Personalized Email Marketing: Driving E-commerce Growth Through Customer Engagement

Personalizing emails for driving growth

In today’s fast-paced world, reaching customers and grabbing their attention has become increasingly difficult for businesses. With over 4 billion users, email has become an indispensable channel to reach customers. Since customers regularly check their emails for updates, reaching the right customer with the right message becomes crucial for businesses. When executed strategically, this enables businesses to drive incremental growth.

Email marketing: Customer segmentation since little is more

Email marketing is an excellent strategy to engage existing customers and reengage churned customers. Sending out more emails is neither efficient nor very profitable; instead, sending out the right emails is the solution. Brands should send emails only to those customer segments that might be interested in what the email is offering, and they can do so by using a data-driven approach. By segmenting customers based on similar characteristics and analyzing the customer segments to gain insights into the customer's response to various offers and marketing strategies, brands can design relevant campaigns to engage customers. Past purchases, browsing history, location, age, etc., can be used to group customers

Illustration: A sports shoe brand, Sportzy, uses email marketing to inform customers about an ongoing 20% discount on their new stock. The new stock consists of basketball shoes.

Their current email subscriber list consists of 500 customers who have made purchases from the brand. The brand has segmented the customers based on their purchase history and browsing behavior into 3 segments:

• Football Fans (250 customers): These customers had browsed football or purchased football shoes earlier.
  

• Cricket Fans (150 customers): Customers who had browsed and purchased cricket shoes.
  

• Basketball Fans (100 customers): Customers who had browsed or purchased basketball shoes.

For simplicity, assume emails have an open rate of 30% across all customer segments. If a customer has previously shown interest in products that are now on discount, the conversion rate is 10%. An email costs the company $2. They send an automated email to all customers with the message

“Dear customer,

20% off on our latest stock. Avail it before the offer ends.”

Then:

Had the brand taken a strategic approach of sending the email just to the ‘Basketball Fans’ customer segment, then:

The brand could have saved $267 per conversion. Had the brand personalized the email a little more, say:

“Hello Basketball Player!

We have an exciting offer for you. Get 20% off on our newest range of basketball shoes! Grab your shoes before the offer ends.”

The basketball customer segment would know that the discount was on products of their choice and even lifted the conversion rate.

Two types of emails: Business-as-usual (BAU) & marketing emails

Businesses generally send either BAU or marketing emails to customers. BAU emails focus on the customer's journey in the purchase funnel and send emails relevant to customers at a particular point of their buying journey. Marketing emails, however, are sent to celebrate the customer. These emails contain special discounts curated based on the ongoing offers and seasons.

1. Personalizing emails based on customer journey (BAU emails)

   Brands need to personalize their emails to make the customer feel valued. Customers are more likely to open an email and act on it if it seems relevant. Brands must craft email campaigns based on the customer's segment and journey in the purchase funnel. For example:

   1. Welcome emails: Customers will continue returning to the brand if they feel welcome. An email offering a special one-time discount on their first purchase or a free demo stating the brand is looking forward to building a relationship with the customer is one way to go.
      
      

   2. Branding emails: Brands can send personalized branding emails highlighting products relevant to the customer based on the customer’s browsing history.
      
      

   3. Recovering abandoned cart emails: These emails target shoppers who have added items to their online cart but failed to complete the purchase. By sending strategically timed reminders, creating a sense of urgency, and offering incentives like discounts or free shipping, cart abandonment emails encourage customers to return and finalize their purchase.
      
      

   4. Order update emails: Emails that keep the customer updated on the status of their order. Providing email updates confirming an order, and sharing shipping updates are valuable to build trust in the brand, especially for new customers.
      
      

   5. Post-Purchase drip campaigns: Post-purchase drip emails aim to enhance the customer experience and encourage repeat business. These emails can solicit product reviews, reccomend related products and offer discounts on future purchases.
      
      

   6. Feedback emails: These emails can be sent to new customers asking them to review their first purchase with the brand or to older customers asking them to review the brand's products.
      
      

   7. Win-back emails: These emails target churned customers, encouraging them to return. A successful re-engagement campaign considers the time since the customer has left and the reason for the customer to leave to promote appropriate offers.

      
      

      

   
   

2. Personalizing marketing emails

   Marketing emails aim to promote the brand and its products and encourage customers to purchase more. Personalization in these emails is not limited to adding the customer's names. Here, customer segmentation plays a key role. Informing customers about new launches, offers, & exclusive discounts relevant to the segment.

