Email Personalization with MailChimp

Introduction

• Presenter: Larry
• Topic: Personalizing email campaigns in MailChimp
• Purpose: Explaining what email personalization is, why it is important, and how to implement it in MailChimp.

What is Email Personalization?

• Definition: Making emails more individualized for each contact.
• Reason for Personalization:
  • Increases engagement and interaction.
  • Contacts receive content that is relevant and useful to them.
  • Utilizes data collected (purchases, clicks, geographic data, etc.).

Benefits of Personalization

• More engagement
• More clicks
• More purchases

Using Data for Personalization

• Types of collected data: purchases, age, clicks, geographic data, etc.
• Customizing emails based on available data.

Implementing Personalization in MailChimp

• Tool: MailChimp uses "merge tags" to personalize emails.
• Merge Tags: Unique identifiers representing data for each contact.

Step-by-Step Guide

Accessing Merge Tags

1. Go to your test audience dashboard.
2. Click on settings -> "Audience fields and merge tags".
3. Review default field labels (e.g., fname for first name).
4. Add more field labels if necessary.

Types of Fields

• Text, number, radio buttons, drop-downs, date, birthday, etc.
• Fields can be marked as required or visible.

Adding a First Name to Campaign Emails

1. Go to "All campaigns" and select one in draft.
2. Enable merge tags by adding an audience in the "To" section.
3. Use "Edit recipients" to specify first name or customize.
4. Insert the merge tag for first name in the email content using MailChimp Builder.
5. Preview the email to ensure merge tags display correctly.

Default Merge Tag Value

• Set a default value for contacts with missing data (e.g., "friend").
• Update default merge tag value in "Audience fields and merge tags".
• Verify in preview mode.

Previewing and Testing

• Use preview mode to check live merge tag information.
• Default values appear in tests if contact data is missing.

FAQs

• Missing First Name: Use default merge tag values.
• Test Email: Will show default value (e.g., "friend") as it’s not associated with a contact.

Additional Resources

• MailChimp's merge tag cheat sheet available for more information.
• Suggested videos for further learning: Tags and Groups in MailChimp.

Conclusion

• Encouragement to engage with content and resources for deeper understanding.
• Invitation for questions in the comments.

Note:

This summary is based on an instructional video by Larry on email personalization using MailChimp. It includes a step-by-step overview and additional resources for further learning.