Marketers are striving to appeal to customers on a personal level. But how do you find the right balance between being generic and intrusive? Molly Raycraft reveals all
As Guy Hanson, senior director of professional services at Return Path, showed the logistics of customer engagement in personalised emails during his recent talk at the Festival of Marketing, he revealed the double-edged sword of customer expectations. Being too personalised can be plain creepy, while heading in the opposite direction can communicate a disregard for your client relationship. Here are some top tips to avoid falling either side of the tight-rope.
1. Personalise your subject line
The much-debated subject line often brings confusion. Should it be long and informative or short and snappy? Are emojis a viable tactic? One thing is sure according to Guy: including personalisation in a subject line can offer an uplift of 17%, with an 82% open-rate increase and 75% click-through increase.
Most marketers have cottoned on to the benefits and this is probably why subject lines are the second most popular thing to test when it comes to measuring engagement.
2. Understand the leaders to become one of them
Personalising emails is not a groundbreaking concept, but just doing the basics well won’t optimise the benefits. The leaders of the pack go the extra mile to extend the results of personalisation, and if you want to be a front-runner you need to venture into the more complex areas.
Researching and following the customer lifecycle is just one area in which leaders are performing above the mediocre marketer. Look at reports and industry-specific marketing research to decipher the more obscure areas you could branch out into.
3. Know what customers don’t like
‘Know your customer’ is a basic marketing principle. But pinpointing specifically what clients appreciate and dislike can be overlooked for its simplicity. Playing the personal card but getting it obviously wrong is a pet peeve among clients.
This can be easily avoided. Double check you haven’t called Catherine, Katie. Also, keep a tight reign on your automation: recommending items that don’t match interests or that clients have already bought will make your company tech appear antiquated. Offering promotions that have previously expired is also a common mistake that can be easily avoided.
4. Use dynamic content emails
Email can, at times, be a surprisingly stagnant format in comparison with the rest of the developing digital marketing world. Offering dynamic and interactive content within emails is much more likely to increase engagement.
Guy drew upon the recent US election, during which residents were sent an interactive voting map that was updated in real time as results came in. This offers some food for thought as to how that creativity can be integrated to benefit B2B.
5. The third-party promise
No one likes being pestered, especially by people they’re likely to have no interest in. Clients are cautious of signing up to newsletters in the fear that third-parties will mercilessly spam them. Mailers that communicated a strong promise not to pass on contact details to third-parties were much more likely to receive subscriptions than those that didn’t.
Allowing the client to choose how regularly they’re emailed with newsletters can also alleviate this problem, as you’re putting your customer in control. This will build trust and reputation.
6. Tone of voice
It’s understandable that marketers use a tone of urgency and negativity to make a client feel their involvement is important. But the stats show this isn’t always effective. Those in the UK are less likely to open or respond to an email that communicates a sense of urgency and negativity. Guy’s theory is that it brings a sense of uncomfortable obligation to customers.
7. Reflect interests
Knowing what your clients like is equally vital as knowing what your customers don’t like. It’s unproductive creating and sending emails that simply won’t appeal to your clients enough to pull through to a potential sale. Take the time to ensure that your email automation system reflects your clients’ interests.
