Marketing tactics work differently at different times and you must consider many factors when choosing the right one.
Case in point: EMAIL PERSONALIZATION
I’ve maintained for the past few years that you and I have become increasingly more email savvy and understand how personalization fields works.
I’ve advised my clients against adding {FirstName} to an email because it would become less effective and eventually start harming the open rates.
Dear {FirstName}, this simply isn’t working out anymore … and the data in a recent MailerMailer report shows this is indeed the case!
Personalization Seen Having a Negative Effect
Details from the MailerMailer report indicate personalizing emails may have a negative effect on open and click rates. While emails that were not personalized saw an average open rate of 11.5%, those with the subject line only personalized saw an average open rate of only 5.2%, while those with both subject line and message personalized saw an average rate of 3.2%. The only lift was found in emails where only the message was personalized – to 12.7%.
In terms of click rates, emails with only the message personalized (2.5%), only the subject line personalized (1.1%), and both the subject line and message personalized (0.5%) all saw lower average rates than for emails that were not personalized (3%).
Source: MailerMailer Report
Bottom line … using a person’s name is no longer guaranteed to get your email read … did it ever?
Social tagging: email marketing 2.0 > personalization