Written by Andy Thomas at QEInbox
Email is the only marketing channel where you can send common communication to multiple recipients that are personalized for the individual.
Pair your emails with your eCommerce store and you can target subscribers with the products that are most likely to appeal to them, in a commonly sent email template.
You can set up an email workflow to specify certain trigger conditions. Then your emails can be sent automatically when your prospect satisfies that trigger condition. For example, when someone subscribes to your list you can set up a trigger that automatically sends them a welcome series of emails.
But still, most email marketers fail to personalize their emails beyond addressing their customers by their first name. In fact, out of the surveyed, only 39% of companies confirmed to have personalized their emails “extensively”, & nearly all surveyed understand the criticality of personalization to their business (Source).
In this post, we are going to explore ways brands have utilized personalization in the email design and not just in the email copy.
Definition of personalization in emails
Before we move towards understanding how to implement personalization in your email design, it is important to understand the general idea of personalization.
Personalization, in terms of email marketing, involves sending a relevant yet timely email that sounds like written by an actual human who understands the recipient. Basic personalization involves addressing the customer by their first name, displaying different content based on the customers’ demographics i.e. age, gender, location, etc. Going a step forward, you can include past purchase history or online interaction with your brand to provide customized offers and promotions.
Personalization in email design involves making specific changes only to certain portions of your email design based on the preferences of the individual subscriber. It can be specific product images, color choices, or even the overall design of the email itself.
Using personalization in email design
Personalized Image in email
Our attention goes to the hero image first when we open an email and followed by the salutations. In case of salutations, it feels great when an email begins with Hey *Your Name* or Greetings *Your Name* instead of a generic “Hey There”. What if we can merge the salutations in the hero image itself?
In the example below by Pizza Express, the hero image has the name of the recipient formed from the flour. What is more interesting is the pixel art (which is only visible when the images are disabled) also displays the name under the illustration.
(Image Source: Litmus)
In another example, the below email from Lucozade energy used the first name to personalize the hero image of the email. The email talks about the introduction of their product with the name of the recipient lighting up occasionally in the animated hero image.
(Image Source: CodeMonkey)
Going for another example, Really Good Emails periodically send email newsletters with personalized hero images that displays the name of the recipient in the hero image. They do so using Niftyimages, an online service using which you can create images that displays real-time information such as the first name.
Content personalization
Going a step further from personalization based on first name, what if your entire email design changes based on the personalization criteria?
The email below by Grammarly, the user data is represented in an infographic format where the data is dynamically fetched.
In the example below by Uber, the email shows the journey of the customer with the brand in a timeline view. These kind of emails are different from others as the customer engagement in these emails will comparatively higher owing to the personalized data.
(Image Source: ReallyGoodEmails)
Personalization based on past interactions
This email series by Aweber is a prime example of personalization based on past interactions. When someone subscribes, they receive the following email.
Based on what choice you make in every email, the next email has different imagery.
As you progress further the rabbit hole, the level of personalization becomes evident as your choice may not match with anyone else and the resultant creature is specific to you.
As it becomes evident from the final email below, the choices are unique to everyone and the resultant creature may also be unique.
(Email Series Source: ReallyGoodEmails)
Another scope for personalization based on the past interaction of a customer can be easily executed in a cart abandonment email or as a re-order reminder email.
In the example below by Chewy, the products are showcased based on what the user had purchased. The email copy reminds the subscriber of the need to re-order before they run out of it. Ingenious idea.
(Image Source: ReallyGoodEmails)
In case of a cart abandonment email, the below example by Adidas takes the crown. Not only do they display the product as their hero image, but they also feature a testimonial along with the photo of the product in a real-time environment.
(Image Source: ReallyGoodEmails)
How to create personalized email design?
Generating personalization in email design has a similar process as the one you follow when implementing personalization in your email copy. It starts with collecting data and segmenting the audience based on it. Other than the email address of the subscribers, some other customer data that you can collect are:
- Demographics
- Gender
- Age
- Location
- Occupation
- Birthdate
- Transactional data:
- Total Amount spent
- Last purchase
- Product currently browsing
- Behavioral patterns:
- Email open and clicks
- Last interaction
Once you are equipped with enough data, you can make the choice of the direction you want to take the email design on.
Wrapping Up
People are more prone to observe visual nuances before textual personalization. While personalization may not be possible for every email you create, what matters is how effectively you collect the customer data to turn your email marketing into data-driven email marketing. This way you are sending emails that your subscribers are looking forward to instead of forcing your way into their inbox.
Want to learn more about email personalization? Check out the following post to learn how you can use email personalization to maximize your CLV.