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What are some of the key benefits of personalizing email content?
Let’s consider segmentation from an aligning content perspective.
Here are three different individuals, Christina, Dave, and Amanda. These are our case studies, of how you segment, how you align, because again, Christina, Dave, and Amanda are three different people, three different, unique individuals with interests, likes, dislikes, preferences, and so on.
You’ve got Christina. She’s 21 years old, she lives in a rural location, she likes sports, and she’s a student. Dave, on the other hand, is a 35-year-old, he’s a parent, he works a part-time job, and he likes craft and home improvement, kind of his hobbies, right? And then Amanda. Amanda is 40 years old, she’s career-driven, she’s single, no children, and she likes travel and motoring.
These are three disparate individuals who have very different likes and dislikes. When you segment their content from your email lists, you’re going to provide them with much more relevant, much more personalized information. Because that’s what we do in every context. We always segment, so remember this with your email marketing.
Align your content to the individuals you’re trying to reach. If you send content to Dave that was tailor-made for Amanda, it’s not going to work. If you send an email to Christina and it’s about craft and home improvement, when she wants to know about sports in a rural context, no. You send that content to Dave. Dave is your craft and home improvement guy. Or you know what? Travel. Amanda likes to go around the world, so you send her information relevant to travel, if that’s the industry, if that’s the list that she’s on.
What are some of the qualities of well-formatted copy?
Well-formatted copy takes into account these four different things, and so always keep these things in mind. And a great way, though, if you want to sort of see who’s doing it well and great examples, look at blogs, look at industry, look at the sectors in which you work, and you’ll see countless examples, on the web and on mobile, of easily digestible content.
What makes for a compelling heading, getting people to read and sort of look through your content within your email? You need to consider your subject line, not just the body of the copy in the email.
You don’t want to format excessively. Operate under the principle of less is more.
Maintain contrast in there as well. I think that’s another important piece. And italics, all these items on this list of excessive formatting, think about how it’s going to look on a small screen. You know, too much formatting can make something almost illegible. You can’t read it on a small screen, so very important to look at.
Back to TopEric Stoller is a Higher Education Strategic Communications Consultant and Blogger at Inside Higher Ed. With a background in student affairs, academic advising, wellness, technology, and communications, Eric educates clients and audiences on digital identity development. As a blogger, he generates conversations, answers questions, and provides insight about a variety of tech topics, including Social Media Strategies and Email Marketing.
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
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ABOUT THIS DIGITAL MARKETING MODULE
Communication expert Eric Stoller will help you to identify the attributes and features of an effective marketing email. You will recognize the importance of professional email design to retain brand reputation and subscribers, and will understand that testing is the basis of every successful email marketing campaign. Eric will then introduce the key metrics and statistics within email reporting, and will help you to identify methods for optimizing the performance of your campaign.