Marketing personalization can create more delightful experiences for your clients. Luda Greko from ActiveTrail five tips on how to use it in this guest post.
Imagine stepping into an ice cream store, and then the server offers you 20 different ice cream flavors. None of the flavors appeal to you so you leave at once.
Next to it is another ice cream store so you decided to try it too. This time the server shows you that they have coffee crumble, pistachio, and double Dutch - three of your favorite flavors! So without a second thought, you order one scoop for each flavor.
No matter what type of business you run, marketing personalization does wonders. The situation above may be far from possible unless you've been to the shop several times. But, unlike brick and mortar shops, marketing personalization is possible even with a client's first visit, using amarketing automation platform.
Marketing personalization is essential in any marketing campaign because it allows you to hit the target instead of shooting arrows blindfolded and hope it hits. Without personalization, you’re leaving your sales to luck.
Impersonalized marketing annoys visitors. In fact, 74% of online users state that ads and promotions that are not relevant to them are useless and even upsetting. Personalized emailsboost transaction rates up to six times.
Email marketing campaign have to be personalized so they can reach their full potential.
What is Marketing Personalization About?
Marketing personalization is a set of strategies in which brands provide personalized content to clients and potential clients. They do these through collection and analysis of data and automation technology like anemail marketing platform.
Its goal is to captivate and engage clients by reaching out to each as a unique person. For example, a triggered email will be sent to a client during his or her birthday. Or specific product suggestions will be made based on their past purchases.
5 Ways to Use Marketing Personalization in Email Marketing Automation
Here are some ways you can use marketing personalization in your email marketing campaigns to boost your results:
1. Send geo-targeted emails
Your clients’ location is crucial for your marketing campaign because it allows you to “meet your client where they are”. You can create and send content that is appropriate to your client’s geographical details.
This tactic is especially important for businesses which are location sensitive. But even if your brand is global, geographical details will still leverage your marketing efforts.
If you have a brick-and-mortar shop, you can send promotional emails to subscribers living within the vicinity of your physical store. If done right, this can increase foot traffic.
Another application for geo targeted emails is when you have an event. You can use email automation to instantly send event invitations to subscribers near the area.
Starbucks is one of the brands that have taken full advantage ofgeo-targeting. According to them, geo-targeted content increases the chance of a customer going to the store by up to 100%.
2. Create and send emails based on behavioral triggers
With email automation, you can send out all kinds of emails to all kinds of behavioral triggers in real time.
Did a client subscribe? Send out a welcome email.
Did someone make a purchase? Send a thank you email.
Did a visitor abandon a cart? Send out a series of abandoned cart emails.
These are just some examples; you can automate basically every part of your communication to your client.
A study by MarketingSherpa reveals that 39% of marketers attest that behavior-triggered emails are the best strategy for boosting email engagement.
Shooting trigger-based emails can escalate customer loyalty, boost brand relevance, speed up the buyer's journey, and most importantly, increase sales. It also gives a competitive advantage because, despite its effectiveness, only20% of brands are sending behavior-triggered emails.
3. Send contextualized emails (RTM)
Contextualized emails or real-time marketing is a friendly and helpful way to engage with your audience.
The key is to create the right message at the right moment. Align the context with your content to show that you are empathizing with your clients. This way, you become helpful instead of interruptive.
The secret to sending successful contextualized emails is to understand your audience first. If you know who they are, you can give them what they want. When clients are receiving thousands and thousands of irrelevant messages, the most valuable content at the right time will stand out.
As an example, an accounting business may send emails giving tax advice and reminders from late February through mid-April.
You can also merge geo-targeting with moment marketing. For example, if you know that many parts have been flooded in Northern Philippines, you can send emails asking how your subscribers are doing and maybe some information about flood safety.
Contextual emails don’t always have to be about selling; you can use it just to show genuine concern.
4. Centralize your marketing efforts with integration
Personalize at full blast by integrating all your marketing platforms together both online and offline. Integration makes way for a consistent, smooth and multi-dimensional brand experience for your clients.
This capability makes the entrance of your funnel wider so you can capture more. Even if some of your subscribers don’t respond to your email, you can still reach out to other channels. It also improves your personalization because it allows you to gather more data on different platforms.
According to senior media consultant Allan Breiland of Kantar Millward Brown Australia, integration boosts the effectiveness of marketing campaign to up to 60%.
It boosts ROI with lesser effort. Marketers have everything to win and nothing to lose.
5. Create unique landing pages
Even if you have already captivated your audience on your email, you can still lose that grip if you turn him or her to the wrong landing page.
Generic landing pages don't cut it anymore. The landing page should match the email and the CTA that your subscriber has clicked on.
Your landing pages are your roadway towards lead generation and conversion. You are more likely to achieve this if they are personalized. If you are hesitant because of the effort it requires, creating several unique landing pages is easier now with the help of marketing automation software.
Conclusion
Personalize starting from the facade up to the core to captivate your audience. Remember that your emails should be:
- Geo-targeted
- Trigger-based
- Contextualized
- Integrated
- With unique landing pages
All these may sound overwhelming but they don’t have to be. Using an email marketing automation platform will allow you to hyper-personalize with less effort.
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