Marketers have set a new objective. Creating high-quality content on a consistent basis is no longer sufficient. The emphasis is now on more engaging content.

Why is personalization important?

Customers anticipate relevant content. The winter camping enthusiast anticipates specific sleeping bag recommendations for cold climates, how-to articles on starting a fire when the ground is wet, and video reviews of fan-favorite tents.

According to research, 67% of customers expect this level of personalization from a brand, and when a brand fails to deliver, 42% of consumers become irritated, and 66% stop purchasing from the brand. In a nutshell, you’re losing money if you’re not delivering relevant content.

Sending personalized emails to increase content engagement

Personalized content is essential. Message has been received. But how exactly are marketers using email to deliver personalized content and increase engagement? Excellent question.

Here are three practical methods for increasing content engagement:

1. Automatically send emails based on a subscriber’s self-selected preferences

To provide relevant information, you must first understand your consumers. In the digital era, this entails gathering client data. You’d want to know what your consumers are interested in. But how exactly? By making use of a preference center.

Penguin Random House creates specialized consumer groups based on the preferences entered in the preference center. In other words, subscribers are classified according to their interests.

Penguin Random House can provide appropriate information to each set of subscribers since they are divided into little like-minded groups. For example, a Best Sellers and Mystery & Suspense subscriber might get the email below:

The email above was sent in July, as you can see. Every month, Penguin Random House gives readers specific book recommendations.

Sounds time-consuming, doesn’t it? Wrong. Penguin Random House may prepare these emails ahead of time and schedule their distribution utilizing email automation campaigns.

2. Develop unique ‘courses’ to better engage segments

A preference center is a powerful tool for segmenting contacts and personalizing communications. Buzzfeed, another Campaign Monitor client, employs a preference center similar to Penguin Random House.

Subscribers choose the kind of material they want to get and, as a consequence, receive just what they want in their inbox. A subscriber who chooses the ‘Cooking’ newsletter, for example, will get the following content:

The publisher, on the other hand, takes a step farther. Buzzfeed developed “guided courses” for certain parts. Subscribers to the culinary list, for example, are provided a weekly meal prep course. Fitness subscribers are given a course on preparation for a 5k run.

By providing more specific material, the publisher hopes to hyper-segment their list.

Subscribers who are interested in the meal prep course will get the email below, which includes a whole week’s worth of meal ideas, as well as a shopping list, timetable, and recipes. Here’s an example:

Buzzfeed has effectively segmented its segment. The publisher can now pull another niche group of contacts from the cooking segment and offer them strategic content.

Buzzfeed can create the meal prep course ahead of time and schedule it to deliver on a specific date and time using email automation campaigns.

3. Send content based on the browsing history of a subscriber

A preference center is a useful tool for gathering data, but there are others. Another must-have is a website tracking tool that shows you what customers look at on your website.

Consider sending similar emails on a larger scale. You can do so by using email automation campaigns.

You can create a dynamic email that changes based on the interests of the subscriber. (Wait, what?)

You only send one email. Assume it’s a newsletter. You want the top piece of content to change based on the preferences of a subscriber. So, the celebrity-obsessed subscriber sees a juicy love scandal, while the reality-TV junkie sees a story about a new show premiering this fall.

Each subscriber receives content that is relevant to their lives.

Showtime follows a similar pattern. The company sent out an email encouraging subscribers to watch specific shows, but the shows aren’t chosen at random. Based on what the subscriber has previously watched or browsed, all of the shows are relevant to them. The shows are rotated based on the interests of the subscribers.

Conclusion

Focusing on personalized content is a solid marketing strategy that will undoubtedly increase engagement. Why? You did your research. To streamline the process, you learned about your customers, created relevant content, and sent email automation campaigns. It’s the ideal formula for increasing content engagement.