Automation has become one of the most important instruments in a marketer’s toolkit. The stats show that 57 percent of businesses are already using this technology while a further 29 percent plan to use it in the future.
Businesses of all shapes and sizes have embraced automation to help them carry out everyday marketing tasks, save time and get more from their efforts. However, many business owners fear it will make their marketing less personal and inauthentic. But this isn’t the case.
Advancements in email marketing automation have given businesses the ability to automate but yet personalise their digital interactions with their audience. Those who don’t embrace this tactic quite simply risk being left behind in an increasingly digital world.
Why does personalisation matter?
Every which way you look, we're bombarded with marketing messages. It’s only natural that we disregard those which aren’t relevant to us. That’s why personalisation is so important – it can help you stand out and capture your customers’ attention.
When done well, personalisation can increase engagement, enhance the customer experience and boost loyalty. Combined with automation, you can anticipate what your customer wants to deliver a relevant message at the right time.
How to use marketing automation to increase personalisation
Segment your data
To get started with effective personalisation, segmentation of your database is a must. Dividing your email list into smaller segments based on set conditions, segmentation enables you to tailor content so that the email resonates with the specific wants and needs of the reader.
Using marketing automation software, you can generate a detailed picture of exactly who you’re speaking to and use this criteria such as age, geographic location, interests, purchase history, and more to effectively target them.
You can then modify email campaigns specifically for each segment, rather than sending one mass email with one mass message.
Ask your subscribers what they want
A sure-fire way to make sure you're sending the right messages to your subscribers is asking them what kind of content they want to receive. That’s where a preference centre can come in handy.
By giving your audience the option to specify what kind of messages they want to receive and how frequently, you can send targeted emails based on their interests which will, in turn, reduce the risk of them unsubscribing.
Use dynamic content
Do you want to provide your subscribers with personalised experiences without needing to create a different email for every single segment of your email list? With dynamic content, you can.
Dynamic content allows you to really up the ante when it comes to personalisation. Using this marketing automation feature, you can go beyond basic personalisation to customise specific aspects of your email. When a subscriber matches a certain rule, they’ll see content that’s unique and relevant to them.
Taking this approach, you can move towards producing segment-specific content, using tagging to then populate the specific recipient’s email. Whether it’s copy, imagery or CTAs, personalising individual elements will help you target specific subscribers. This ensures your campaigns are targeted and impactful which will help drive more conversions and a higher engagement rate.
Send timely, relevant emails
Sending the right messages at the right time to your subscribers can seem like an overwhelming task but this is exactly where automation comes into its own.
Helping you connect with your audience in a more efficient way, you can use automation to set up behavioural emails that are triggered by a subscriber’s action or data. Sending emails based on a customer’s activity (or inactivity) enables you to react to their position in the buyer’s journey in real-time.
When a subscriber performs a certain action, they’ll receive an automated email guiding them towards the next step in your workflow, eventually directing them towards conversion.
Examples of trigger emails include:
- Welcome emails
- Reminders
- Birthdays/anniversaries
- Cart abandonment emails
- Transactional emails, such as order confirmations and delivery notifications
By building email workflows, you can map out the journeys that you want your subscribers to go on. Because these automated emails are timely, personalised and relevant, they can help drive more opens, more click-throughs and more revenue for your business.
Instead of sending one-off marketing emails every now and again, triggered emails enable you to keep in regular contact with your database, helping you stay relevant while continuing to build stronger relationships with your subscribers.
Deliver personalised emails in real-time with Wired Plus
More people are online than ever before, and this means more digital noise to cut through. Without the personalised and relevant communications that users expect from brands, you reduce the chances of your subscribers engaging with you.
It’s important to use customer data in the right way to uncover what your audience wants and the most effective way to reach them. Using marketing automation helps you to create relevant, memorable and personal connections that will drive engagement with your brand.
Working with a powerful yet easy-to-use marketing automation solution such as Wired Plus, personalisation has never been easier. Book a demo and see for yourself.
