Keeping customers engaged with email personalization

85% of web users have access to smartphones giving businesses access to their audience 24 hours a day, wherever they are. This captive audience is primed for a consistent, reliable channel to drive customer engagement: email.

Consistently showing up in a subscriber’s inbox enables a larger opportunity to create long-term relationships with clients. And though many other channels have and continue to take their place in the marketer’s toolbox, many still believe that marketing is still the most effective strategies, with Hubspot citing that on average, email marketing drives a return on investment of $36 for every $1 spent. But, as many marketers have learned the hard way, not just any email communication will land. Similar to other digital channels, email marketing is most effective when it’s personalized to your clients unique needs and preferences. When an email is not personalized, 52% of customers say they’ll find somewhere else to go. Additionally, utilizing email personalization increases open rates by 82%.

What is email personalization?

Email personalization means creating an individualized email interaction to enhance the customer or prospect experience. At the end of the day, it’s important to note that every person is unique, and consumers are more likely to engage with a brand that is adding value to their lives and uniquely responding to their needs. Brands don’t want to fill up a user’s inbox with emails that aren’t relevant to them, especially when the message might be sensitive to their personal life. It’s very important to learn how to be empathetic to your customers and understanding that every marketing email is not relevant to every person. For example, brands like Pandora and Etsy have started offering an opt-out option for marketing emails regarding holidays like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. This a thoughtful, empathetic approach that demonstrates these brands have a genuine desire to know more about adding value to the customer vs. spamming them with generic emails.

Need for real-time data

AI-enhanced solutions can learn how to respond, engage, or process many standard tasks — responding to customer service queries, delivering personalized customer experiences, or improving business processes and beyond. According to Gartner, “The use of AI/ML technology is closely tied to personalization objectives for marketers. In fact, 84% of digital marketing leaders believe using AI/ML enhances the marketing function’s ability to deliver real-time, personalized experiences to customers.” These enhancements not only depend on the technology, but also the data that cycles through it.

Getting to know each and every customer means marketers don’t only need enough data, but they need the right data at the right time. When brands leverage real-time data enabled by AI as part of their email marketing strategy, they can see quickly how the customer is responding to interactions. Real-time data usage enables organizations to:

• Predict customer behaviors
• Make better decisions
• Increase reaction time
• Act proactively to maximize customer satisfaction

Essentially, real-time data helps organizations gain more insight in the moment. Brands need to be ready at all times, once the customer moves on, the brand has lost its chance sending something even an hour after they were engaging might be too late.

Your business is nothing without customers

Customers deserve to feel valued and understood. They are more than just a data set and a personalized experience demonstrates value. Being aware of simple variables can determine what's relevant to that customer and can make the difference between an unsubscribe and a life-long client. Regardless of what you sell, how you sell it, or what business you belong to, personalization should be a critical part of your marketing strategy.