Yes, you’re reading that right. The personalized, contextually relevant email got more donations from people researchers weren’t expecting to donate than the generic email got from the most likely donors.
Personalization works. Let’s talk about how to do it right.
Personalization is more than just a name
When people talk about personalization in email, the example they give is often
“Hi [FIRST NAME],”
That’s a good start and if you do nothing else do that because it’s so easy.
But don’t stop there. There’s so much more you can do with simple personalization.
- Include information that is relevant to someone’s location, like nearby stores or news that is relevant to different regions.
- Send people similar content to what they've
clicked through to in the past(you can tag people based on the links they click in broadcasts and automated campaigns).
- Recommend products based on what they’ve purchased in the past.
- Ask people their goals or interests when they sign up. Then reference those goals or interests in
welcome series and newsletters.
- Reference the site or community they signed up from in your welcome message if you're working with partners to build your audience.
But a name can be very powerful
I don’t want to discourage you from using name personalization. It really can make content feel like it was
written for you when you’re reading and all of the sudden happen across your own name.
You can use names
more creatively than just saying hi.
Try using your subscribers names in subject lines, and within the body of an email itself).
We add personalization to our subject line when someone signs up for a new AWeber account to catch their attention when
they’re scanning their inboxes.
