How to Make a Personalized Email (5 Interactive Ways)

If you thought that Emails are a long, boring, and spam mode of communication, you probably need to think again. In today’s times when anything and everything can be Personalized, emails can be too. 

Every marketer needs to keep in mind the interests of its prospects. To show that you care about your customers, personalized emails are one of the best possible ways out there. It is all about the attention you pay to the details and your willingness to walk that extra mile for your customers. 

So in this blog, we will find out about the importance of personalized email, how to personalize cold emails, what are the levels of email personalization, and methods to personalize emails. 

But first, let’s understand our subject in detail.

What Is a Personalized Email?

A personalized email is your way out of hundreds of unread marketing emails. It uses the personal and relevant information you have about your customer to customize the email according to their interests. This information could be anything, starting from their first name to the last time they opened a particular app or bought a certain item. 

Personalization is a relatively broad term. Hence for this blog, we would be focusing on interactive emails – a strategy that would include both personalization and interactivity in your emails. 

To help understand this further, let’s have a look at an example of a personalized email.

Source: MailBakery

This email addresses the customer on a first-name basis. This is the most basic, yet important feature of a personalized email. It uses personal pronouns like “you” and “you’re” which show that the email is specifically tailor-made for you. It exhibits personal listening records and based on that, suggests events that one might be interested in. 

Moreover, the use of “thank you” is a sign of gratitude towards their customers, which is always valued by your email readers. And notice how it comes with a CTA (click-to-action) button. Prompts like these further boost engagement in your campaigns. 

We will now look into the importance of sending personalized emails. 

Why Is It Important for a Marketer to Send Out Personalized Emails?

Email marketing is a crucial part of any marketer’s content strategy. And using personalized emails in big and small ways adds more value to your customers’ experiences. Email personalization shows that you are serious about the content you send out and that you emphasize individual interests. 

Listed below are some key pointers that underline the reasons why sending out personalized emails can do wonders for marketers. 

1. Helps Boost Conversion Rates

The whole idea behind personalizing emails is to make them relevant. When the emails are relevant, it automatically increases the chances of a customer opening the email and making a purchase after getting influenced. You need the reader to be intrigued by the email content, by making it custom-made.

Research shows that personalized emails get a 10% higher conversion rate than non-personalized ones. 

2. Builds a Connection with Your Customers

Personalized email marketing helps you develop a deeper relationship with your customers. The extra effort you put in to personalize your emails will assist you to build a connection with your readers. 

A simple mention of their first name, their buying history, and their specific interests, all show that you made an effort while writing out this email. It shows that you value your customer, and this in turn increases the engagement rates and the likelihood of your reader reading your email, instead of the other thousand in their inbox. 

3. Encourages Users to Share Personal Data

The more personalized your emails are, the more impressive they look to your users. Subscribers who receive personalized emails regard your business as trustworthy. 

Hence, it encourages them to share more personal data as a result of wanting to get even better and highly personalized emails. They would be tempted to further receive services that prioritize their needs. 

4. Increases ROI

Personalized emails help improve open rates, reply rates, and click-through rates too. Additionally, it makes it more likely for prospects to buy from you after reading your emails. Consequently, this increases the ROI of your email campaigns and tools. 

Personalization statistics have shown how ROIs are impacted by the use of personalized marketing strategies. Lack of personalized content generates 83% lower response rates in an average marketing campaign. Moreover, 87% of consumers state that personalized experiences increase brand loyalty.  

MUST READ: Experiencing low CTR for your email campaigns? Click here to learn how to boost email CTR.

Now that you’ve realized the importance of custom emails, let’s learn how you can personalize them yourself. 

How Do You Personalize a Cold Email?

To personalize a cold email, you need to add an element that differs from person to person. It means eliminating generalization. The problem with a cold email is that as soon as you open it, you know that it won’t add any value to you. To solve this issue, here are some ways- 

Source: Google

1. Mention Their First Name in the Greeting Line

In addition to the subject line, consider including the recipient’s first name in the greeting line, body, and the CTAs of your email. Mentioning the recipient’s name acts as an icebreaker. It also shows that the email has not been copy-pasted from somewhere else or bulk-sent to you. 

For example :

Hey {Name},

OR

{Name}, click here to subscribe

2. Mention Where You Found Your Prospect

To show your customers that they aren’t just a part of the huge database that is receiving this mail, mention where you found them. You can even add a line of appreciation for them. It’s important to make your customers feel valued and cared for. 

For example :

Hey {Name}, I came across your article in the {place} and found it to be extremely well-written. You gave some cool tips that would help a lot of readers. So, I was wondering if you might be interested in this.

