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Email is personal. Unlike most marketing channels, email is a true 1:1 communication. It's your chance to reach people with messages that are just for them.
Email personalization has revolutionized the way we interact with audiences, transforming generic promotional and transactional email programs into tailored conversations that resonate with each recipient.
However, despite the proven benefits, some myths persist that prevent marketing teams from fully leveraging the potential of email personalization.
That's why we've teamed up with Act-On, an all-in-one email software and email personalization experts, to debunk these myths once and for all in a two-part series. You can catch up on part one here.
Let's clear up these misconceptions and unlock the true potential of personalized email so you can reach the people you care about with the best messages possible. Read on to debunk the biggest myths about email personalization, or watch the video.
Myth 1: Email personalization leads to errors in emails
Why this myth exists
We all know the embarrassing moment when we receive an email addressed to the wrong person or containing incorrect information. Such mishaps create fear of personalization errors among marketers, as they fear that their emails might contain similar errors.
Destroying the myth
Email personalization may seem like a risky venture. After all, a poorly personalized email is a sign of unsubscribe from you. So why irritate the bear? In reality, personalization is easy to implement and with the right tools and a little diligence, mistakes can be avoided. Imagine sending millions of emails, but each recipient receives something tailored just for them? That's how you build relationships. Here are some quick practices to implement:
- Robust email testing: Implementing a thorough email testing strategy is essential. Tools like Litmus allow you to test your emails in different clients and scenarios to ensure personalized content is displayed correctly.
- Data hygiene: Maintaining clean and accurate data is crucial. Only use data you 100% trust and update and validate your information regularly.
- Additional protection: For personalized elements, always have an alternative. For example, if a first name is not available, default to a more generic greeting to avoid embarrassing mistakes. You can also protect against errors if email privacy protection is applied (for example, if the image is cached and cannot display an accurate countdown timer, you can display a generic message or image instead).
Taking away: Email personalization doesn't mean you have to worry about emails that are full of errors. On the contrary, email personalization often results in an improved inbox experience for your subscribers. Just follow the steps outlined here to make sure you have clean data and have tested everything in advance.
Myth 2: It’s too difficult to collect data to create personalized emails
Why this myth exists
The belief that data collection is tedious and complex holds many back from personalization. However, advances in data collection strategies have simplified the process.
Destroying the myth
Collecting data for personalization is easier than you might think. A good place to start is your email preference center, which offers a wealth of zero-party data to work with. With Google's phase-out of third-party cookies looming, first-party and zero-party data will become even more valuable to marketers. Marketers can efficiently collect and use this data to improve email personalization without facing significant challenges. Here are a few things to consider:
- Preference centers and zero-party data: An essential part of any email marketing program that allows subscribers to communicate their preferences directly. An effective preference center in each of your emails can be a valuable aspect of building and maintaining trust at any point in the customer journey – for example with new customers or with former customers as part of a re-engagement campaign – and prompting subscribers to provide valuable data.
- Integration of data for personalization: Successful preference centers offer a user-friendly interface and clearly explain the benefits of providing information. Collecting zero-party data through interactive content such as surveys and polls in your emails can also be an interesting way to learn more about your subscribers and thus improve personalization.
Taking away: Encourage subscribers to fill out their preference fields when signing up or through regular prompts in your emails. Use dynamic email content to deliver personalized experiences and track user behavior to continuously optimize your email strategies.
Then use the data you collect to refine your segmentation and personalize future email campaigns.
Myth 3: Only B2C marketers use email personalization and it only works for promotions
Why this myth exists
Personalization is often associated with B2C tactics such as product recommendations and promotional offers, leading to the misconception that it is not applicable to B2B marketing.
Destroying the myth
Marketers of all industries and business types can achieve great success by personalizing through data segmentation, automation, and dynamic content. By applying these strategies, B2B marketers can create effective, personalized email campaigns:
- B2B email personalization: B2B brands can leverage personalization by segmenting email lists by company size or type, industry, and user preferences. Automation tools can customize messages with dynamic content based on these parameters, improving relevance and engagement.
- Examples: Use cases could be personalized, account-based marketing emails and segmentation based on company size or industry requirements. Live dynamic email personalization features like Countdown timer can be used to promote events such as webinars, new product features or announcements. Links to add to calendar can help you achieve better meeting attendance by allowing subscribers to add bookings directly from the email to their calendar. Litmus uses Live polls to gain better insight into who our audiences are and what types of email content they prefer.
Taking away: There are many ways to personalize emails in B2B email marketing. Use the various email personalization tactics and features to your advantage to make your emails truly personalized experiences.
Myth 4: Live email content only makes an email look cool, but does not lead to business success
Why this myth exists
Some believe that dynamic content is just a visual enhancement with no significant impact on business results. Things like live polls, countdown timers, and personalized images are believed to be just there to make emails look prettier, but do not provide improved email marketing strategies.
Destroying the myth
Dynamic content goes beyond aesthetics and drives real business results by encouraging subscribers to take action, ultimately increasing engagement and conversions. With proven success rates, marketers can be confident that dynamic content is a valuable investment that will increase the effectiveness of their email campaigns. Here's what we know about dynamic email content.
- Engagement and Conversions: Dynamic content significantly increases engagement and conversion rates. By using fun, engaging email content that is tailored to each subscriber, email recipients feel valued and are more motivated to interact with your brand.
- Benefits of personalization: At Litmus, we've seen email teams using email personalization with Litmus Personalize achieve these real results:
- A 45% increase in conversion rate
- An increase in the average order value of 49%
- A sales increase of 96%
Taking away: Don't create personalized emails just to “look good.” You have a real opportunity to build and maintain strong relationships by customizing content for your subscribers and customers. The data shows that personalized emails have real business value.
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