If you want to take it a step further, you can also personalize your emails by sending emails relating to a specific store, branch or area only to people who are close to that location. Use segmentation to do this.
Get creative with your personalisation - you might just impress both your subscribers and yourself!
We also run live online demonstrations on the topics of personalisation and segmentation. Be sure to check our webinar page from time to time, or else request our team to schedule one by emailing info@graphicmail.com
