Without a target audience, marketers would be shooting in the dark; spending unnecessary marketing dollars blasting out a message to someone who isn’t interested. Personalization using dynamic content has become a vital part of marketing, as consumers are blasted with thousands of advertisements per day. During the 1970s, you would target by location and print placement (e.g., magazines); targeting shoe shoppers by placing your shoe ad in a fashion magazine. However, today’s technological advances have made it far easier and more cost effective to target your audiences. On Facebook and other social platforms, audiences can be reached by drilling down on their age, income, preferences, and more.

Emails Provide Personalization and a More ‘Human’ Experience

How does personalizing information in an email make a difference? According to Hubspot, personalized call-to-action buttons converted 202 percent more often than non-personalized versions. Tailoring your emails and call-to-actions increases the likelihood of a person to open or click-through on your emails. Think of it this way: how many spam emails have you immediately trashed because its subject line said “You’re a Winner!” or “Amazing Deals are Here!”? These are clearly spam emails that do not provide relevant information and are approaching you as a sales figures. However, when I receive an email that says “Matt, come learn 3 words to expand your vocabulary” I am far more likely to open this because it reaches out to me on a personal level and provides me relevant information. By using personalization fields (first name, last name, etc.), also known as merge variables, we are able to use dynamic text to show that we have a personal connection to our customers.

Personalizing Emails Using Dynamic Images

So how do we accomplish this personalization? The answer is the combination of Customer Relationship Management programs (CRMs) and email marketing. Let’s go back to the example of the retail shopper. We know that we need more personal information than what we had in the 1970s to stand out to this particular shopper. In fact, only 22 percent of retail shoppers are satisified with the personalized content they receive. Thanks to our CRM, SharpSpring, we can see what links they previously clicked on and what they did not click on. If, for instance, they clicked through only on Steven Madden shoes then we include Steve Madden pictures and content. This tailorization will allow us to deliver the relevant content that the shopper desires. But, what if there is also a customer who prefers to dress up for work and likes Eccos? That’s where we can include a dynamic content strategy. With dynamic content, we are able to create one email and send it to both customers. Each email can be set up in a way so that the images, content, sales, color scheme, etc. are individualized. The benefit of a dynamic strategy not only personalized information, but the ability to do this at scale, saving time and maximizing results.

For more information about how Stone Ward can change the way you interact with your customers, fill out the form below to get in touch with our inbound marketing experts!