3. Use a Compliment to Personalize

Who doesn’t like a good compliment and a daily dose of reassurance? Let your emails do exactly that. Use a compliment or congratulate your reader, either in the subject or in the introductory line. This will instantly differentiate you from becoming a cold email. 

For example :

Subject : {Name}, You look beautiful today. Let’s make your day even more beautiful. 

4. Highlight Their Past Behaviors 

If you want your email marketing strategies to be successful, you need to focus on highlighting your customers’ past activities in your emails. Including past behaviors of the customers will show that the mail is relevant to what they have been indulging in and what interests them. This will turn your cold email into a warm email.

For example :

Hey {Name}, you bought this {product name} a few days ago. Want to find a perfect match for your {product name}?

OR

Hey {Name}, you listened to 10 hours of {brand name}. Check out these songs next, you’ll love them. 

To make things easier, here is a personalized email template. 

Source: Lemlist

This is a great example of a personalized email. It addresses the reader on a first-name basis and includes their past behaviors. Also, the mail makes tailored recommendations based on the customer’s liking. 

Not all personalized emails are the same. There are some levels to which you can personalize. Let’s have a look at these levels.

Levels of Email Personalization

1. Level 1 – Basic Personalization

The first level of email personalization is the basic level. This includes inserting your subscriber’s name into the email – in the subject line or the initial greeting. Using a creative subject line that has the recipient’s name in it will generate curiosity and increase open and CTR rates.

The basic way in which you personalize can matter a lot in the long run. You can also move a step further and include your customer’s job title, company name, or the city in which they live, in the body of your email. 

2. Level 2 – Segmentation and Personalization

The next level requires you to segment your audience. It groups your contacts so that you can deliver different experiences to different types of subscribers. When combined, segmentation and personalization produce the best results.

You can segment your customers based on demographics such as location, gender, education, etc. This will help you to tailor customer experience and give out the best-suited product recommendations.

3. Level 3 – Advanced Email Personalization

To deliver an advanced level of email personalization, you need to get your hands on accurate, precise, and correct data. You can do this by setting up an email subscribe form on your website and adding some extra fields to it to seek detailed information.

You can also collect behavioral data from your website to understand the pain points and needs of the customer. This can be then used in your emails in the form of cart abandonment messages, product recommendations, limited-time discounts, etc. 

Moreover, to be able to send out advanced emails, you need to learn to integrate the data with the email properly. Making the right use of the accessed data is crucial. And CRM software would come in handy here to manage, segment, analyze, and use this data.

To make your emails highly advanced, make use of interactive content. The more you engage with your readers, the more personalized your emails will look. Interactive content is one of the best ways to engage with your readers.  Nothing screams personalization more than a two-way conversation between you and your readers, and interactive content will help you do just that. 

Use surveys, forms, polls, and quizzes to get customer feedback while making them feel valued at the same time. 

Here is an example- 

Source: MailerLite 

Finally, let’s dive into the various types of methods you can use to personalize. 

Types of Personalization Methods You Can Use

In a sea full of possibilities, finding the correct method to personalize your email can be difficult. A lot of factors come into play while deciding on which email is open-worthy. 

Some methods to personalize your emails are as follows-

1. Celebrate Birthdays With Special Offers

Making your customers feel special should be your ultimate goal. And what better way than giving them offers on their birthday? Celebrating a birthday together is a great sign to convey that your customers are special to you. 

Customize your email with a personalized gift card, write a catchy wish in the body and offer them discount coupons to make their birthday special. 

For example – 

Hey {Name}, Happy Birthday!

Today calls for celebration. So, here {insert a personalized image} is a 20% off coupon, especially for you on your birthday.

Source: Campaign Monitor

2. Guide Customers to Their Preferred Content

In this fast-paced world, where no one has the time to pay attention and browse, give your customers what they want, and save them some time. If you guide them to the content that they’ll love, it will automatically increase your email open rates. 

Look at their past behaviors and screen their choices. Based on that, include recommendations in your email to give a personalized touch.

For example, OTT platforms show “top picks for you”. This saves the users’ time searching for content. They have easy access to the content they will like since it is based on their liking. 

Another way could be to guide your customers to their preferred products. 

For example- If you are a skincare brand, and a person bought a shampoo from a  specific range. You can match their shampoo with a conditioner or a hair mask of the same range. 

3. Narrate Emotional Stories

What strikes a chord, always, are emotions. Try telling personalized and emotional stories in your emails. To build a connection with your customers, find a way to use their data to make a story of their own.

For example, do a round-up of their buyer journey. Let’s say you are an e-commerce platform. To boost your e-commerce email marketing, you can create a story around what products did the customer save, then which products he wish-listed, and ultimately which ones did he end up buying. 

