Email Personalization Mistakes and How to Fix Them | Mumara

Email personalization is nothing new to get surprise, rather it is being used for a long time. This kind of email we send to the customers to give some value they deserve. There is nothing better than sending curated email messages to grab the attention of the audience. But you need to be focused on the point that email personalization mistakes can reverse everything.

Table of Contents

1. Email personalization mistakes
   • The “Hey {first_name}” fail
   • Incorrect segmentation
   • Wrong gender
   • The right message to the wrong location
   • Getting too much personal
   • Lazy personalization
   • Greeting the wrong customers
   • Sending irrelevant messages
2. How to fix email personalization mistakes?
3. Conclusion

Today, customization and email marketing go hand-in-hand, and if you ignore this close nexus, you have to bear the brunt. By saying this we mean that more than half of the world’s population uses email and they receive many emails every day. Personalization has become a vital part of email marketing and one of the best ways to convert leads into sales.

Thanks to the email automation tools like Mumara for extending a helping hand to the marketers to design a personalized email marketing campaign in the best manner. Automation saves a lot of time and money for your marketing process and provides predictable ROI. If you have some idea about digital marketing, we are sure that you have heard, “Personalization is everything”.

This is relevant because the audience believes in personalized interaction, and if that is missing, they go to find a different option. Here, an important aspect needs to keep in mind that although email personalization is something that can do a lot for you; but still if you do it wrongly, it will come back to bite you.

In this blog we are going to discuss this phenomenon in detail and will find the ways how to handle the situation, keep reading.

Email Personalization Mistakes

Personalization helps in a major win if you do it rightly. Otherwise, the consequences can be so hurtful to your email marketing campaign you can’t even imagine. If you did it wrong, it is the best way to alienate your targeted audience.

We suggest you not use email personalization if you do not know the right way to do it. The reason behind this is that you lose the existing audience instead of gaining ground in the market. Here are some of the email personalization mistakes that you need to avoid:

The “Hey {first_name}” Fail

While greeting someone, this is so embarrassed to forget the person’s name. Do you know what is more embarrassing than this? When you call someone with the wrong name! There is no doubt that “First Name” personalization is one of the basic forms of customization.

But you need to remember the fact that no one likes to be called the wrong name. Further, as far as email marketing is concerned, previously people received simple emails without any personalization. Now the paradigm has been shifted, customers expect by-name emails in their inboxes.

When they receive a general email, they go back to open another one assuming that the particular email is not for them. If you want to use the names of the recipients in the email to make it personalized, we recommend you check it twice before you send it. This will save you from avoiding a blunder if you do it in any way.

Incorrect Segmentation

If we define segmentation in simple words, it means creating some groups on the email contact list. These groups can be created on many preferences including age group, profession, hobbies, interests, likes, dislikes, etc. This is an essential step in defining a win-win situation for your email marketing campaigns.

Email marketing metrics can be traced by using Mumara. By keeping an eye on these metrics you easily analyze your marketing campaign and comprehend the performance. This performance will tell you how your campaign is being received by the users. For that reason, there is an option for you to send the email campaign to the right audience.

The preference you can set for the users is based on the type of your business. You can add a checklist or a simple form to record the interests of the visitors. You have to be very vigilant in this phase because this will determine your future sales. For example, you sell cat and dog food and send an email campaign to the audience who does not have a dog.

What will be the use of that email campaign? Certainly, it will go to waste. Sending the right emails to the right audience is everything for your business growth and you need not underestimate its importance.

Wrong Gender

Discussion on gender is a hard topic of debate because many do not like it if they are neutral. This is a sensitive topic that needs your kind attention. It would be disastrous if you send an email campaign designed for females to the males. No one will appreciate this huge mistake.

For example, if we talk about the apparel industry, the apparels for females are different than the males. If you will keep sending promotional emails made for females to the males or vice versa, this will be so annoying. The solution for this type of menace is that you need to get information from the users during the sign-up process.

The Right Messages to the Wrong Location

The location stands among the most important factors to avoid email personalization mistakes. Emails are used to send multiple information to the users including promotions, news, and other information about your company or organization.

We were talking about the location; the location is so important in determining the success of your email marketing campaign. Let us understand this with an example. For instance, you are a well-known clothing brand that operates worldwide and wants to promote your new arrivals in the area that is observing the summer.

