How to use email personalization to stand out in 2023

It takes more to succeed in the inbox in 2023. One way to do it? Through email personalization. 

Data goes hand in hand with personalization. Consumers vote with their dollars, so you must revisit your approach if customer engagement isn’t leading to revenue. 

Performative personalization can help. It’s where you use your customer insights to create a data-driven personalization approach to your email marketing. 

We’ve got a few examples of how you can use email personalization to drive more engagement, conversions, and revenue in 2023. Here’s how to do it. 

Find new ways to personalize emails

We all know the genesis of email personalization, adding “Hey [Name]” to a message. And while that approach is old news now, the concept (not to mention psychology) behind it still matters. 

Adding a consumer’s name to an email helps capture attention; it’s as simple as that. But you can go above and beyond by using customers’ names more often in your emails. 

Here’s an example:

On the left, the message is fully personalized but features the reader’s name once. Now check out the email on the right. Here, you see three instances of the reader’s name, including in the Smart Banner™. 

You may be asking, does it matter? To your customer, it can, which then helps drive engagement and revenue. 

Using first names everywhere helps catch your reader’s eye. It calls attention to where you want them to look (which can drive revenue-driving calls to action). 

Plus, it helps remove generic information and reinforces value — you’re presenting your list with a curated suite of content. That matters and helps capture attention.

Look for places to add revenue optimization

Reveue is still the name of the game with email marketing. Of course, you want customers to click and convert. But are you really creating a strategy around personalization driving revenue versus adding a couple of calls to action and hoping people click?

Here’s where Smart Banners™ and Smart Blocks™ can help optimize your revenue strategy. 

Our customer research shows that the brands that implement Smart Banners™ into their emails see a 10-17% lift in revenue. That’s why it’s critical to use Smart Banners™ in your campaigns to help drive revenue. For example, add an abandoned cart notification Smart Bannes™ to a newsletter or a shipping update. 

For your secondary calls to action, use a Smart Block™ instead. You can add multiple Smart Blocks™ to emails, each personalization something different, like a product recommendation or loyalty point update. 

With this approach, you’re still focusing on personalization and optimizing for revenue with your clicks. 

Market to readers with intention

We’re so big on performative personalization because it goes beyond personalization for the sake of it. Instead, it utilizes data to determine the kinds of personalization that drive engagement through conversions and revenue.

Take away guessing, and move forward with a data-driven approach. Then, test how your list responds. You can glean so much about customer interest and behavior by letting data show you what resonates the most with your list. 

Smart Banners™ and Smart Blocks™ make it easy, giving you multiple places in every email to personalize where you’re using customer data to provide value and entice readers to take action.

Remember, personalizing just to say you’re doing it won’t move the needle. It’s all about curating your emails to each individual subscriber and then adding the context and messaging that matters to them. That’s what’s going to capture attention and drive engagement.

Reach more customers through personalization

Do you want to add more personalized content into the mix but aren’t sure how or where to start?

Let us help you out. Speak with some of our email marketing experts to learn how to include more targeted data-driven personalization into your marketing strategy. 

Click here to request a demo and see how Zembula can help you transform your emails.