Source: MailDocker

Another way to make your emails personalized is to add interactive content to them. 

4. Use Interactive Content in Your Emails

Personalized emails are attractive and drive high engagement and revenue. And to make your personalized emails more interesting, you can embed interactive content in them. This won’t just help in user attraction and engagement, but also boost your open and conversion rates. 

You can try out content types such as fun quizzes, calculators, giveaways, and product recommendations and we promise, it will be a game changer for you! 

Want to give it a shot but don’t know where to start? Don’t worry! Outgrow is here to help you create advanced-level personalized emails. 

Outgrow has a variety of tools to boost your marketing strategies and make your brand stand out. You can utilize their ‘Launch in an Email’ feature from the Configure tab and launch your content piece directly into an email. In addition, you can also directly embed your interactive content via the embed code. 

So, what’re you waiting for? Start now and increase Conversions and improve the ROI of your emails with Outgrow’s sophisticated interactive content pieces. 

Let’s have a look at some of the interactive content types you can utilize to make your emails interactive and engaging.

1. Calculators-

Interactive calculators require leads to insert data into a form to get an instant quantitative answer. This tool asks a set of questions and gives them a logically-computed response. 

Calculators provide a personalized experience and offer great value to the user as they can provide them solutions in a jiffy. As a tool, calculators make the process of decision-making quick and easy. 

Moreover, your customers can make an informed decision by looking at numerical results, calculated especially for them. So, using an interactive calculator gives your customers the value they seek, thus, enhancing their user experience. 

For example- You can use calculators like this in your emails to help users solve problems by giving them a quantitative response. Getting a quick response is a measure of a personalized experience. Here, the calculator finds a user’s savings if he buys a TESLA. Using a calculator is intriguing 

2. Giveaways– 

Interactive Giveaways encourage participation in return for a chance to win a prize. Giveaways act as a buzz generator for not only the products that you are giving for free but also for your website. 

You can run your interactive giveaways as either a stand-alone campaign or simply embed the parts you need. Giveaways help in making the reader feel valued and cared for. Moreover, immersive giveaways are highly beneficial for user engagement. 

For example- You can create and add beautiful giveaways like this in your email. Simple registration and enter-to-win rules will help your users get free gifts. This leaves them happy and satisfied as a result of a personalized experience along with rewards. Here, the giveaway is to avail Black Friday discount. An easy and quick way to give users what they want the most.

 

3. Product Recommendation Quizzes- 

Product recommendation quizzes are fun, interactive pieces of content which ask relevant questions to record user behavior and preferences. In the end, these quizzes come up with personalized product recommendations. This helps shoppers in making the right choice by eliminating the hassle of doing all the research on their own. 

Simply put, you can just answer a bunch of simple questions and get a calculated recommendation of which product is best suited for you. As a result of these quizzes, customers develop brand trust and loyalty. Not to mention that quizzes also help generate huge amounts of traffic and engagement.

For example- Embed a  product recommendation quiz like this in your emails that asks them a set of questions about their preferences. Based on the response of your user, the quiz will then give them a personalized recommendation of which watch is best for them.

4. Assessments– 

An interactive assessment is a test or a questionnaire embedded with different pieces of content to boost engagement. They are easy to create and exceedingly interactive. They can be personalized according to your needs. You can different types of questions like MCQs or long text or single select. You can even add multiple result screens based on what score the examinee gets. 

Assessments deliver significant value to those who take them by providing them with a score at the end. They are more useful when you can see, compare, and analyze their results. Creating assessments with Outgrow will allow you to use the awesome analytics features. This provides a detailed analysis of the results of the assessment taken. 

For example- You can add an assessment test like this to your email to make your emails more interactive and personalized. This assessment tells how good your German is, and the user would be left wanting to know the results as soon as possible. This in itself is a sign of user engagement and personalized delivery.

Embed the above-mentioned features and pieces of content in your emails to provide your users with a highly personalized experience. Create templates according to your customer’s needs and show them that you care. 

Conclusion 

A personalized email will help you along your journey of building a relationship with your customers while marketing your products. It is time to ditch boring emails and let your creative juices flow into making personalized emails. We hope this blog helped you change your email marketing game. 

Create interactive content with Outgrow to give your emails a highly personalized experience. Sign up with Outgrow’s 7-day free trial and make your emailing life easier!

FAQs

1. Why are personalized emails better?

Personalized emails are better because they have a better conversion rate. They make customers feel valued and important, which increases the chances of them making a purchase. 

2. How do you write a Personalized email?

To write a personalized email, include the recipients’ names, address them with personal pronouns, give them tailored recommendations and make the reader feel special. Learn how to make recommendation quizzes in this blog to up your email game.