Personalized emails work best

Personalized emails generate six times higher transaction rates and revenue per email than nonpersonalized email, according to a study by Experian Marketing Services.

However, while the majority of brands market to their consumers in multiple channels, only 7% market to consumers based on their communication preferences.

“Consumers have come to expect content tailored to their unique interests and preferences, and there is a clear business case for why marketers need to meet those expectations,” says Peter DeNunzio, general manager, cross-channel marketing, Experian Marketing Services. “As the Email Market Study indicates, marketers are testing various personalization tactics and consumers are responding, but we still have more to learn.”

According to the study:

• Personalized promotional mailings have 29% higher unique open rates and 41% higher unique click rates than nonpersonalized mailings.

• Personalized, triggered mailings have similar lifts, with 25% higher unique open rates and 51% higher unique click rates.

• Personalized, trigger campaigns result in more than double the transaction rates of nonpersonalized trigger mailings.

• Multichannel retailers see a 37% increase in unique open rates for emails with personalized subject lines when compared to emails sent during the same period with nonpersonalized subject lines.

Experian Marketing Services’ analysis also found that marketers embraced new tactics in 2013 to increase the effectiveness of their email marketing campaigns. Growing trends include:

• Pop-up windows: 45% of marketers use pop-up windows on their websites to collect email addresses. This number increased 107% since last year.

• Responsive design: Brands are looking for ways to deliver an optimal experience to customers across screens. This is exemplified by the use of responsive design within email campaigns, technology that automatically adjusts emails to the user’s screen, which more than doubled in 2013 from 2012.

• Social influence and brand advocacy: Promoting social networks in emails increased in 2013. Pinterest was the fastest growing social network used by retailers, followed by Instagram.