Imagine receiving an email that feels like it was written just for you. An email that mentions your name, addresses your preference and goes ahead to offer something you really need.
Such emails make you save the sender in your important folder, reminding yourself never to miss an email from “such a friend”.
This is what email personalization helps business owners achieve.
Email personalization is one of those strategies you add to your already well crafted strategy in order to build a long lasting relationship with your audience.
Therefore, in this blog post, we’re going to:
—Explore what email personalization is.
—Why it works every single time and
—How to personalize your emails in order to engage your Nigerian customers.
Let’s get started!
What is Email Personalization
Email personalization is the process of tailoring email messages to individual recipients based on their interest and other relevant data.
Personalization creates a way for you to send unique and relevant messages to your subscribers.
For small and medium sized business owners in Nigeria, email personalization can mean addressing customers by their first name, recommending products based on previous purchase or sending offers tailored to their interests.
Email personalization is not just a fancy email term, it is a powerful strategy used to build trust, foster loyalty and create meaningful connections with your audience.
Therefore, email personalization is just like it sounds—the ability to craft and send targeted emails to your audience. This helps you to make the most of your email marketing ROI potential.
Why Does Email Personalization Matter?
Nobody appreciates generic content anymore. Picture these two email scenarios. The first email goes like this:
SL: 20% discount for everyone!
Email body: Dear customer, for your constant patronage with us, we’re offering you a 20% discount on our electronic blenders.
Get yours now!
Email 2:
SL: 20% discount just for you!
Email body: Dear Shola, we’re offering you a 20% discount to get any product of your choice at our store. This is our own way of saying thank you for always patronizing us.
Click on the link below to get your products! Valid for 48 hours.
Which of these two emails do you think the subscriber is going to lean towards?
Personalized emails go beyond adding the subscribers first name, it is a means of making people feel seen and valued.
When you craft personalized emails, you not only increase engagement but also build a strong connection with your subscribers.
Why is Email Personalization Important For Engaging Nigerian Customers
Creating an email personalization strategy has become a must-have for every Nigerian business owner. In a market as culturally rich as Nigeria, personalizing your emails go ahead to create a significant difference in how customers interact with your brand.
Let’s look at some of the key reasons why it’s important.
Increases Email Open Rate
Generic subject lines are easy to ignore. However, crafting personalized subject lines sparks curiosity and you know what that does—Higher open rates.
For instance, instead of crafting a subject line like: A great deal for everyone!
You could use: A great deal specially for you.
And the preview line would be: Open this Ada.
Improves Engagement
Engagement in this scenario means more than just opening your emails, it includes how your subscribers take action.
Personalized emails engage your audience because it majorly focuses on their pain points and how to get to their dream outcome.
Boosts Conversion Rate
When customers receive emails that align with their interest, there’s every tendency they’ll take action.
Whether it’s to click on a link, attend a webinar or even make a purchase. Personalization helps you guide your customers seamlessly down the sales funnel.
Helps Your Business Stand Out
In a competitive market like Nigeria, customers are bombarded with marketing messages daily, personalizing your email sets you apart. It makes your audience feel like they know you and they can trust you.
Builds Relevancy
People’s inbox are crowded daily with different kinds of promotional emails. However, personalized emails can trigger your subscribers to open your emails.
How To Implement Email Personalization For Your Customers
1. Collect the right customer data
You can’t personalize or tailor your email content without having accurate information about your audience.
One great way to collect customer data is by utilizing sign-up forms. These forms help you gather basic details like name, gender, email address and location.
2. Segment Your Email List
All customers are not the same and should not be treated as such. Therefore, segmenting your email list allows you to group your customers based on shared behavior or interest.
For example, Customers who frequently buy from you can receive a one week promotional email campaign that contains loyalty rewards. While inactive customers can get re-engagement campaigns.
3. Craft Relevant And Engaging Email Content
Personalization goes beyond adding names—it’s about making the content tailored to the recipient. Depending on your audience, incorporating Nigerian Pidgin or local greeting can make your emails more relatable.
For instance, Hello Shola, How you dey? Feels warm and personal.
But above all, use your email content to offer value to your customers.
Timing
Sending your emails at a specific time range helps your audience to know when to expect from you which in turn improves your email reach. Sending out your email at the right time is as important as crafting tailored emails for your audience.
4. Test And Optimize Your Campaigns
You don’t need to perfect your personalization strategy from the get go. However, you can regularly test different parts of your emails to see what works best.
Using A/B testing is a good way to test your subject lines, images and CTA.
You can also track your open rates, click-through rates and conversion rates while analyzing your A/B versions.
For example, you can segment your audience into two. Group A gets a CTA that says: Book your slot here.
Group B gets a CTA that says: Click here to save your seat.
You can then analyze which versions of the CTA produced more click-through rates. You can then go ahead to use that for your whole audience.
Conclusion
Creating an email personalization strategy increases trust, improves customer engagement and also increase customer loyalty.
All these work together to improve your metrics which will ultimately transform to better conversion rates.
In addition, personalized emails help you stay relevant and maximizes your email ROI potential.
Read this guide properly and get started with crafting simple but personalized emails for your audience.
