The Opportunity
Marketers have long recognized that the best results come with the ability to deliver targeted communications to prospects and customers.
However, according to a 2008 Aberdeen Group study, while 96% of surveyed companies believe that email personalization improves marketing performance, fewer than 40% actually take advantage of its full potential.
Build On Your Existing Email
Your customers (and prospects) have come to expect relevant and timely email – in other words personalized email. And, the more you interact with them, the more they come to demand personalization from you.
But, whereas a few years ago, personalization was limited to modifying the name of the addressee and greeting salutation, today you can build on your existing email initiatives and leverage sophisticated email marketing systems to personalize every aspect of the email. For example:
- Offers: Personalize your offers – using different text, layout and images – depending on variables such as lifetime customer value, previous purchase behaviours and/or stage in the purchase cycle.
- Timing: Personalize the timing of your email such as – the time of day, week or month. Furthermore, you can personalize based on amount of time between transactions.
- Formatting: Personalize formatting – choosing email formats that are optimized for mobile devices or for personal computers.
- Subject Line: Personalize subject lines based on those that have the best responses during subject line testing.
The increased opportunity for personalizing emails caused by all these choices has naturally led to much greater complexity. As a result, leading companies are adopting dynamic content – i.e. email that automatically configures and customizes email components to suit each email recipient or audience segment – in order to achieve the full potential and benefits of email personalization.
Because of the increased intricacy involved in building on your current email personalization capabilities – and the resulting increased return on investment – work with your I.T. department and email service provider to establish a schedule that will ensure you achieve all the benefits that accompany email personalization.