Email Strategy Roundtable: Is Personalization Appropriate Every Time?

This is a question that email marketers contemplate on a regular basis.  As Chad White asks, "Are personalized greetings worthwhile?"  It really should cause you to think, "How is your email marketing team making decisions about when, and if, you personalize your subject lines or messages?"

Julie

Bottom line, it all comes down to testing. I don't like it when I see my first name in a subject line, because I know it's a marketing ploy. Even worse, I hate it when CVS emails me repeatedly with a subject line that begins with "Judy," because that's not my name. I still open their messages half the time, so does that mean it's ineffective?  Plus, I'm an email marketer, so I obviously have a different perspective than the average consumer.

You can't decide to implement or not implement a strategy based on personal preference. Personally, I can't stand Overstock's one-note, all caps subject lines, but then I learned from a case study that, when tested against normally capitalized subjects, the all-caps won hands-down. I can't fault them for it and, truth be told, I open and shop their messages regardless. This is why testing is important. What works for one will not work for everyone, and vice versa.

Kristen Gregory

I think the effectiveness of personalization is highly dependent on the business involved and the message content. Without a doubt, businesses can and should test whether or not it works better for them to include any personalization in the subject line. While you or I may think it seems cheesy, fake, distasteful or pointless to include the personalization, that doesn't mean it doesn't work.

I'm not a huge fan of first name personalization in subject lines for broadcast emails or "Dear firstname" in a non-letter-format email, but I also think it can be quite fitting for something like a birthday email or could grab attention (and thus boost response) for a product review request (I.e. "Kristen, let us know what you think!")

Personalization beyond first name - such as location-based or product-interest personalization - can absolutely boost response. If I'm an online sports retailer and my main graphic or call-to-action incorporates your favorite football team, I'm more likely to see better results. In the end, though, it's all about testing, not personal preference.

Kelly

On personalization in subject lines or within the email body, your mileage may vary. Personally, I feel it's ineffective in broadcast messages where it's clear it's a one-to-many push "conversation." I think it's appropriate and could work well in the B2B space and on transactional or one-to-one/one-to-few messaging. Utilizing a personal salutation implies familiarity and encourages response. If you're not ready to handle responses (especially if you have a "do not reply" address!), don't use it.

Personalization by name also requires a thorough analysis of your data to ensure that you have accurate information on contacts so you don't make a mistake like the Obama camp did back during the 2008 Presidential campaign. Ultimately, I think it's worth testing to measure effectiveness and lift - be sure to look at not just opens, but conversions here - to see if it's appropriate for your business. And be sure to share the results in the comments!

Jeff

Using the subscriber's name in the subject line or body of a message, like all other aspects of email marketing, can be beneficial when used appropriately. For transactional messages, travel alerts, or specific account details and updates,  I would actually consider at least some personalization mandatory. With these types of communication, most customers would appreciate (or possibly even demand) confirmation that a company is speaking to the correct, intended recipient. However, simply placing a list subscriber's first name in every marketing message could have a reverse affect. Unless you have further data on your subscribers' interests, they could begin to feel as though you know nothing else about them other than their name, and they may be right.

I agree with the rest of the team that decision-making based upon personal opinion is not the way to go, and that testing is ultimately going to answer the question about whether personalization is appropriate every time. Try personalizing promotional messages using other subscriber data (i.e. interests, recent purchases or browse behavior, etc.). This will really demonstrate that you are paying attention to each customer as an individual. Don't collect customer data? Perhaps this is a good opportunity to begin collecting relevant information on what your subscribers care about most.

Jeff Levine
Email Marketing Strategist at Bronto