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Personalized E-Mail Effectiveness

Posted on June 8, 2012

Everyone has received a personalized e-mail subject in their inbox. “John, we invite you to...” or “Rachel, your special deals...” While this tried idea isn't new, just how effective is it?

A recent case study of personalized subject lines showed some drastic changes in open rates among subscribers. The study included a control group that received a series of non-personalized subjects and an experiment group that received a series of e-mails that included the same subject line, but with the first name of the recipient leading the subject.

Not only did the test results show that e-mails with the personalized subject line had a 5.13% higher average open rate, but also a 17.36% higher clickthrough rate. Clearly, even though personalized e-mail subjects aren't new, they still can be successful.

If you are utilizing a personalized subject line marketing campaign, there are some best practices to adhere to.

Fix Capitalization Errors: All too often, when customers enter their information into your contact sheet, capitalization is the last thing they care about. Make sure first names and last names are capitalized prior to importing them for your distribution.

Misspellings: This can be a gray area. If you encounter the name “Saarh,” the odds on favorite is that it really is “Sarah.” But don't go too far when making spelling corrections. Unique names and spellings mean that you should only correct the most obvious of errors.

False Names: Be sure to purge any obviously fake names from your e-mail distribution list. While we just said that unique names and spellings are just something you will have to work with, we can definitively say that “Don'tCallMe” is not a legitimate first name that you should be contacting.

E-mail marketing can be a highly effective marketing tool. Take the opportunity to test out different distribution times, subject lines, and content to see which of your efforts perform the best. Monitor the results you see and continue to enhance your e-mail marketing efforts.

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