hey there welcome back to another episode of imperfect marketing I'm your host Kendra Corman and today we're talking about a topic that is near and dear to my heart personalization in email marketing okay so I know some of you might be thinking H not another email marketing episode Kendra but trust me this one's a little different we're not just going to be talking about the basics we're going to talk about how personalization can take your email game to a whole new level but before we get into the nitty grid let me ask you this have you ever received an email that just felt like it was written for you you know the kind that makes you feel like the center really gets you and your needs that is the power of personalization and today I'm going to show you how that power to to harness that power to create emails that not only resonate with your audience but will help you grow your business so first let's talk about why personalization matters when you personalize your emails you're not just adding someone's name to the subject line or the dear so and so right although that's a good start you're creating a deeper connection with your audience you're showing them that you understand their unique challenges goals and interests and when you do that that's when the magic happens your open rates go up your engagement skyrockets your subscribers start to see you as more than just another coach or consultant in their inbox they start to see you as a trusted advisor someone who genuinely cares about their success but how do you actually create personalized emails well it all starts with segmentation segmentation is the process of dividing your email into smaller groups based on specific criteria such as interests Behavior demographics whatever it happens to be that fits for you right by segmenting your list you're tailoring content to each group's specific needs and preferences for example if you're a business coach you might segment your list based on the stage of your business your subscribers are in that way you can send targeted content to new entrepreneurs growing businesses and established companies rather than sending the same generic content to everyone this is great when you're segmenting by Industries too I've seen a ton of success with creating emails just for nonprofits and for profits as those two segments this is really powerful and you're probably saying but Kendra that's a lot of extra work that's a couple extra emails right I get that um sometimes it's just a small tweak in what you include in it sometimes it's a slight tweak in the delivery you really want to think about the problems people that you're solving for people at different levels and what matters to them this matters even as far as like Google AdWords people that are buying Search terms inside Google to generate website traffic they're segmenting Their audience too they're segmenting them based on where they are in the buying process right if they're looking for certain Search terms they may not be aware that their product even exists and as they get more and more focused then all of a sudden they're actually looking for the product that they have right so I want you to really think about segmenting your content segmenting about either where they're in their Journey where they are in their business whatever that happens to be once you've segmented your list and again it doesn't have to be complex Constant Contact and convertkit will do this for you for the most part it's going to be time to start crafting your emails and when it comes to personalization the devil is in the details it's not again about using someone's name although that's important too you want to use a conversational relatable tone that makes your subscribers feel like you're talking directly to them it's about offering Val you and solving problems rather than just promoting your latest offering it's about incorporating storytelling and humor if that fits your brand into your emails and it makes them more engaging and memorable now I know some of you want to say um something like Kendra I'm not a writer how am I supposed to create compelling personalized emails well my friend this is where best practices come in one of the most important things that you can do is gather relevant data and insights about your subscribers the people you want to sell to that means paying attention to their behavior their feedback their interactions with your content and with you if you just go to networking events you can still segment people from the information you get from them at those places the more you know about your a audence your target the easier it's going to be to create emails that resonate with them the easier it's going to be to create eight pieces of content that go with them okay so look let's talk about another best practice of focusing this creating the most compelling subject line possible your subject line is the first thing that they see right after their from name it can make or break your open rates and whether or not they're open opening so I want you to take the time at least as long as it took you to write the email to craft subject lines that are clear concise and intriguing if you need some help and some ideas along the way be sure to check out my subject line guide Kendrick herman.com sub lines I'll link to it in the show notes if you want to grab it later but you want to use personalization tokens like the recipient's name or location to make them feel like you're talking to them right feels more targeted don't be afraid to get creative or even a little bit cheeky as long as it aligns with your brand voice of course but perhaps the most important best practice of all is to focus on providing value your emails shouldn't be about promoting your latest course or coaching package they should be about solving your subscribers problems offering them valuable insights and resources and helping them a achieve their goals when you do that you're not only going to create emails that resonate with your audience but you're going to build trust and credibility that can translate into more clients and revenue for your business personalization is not easy let me repeat that again personalization is not easy I get it it's a lot easier to think of something hurry up jot it down and send it out because you have 800 million other things going on but I want I want you to think about it I want you to take the time and think about how you can personalize your emails how you can leverage and take and tweak a little bit of content to appeal to a couple of different groups that you're contacting and if you really only have one group then that's fine one email is fine but there's still other ways to segment by taking out people that have already bought a course or a package or including them if they didn't buy it there's ways again to go ahead tag and find the interests and include that content now there are some common mistakes that people make when trying to personalize their email number one is being creepy okay overp personalization is one of the B biggest mistakes and again it's creepy you know like maybe you use someone's name every sentence or you're referencing personal information that maybe you shouldn't even have um in a way that feels invasive think about it if you wouldn't want someone saying this behind your back you definitely don't want to be including it in their email personalization is about trying to create a contact a a a relationship a connection over email it's not about crossing boundaries a second mistake is NE neglecting to segment your list properly if you're sending the same content to everyone regardless of their interest or needs you're really not personalizing your emails at all you're just adding a name to a generic message even if you love your generic message so I want you to take time to create meaningful segments and tailor your content accordingly if you're just starting out and you don't have the capacity to really segment your list and send multiple emails I get that too and that's totally fine but make sure you're setting yourself up for success with this information that's going to be hugely important I mean could you imagine being a clothing online clothing site right and you have someone that only buys men's clothes even though it's a female buyer maybe it's because she's buying stuff for her husband her significant other her son whatever it happens to be right or maybe she just likes men's clothes so to send her female clothes and things like that that she's never bought never expressed interest in that's not personal that's not personalized I get that for coaches and consultants for those of us who are service providers it's a it can be a little bit harder to segment and really create that differentiator but it's important to give it a try it's important to at least have that information so that you can use it later so finally I want to say do not make this mistake of focusing too much on selling and not enough on providing value that is a problem that people regularly run into yes your ultimate goal is to grow your business and attract more clients but if every email is a hard sell your subscribers are going to tune out or Worse unsubscribe instead I want you to think about building relationships providing Value First when you do that a lot of times the sales naturally follow because email just keeps you top of mind mind so there you have it the power of personalization in email marketing by segmenting your list crafting compelling subject lines providing value and avoiding the common mistakes especially the ones would make you creepy um you can create emails that truly resonate with your audience and help you grow your coaching or Consulting business don't take my word for it try it out for yourself take a look at your current email strategy for me and find ways to incorporate more personalization start small don't be big Think About segmenting by on one or two key criteria then start crafting emails that speak directly to each segments needs and interests don't forget to have fun with it personalization does not have to be serious or boring be sure that you're always injecting some of your unique personality and humor if that fits your brand into your emails and then watch your engagement soar and till then keep embracing the imperfect if you learned something today it would be really helpful for me if you would rate and subscribe wherever you're listening or watching thanks so much again for tuning in to another episode of imperfect marketing have a great rest of your day