It’s easy to see why personalization might result in higher open rates. A personalized email delivers content that customers know will be more likely to be relevant to their interests. By definition, marketing emails that aren’t personalized just can’t make that same guarantee. Without personalization, you’re taking a shot in the dark regarding whether or not your intended audience will find your content useful, interesting, or intriguing.

Finding the right way to personalize your emails can be difficult. There is an unlimited number of ways to create more personalized content with a little creativity. Sadly, many companies end up following the standard personalization practices. Personalization can be so much more than “Hi [First Name].”

Let’s take a look at some of the ways that companies have found success with these email personalization examples.

1. Personalize based on buyer behavior

One of the most useful sources of data that you can collect for personalization comes from the behavior of your customers. Use the actions they have taken on your website or social media to inform your marketing campaigns.

In a recent survey from Ascend2, they asked marketing influencers about which personalization tactics they found to be the most effective for email marketing.

Near the top of the list, you’ll find trigger-based emails, named by 45% of respondents. Trigger-based emails are emails that are delivered when the customer takes a specific action on your website.

Some personalization examples of actions that might trigger email campaigns could include:

• Viewing a specific product
• A user doesn’t log in for a specific amount of time
• Signup up for your mailing list
• Abandoning a shopping cart

There is an unending number of “trigger events” that you can use to trigger the delivery of specific emails. Creativity here is important. Use your product, website, and analytics to determine the best times to send emails to customers.

Here’s an example of a trigger-based email from Black Milk Clothing. They send out an email at any time that a customer abandons their shopping cart with items in it. As a bonus, they use a cute dog picture to add a little more persuasion.

Using a customer’s behavior to trigger emails increases their relevance. The chances that the customer will open their email also rise. Deliver behavior-based emails while the actions are fresh in their minds.

2. Optimize for mobile devices

Did you know that most emails are opened on mobile devices? It’s not even close, in fact. Mobile dominates with more than 50% of opens. Webmail is sitting in the mid-30%, according to a 2017 study from Litmus Email Analytics.

Despite this fact, many companies optimize their email campaigns for desktop and webmail users. They include too much text, too many images and a design that makes the emails difficult to load on mobile.

Take a look at this side-by-side comparison of a mobile-optimized email from Travel Pirates:

Their emails are simple and effective for responsive mobile browsers. Mobile users are able to view all of the information in the email. They don’t need to change the basic layout of the information. The copy is kept simple and sparse. Images are kept to a minimum and easily loaded. Also, the images are not critically important to understanding the content, which is great as many email users will have images turned off in their settings for security reasons.

3. Celebrate birthdays with special offers

What could be more personal than wishing someone a happy birthday? There is something about remembering someone’s birthday and sending something special their way that conveys that you care and they are important. Receiving a promotional email might not have as much weight as receiving a birthday gift from a friend. However, it does help to separate you from the competition and create a more personal relationship.

A great example of using birthdays to connect on a deeper level with customers comes from the Banana Republic:

By delivering a birthday gift in the form of a 15% discount, you convey that your customers mean something to your brand. According to a recent report from Experian, birthday emails are being opened 235% higher and click rates are 300% higher. Simply put, customers are more engaged with incoming messaging on their birthdays. You can miss an opportunity if you fail to send personalized promotional materials on this day.

4. Offer category-based discounts

ECommerce companies often find that their customers shop within specific categories. Sending a customer a discount coupon might, in some cases, be enough interest them. But you want to use the data that you have on hand to deliver discounts that are laser-focused on their interests based on what they have purchased or interacted with in the past.

Don’t deliver generic coupons via email. Instead, focus on delivering coupons that target products you can reliably prove they have an interest in. By naming the category the discount applies to, the customer will think about which products they might be interested in using the coupon to purchase. The same can’t be said about more generic discounts and coupons.

Take a look at this example of category-based discounts that helped IncStores to grow their list by more than 300%:

5. Tell personalized stories

There is nothing more personal to their customers than their own story. Finding ways to use their data to tell a personalized story can be a great way to connect them to your brand.

A great example of this type of email campaign comes from easyJet. They sent out an email to every customer that detailed everywhere that they had traveled with easyJet in the last 20 years. The emails struck a chord with their audience and reminded them of some of the best vacations that they had taken.

Here’s what the emails looked like:

easyJet reported that their open rates for this campaign were 100% higher than previous campaigns. Using the data that you have to tell a story about a customer’s interactions with your company (especially when you can connect it to real-life events as is the case with easyJet), you make your brand synonymous and integral to those fond memories.