How can email personalisation go wrong?

E-mail personalisation uses the personal information of users to produce a more targeted approach.

This has been proven to result in a tighter bond between brand and customer and overall has a great effect on customers’ behaviour. However, if taken for granted it can cause more harm than good. So, what can go so wrong?

Let's cover this in our LinkedIn do’s and don’ts:

Do double-check your greetings ???

Starting emails with a ‘'Hi << first name >>” is so common at this point that hardly any of the marketers even think about it. But what if something goes wrong in the link? What if a client called Paul receives a ‘'Hi << first name >>” instead of ‘Hi Paul”?

This can happen to the best of us but it diminishes the importance of the message you were trying to send.

This is why it is important to have a backup solution, which is also known as the “fallback option”. This is how it works: Instead of just “Hi << first name >>” you write “Hey {firstname, fallback=Growth Hacker}”. This ensures that Paul never finds out that you intended to refer to them by their first name. Do test it out though!

Do retarget your audience ??

Use personalised emails to get the lost leads back to your funnel. For example, send a reminder to someone that they still have a filled shopping cart on your website.

With these sorts of emails, there is something you should pay extra attention to:

Don’t send them out too soon! If you do, there is a good chance that you will lose the lead forever. Make sure you’ve got your timing right and try to understand what works best for your clients! Usually, the best time is after one day.

Do a deep-dive check on your data before taking any actions ???

Congratulating someone on a great event in their life only works if this event actually happened. You don’t want to congratulate them on their birthday if you’re wrong.

Send out congratulations if you are 100% sure that your data behind this action is right and play it safe.

Don’t ask (everyone) for user-generated content ?

When you choose to use a user-generated content strategy you let your users generate personalised content by posting photos or videos about your company on their own social media channels, and all you have to do is repost it.

Do keep in mind that this can easily get out of control. After all, you don't know what all those individual users are going to say about you or if they are going to post anything at all.

This is why it is very important to make sure you have a good filter set up when starting a user-generated content campaign.

To avoid a situation where nobody responds to your campaign, you can ask a number of people you are close with to create some initial posts. Others will likely follow their example. This keeps you in control while still getting great content.

Don’t miss out on opportunities ??

People will leave personal data in exchange for personalised offers and you should use it to your advantage. Use profiles of your leads to build personas and better map out what kind of customers you’re looking for.

If you do gather a good amount of data, you can even make predictions about the behaviour of your leads.