Consumers today are mostly interested in personalized experiences. Anything less and they’ll ignore you.

That goes for their email interactions, too.

So if you’re already on a “Hi, [First Name]” basis with your email subscribers, that’s a great start.

But this is good to know: Email personalization is far more than addressing a person by their first name in a greeting or even sending messages about stuff you know they’ll respond to.

In this case, “personalized” also means “customized.” Tailored for specific audiences and addressing individualized behavior.

Savvy marketers add a personal touch to automated email campaigns with first names, sure. But they also use email personalization to:

• Avoid that “e-blast” feeling of generic marketing messages.
• Segment their potential leads to guide them through an effective sales funnel.
• Speak directly to the right audience at the right time.
• Make their customers feel like they matter and their needs are being recognized.
• Build trust with their audiences.

According to our marketing partner HubSpot, “Creating personalized experiences throughout the buyer’s journey is what will turn leads into customers and customers into loyal brand advocates.” This is why email personalization is so important for your marketing to be a success.

How Serious are Consumers (and Companies) About Personalized Experiences?

This research illustrates the impact of personalization on consumer behavior:

• Emails with personalized subject lines generate 50% higher open rates (the average email open rate is 20.81%).
• 91% of consumers say they are more willing to buy from a company that provides offers that are directly relevant to them.
• 41% of consumers switched companies over a poor personalized experience and lack of trust, costing businesses $756 billion in one year.
• 50% of companies say they increase customer engagement through email personalization.
• Marketers can see a 20% increase in sales revenue when their email campaigns are personalized.
• Email typically achieves about a 28.5% return on investment.

How to Personalize Emails Using Smart Content In HubSpot

In addition to making sure you’re greeting all of your email subscribers by their first names, you can tailor each customer’s experience using smart content in HubSpot.

Smart content is dynamic. It can adapt and change based on an audience member’s past behavior, specific interests, and other factors such as demographics and language, where the person is located, and the device they’re using.

Smart content is very powerful for marketers because it can create a customized experience for a specific customer at the moment they’re interacting with it.

To create personalized experiences for each of your contacts right inside your email content, start with using smart content modules to display different versions of your content based on viewer category. You can create smart content rules to optimize your content based on specific information, such as:

• Ad source: show content to people based on the ad they've clicked.
• Country: display content to people based on the country they live in.
• Device type: target people accessing content via mobile, tablet, or desktop.
• Preferred language: personalize content based on the language set within a person’s web browser. 
• Contact list membership: show content only to members of a specific HubSpot list. 
• Lifecycle stage: display different content based on a person’s Lifecycle stage property value.

You can apply smart content rules to specific parts of your emails by:

1. Creating a smart subject line – to grab your customers’ attention so they’ll open your email right away.
2. Creating smart text – to show different content to different types of people on your contact list.
3. Creating a smart call-to-action (CTA) – to entice audience members deeper into their buyer’s journey with offers that relate to their needs and the context of your message. 

Make sure to track the results of your email campaigns so you can adjust your smart content rules accordingly.

11outof11 Knows Email Marketing Campaigns

When you’re ready to send more personalized emails to your customers, connect with 11outof11. Request a complimentary call with an 11outof11 expert. Contact Us To Learn More