   1. Seasonal Campaigns: Brands can send seasonal emails to targeted customers, like an offer on beach wear to customers living near the coast during summer.
      
      

   2. Celebration Campaigns: Brands can send customized trigger emails to celebrate customer milestones like anniversaries, birthdays, a certain number of purchases, etc., making customers feel valued.
      
      

   3. Offers: Brands can send emails with offers on personalized product recommendations based on customer preference. For example, if a customer has shown interest in basketball shoes, the brand can send emails to this customer informing them about new launches, offers on basketball shoes, etc.

Personalization elements of an email

There are many elements brands can personalize in their emails to create a more relevant experience for subscribers. Here are some of the most common:

• Subject Lines: Personalize subject lines with the recipient's name, a reference to their interests, or a recent interaction with the brand to significantly increase the chances the email gets opened compared to a generic email.
  
  

• Preview Text: This snippet of text that appears next to the subject line can be customized to align with the recipient's preferences or needs, further enticing them to open the email.
  
  

• Body Content: The email's body offers multiple personalization opportunities. Obviously, brands include the recipient's name. Still, they can tailor the message to their interests and use dynamic content to showcase relevant products, services, or articles based on user behavior.
  
  

• Images and Videos: Brands can tailor the images, videos, and other visual elements in the email to appeal to the recipient's tastes, preferences, or demographic. This can include featuring products they've recently clicked on.
  
  

• Offers: Create personalized offers, including targeted discounts, exclusive deals, or personalized product recommendations to encourage users to act.
  
  

• Timings: Personalize the delivery time based on each user's past engagement patterns or time zone.

Data that drives emails

Different data points are used to personalize different elements of an email. For example:

Customer Data:

• Name: This is used to craft the content for the email. It can be used in the subject line, email body, and greeting.
  
  

• Time zone: This is used to decide the right email time. Sending an email too late in the night or the middle of the workday might not be as effective as sending an email in the morning or after working hours.
  
  

• Location: The customer’s location can be used to promote regional content and discounts. This is also used to send seasonal emails.

In-app events:

• Browsing history: This gives an idea about the customer's preferences and intent to buy. Sending emails offering discounts on products the customers showed high intent to buy is an effective strategy.
  
  

• Past purchases: This data is used for cross-selling and recommending similar products. Emails informing customers about complementary or similar products they could purchase uses this data.
  
  

• Price-sensitive customer: An email mentioning upcoming discounts would be relevant for a customer who views and buys only products with a discount.

User engagement:

• Purchase frequency: If a customer purchases a product from the brand regularly, reminder emails can be sent to the customer if they do not purchase any product after their average purchase duration.
  
  

• Reengagement emails: Reengagement emails are triggered if a customer has shown no engagement with the brand well above their usage frequency.

Designing an email marketing campaign

To maximize the benefits of an email marketing campaign, it is essential to follow a structured approach. The steps in approach are:

1. Define the goal: Brands should determine the problem they aim to address or the metric they wish to influence. An email marketing campaign to regain a churned customer will differ from a campaign to reduce abandoned carts.
   
   

2. Segment the audience: Categorize the customers based on their location, preferences, browsing behaviour, engagement, actions taken, time since their last visit, and other relevant criteria. Customers with similar characteristics are grouped together to form a segment. Even for the same goal, the content of the email will differ depending on the segment. For example, to reduce abandoned carts, a segment consisting of “price-sensitive customers” would like an email offering discounts on items left in the cart, whereas a segment consisting of “forgetful customers” would like an email reminder about items left in the cart.
   
   

3. Craft the messages: Develop copy that is personalized, caters to the receiver’s interests and needs, aligns with the brand, and is clear.
   
   

4. Automate the process: Configure the delays and timing for the emails. Specify what occurs after someone meets the set criteria.

In conclusion, email marketing is not just flooding customers' emails with information a brand wants them to know. Rather, email marketing is a strategic approach to sending customers emails that resonate with them. Customer segmentation and personalization are crucial for crafting relevant and engaging email campaigns. Personalization extends beyond using the recipient's name; it involves customizing various email elements, such as subject lines, preview text, body content, visuals, offers, and delivery timing, to create a more immersive and contextualized experience. Brands should leverage customer data, including browsing history, purchase patterns, and engagement metrics, to deliver targeted and timely communications. A structured email marketing campaign design approach involving goal setting, audience segmentation, message crafting, and process automation is crucial for maximizing the impact and return on investment. Email marketing is a powerful tool that fosters stronger customer connections, drives conversions, and paves the way for sustainable growth in an increasingly competitive marketplace.