This would be a great mistake if you send that email campaign to the users living in the cold climate. On one hand, that campaign will be useless, and on the other hand, users will not forget this promotion for a long time.

It is suggested to check your audience twice before you send an email marketing campaign to avoid any embarrassment.

Getting Too Much Personal

Some the companies like Google have personal data of the users based on the searches made by the users. Upon these searches do not mean that you start bombarding the inbox of the users. Sometimes people search too personal questions on Google that they do not want anyone to get to know.

For example, if a user searches “does a mole in the eye look normal?” or another person looking for a remedy for infertility, you must avoid sending emails based on these too personal queries. If you will keep bombarding them with emails, there are great chances that people will find the solution to unsubscribe from your services.

Lazy Personalization

Another email personalization mistake we find is lazy personalization. Email automation has given us the advantage to send personalized messages to the users, but it needs some strategy. We all know that many users sign-up with the wrong user name.  In order to get the right information from these users, you need to send a welcome email to these types of users and ask for the right information.

It would be looking so funny as well as unprofessional if you send an email to a user under his fictitious name e.g., “Hi Milestones” or “Hi Dragon Fly”, the user will instantly perceive that message he is receiving is via some email marketing template. This will harm your email campaign instead of providing benefits.

Greeting the Wrong Customers

Companies send messages to the users on some specific occasions, i.e., Mother’s Day or congratulatory messages example. While sending these messages, the sender must be focused and informed about the factor that what he is going to do.

There are many examples in the past that even the major brands committed the mistake to send an email campaign to those people who are absolutely not relevant for that campaign. For instance, if we talk about a Happy Mother’s Day message; if you are sending this email to the users, make sure that all the recipients are moms.

If you will send this message to a person who is struggling with infertility, this will be a huge loss for your reputation. So, you have to have the right data with you before sending an email campaign and it will be among the great email personalization mistakes.

Sending Irrelevant Messages

Sending irrelevant messages to the users can be damaging for your email list building. Not only this, but if you are looking for new subscribers, you will start losing the existing ones. You can ask how? Here is the answer with an example.

For example, you deal in beauty products but unfortunately, you failed to acquire the information about the gender of your users. During this process, you want to send an email marketing campaign. What if you send an email to John saying that “Hey John, looking for red lipstick? Here is a deal for you!”

This email will be a true embarrassment for your brand. There is no doubt that the companies keep an eye on the carts. Then they send promotional emails based on the purchase history. Here the information about your marital status is too crucial for you.

For example, for a person who is single in his 30s and purchases high heels from you, there are great chances that these heels are purchased as a gift for someone. Now, you need not send every promotional email to this guy because it would be irritating stuff for him.

How to Fix Email Personalization Mistakes?

Email personalization mistakes can be harmful to your brand and business so beware! An email automation tool is a great sigh of relief for all types of businesses, especially small businesses. Small businesses come up with limited resources. Email automation tool saves time as well as it is a cost-effective method of marketing. You can land in the heart of your user via their inboxes.

Along with it, this is a great tool for you to send tailor-made messages in a seamless manner. But there are some issues also if you do not do it rightly. Creating a personalized email campaign and sending it to the right audience is an art. It is not about mentioning “First Name” only.

Rather, you need to focus on the email body also. Many factors are there that we count when we design an email campaign. As we have hinted that it starts with the email list building. Here, you need to understand that only email list building is not enough for your email marketing campaign.

All you need to create a form on your website where you will get customized information about the age, gender, profession, likes, dislikes, and other that you think that is right for your user. Further, you need to create segments based on this information.

After creating the segmentation on the email lists, you must send the right information to the right audience to avoid email personalization mistakes.

Conclusion

To conclude in a nutshell, we can say without any doubt that email marketing is one of the most efficient means of marketing of the current time. With the advent of email automation tools, the game has become more interesting.

Now it is easy for everyone to send personalized email messages to the users. Before sending personalized messages you need to go through the above-discussed details in order to avoid any inconvenience. Otherwise, this will be a failed attempt for you.

Moreover, we suggest you use Mumara for better results. It is known for the best email automation software that allows you to design a beautiful campaign by using an easy-to-use interface and send it right to the inboxes of your users.