Do you use dynamic email content as a part of your marketing strategy? If not, now is the time to get on board with this trend. Dynamic content is the future of email — and more than that, it’s the now. Keep reading for a guide on how to use dynamic email content to fully engage your customers.
Dynamic content is the future of email — and more than that, it’s the now.
What is dynamic content?
A good dynamic email definition is any marketing email that changes according to individual subscriber data. If you’re sending a mass message to your email list and each subscriber’s first name is used in their individual email, that’s a basic example of dynamic email content.Statistics prove that dynamic emails work. Segmented email campaigns can increase revenue by 760% — and 82% of consumers said they’d probably purchase more items from a company if they received emails that were more personalized. Dynamic email content is a must for any business that wants to succeed.So how exactly does this work? Dynamic email content is all about personalization and segmentation. It can generally be approached in one of three ways:
- Demographics
- Preferences
- Email data
These are all methods you can use to personalize an email and make it specific to the recipient. Here are some dynamic content examples you can use for inspiration as you work on personalizing your own marketing emails, making them into dynamic messages that will get more conversions.
Dynamic content examples
There are several different directions you can go as you think about dynamic email content:
Location
One of the easiest (and most effective) ways to create dynamic email content is according to location. Sending dynamic content that’s based on location ensures that your emails are highly relevant to subscribers.For example, this Timberland marketing email references the weather, saying that its boots can handle a rainy forecast. This email would be much more relevant to somebody living in rainy Washington than sunny Arizona. (Timberland could also choose to segment this email based on subscriber gender and occupation — the product showcased in this message is a men’s work boot.)Subject line: Be weather ready: The work summit boot is here.
Interests
Work on personalizing your emails based on subscriber interests. Like Masterclass, for instance, you could send a relevant message to people who are interested in dogs.Subject line: Celebrate National Dog Day with Brandon McMillan
Or, share back-to-school sales with the people who are most likely to be interested in discounted school supplies — parents!Subject line: Extra credit inside: You’ve been assigned savings on school supplies and more. ✏️
The ways you can segment based on demographic don’t stop with just location and interests. You can also use parameters such as:
- Gender
- Income level
- Education level
- Occupation
- Religion
- Ethnicity
- Age
- Family makeup
When you’ve decided how you want to segment your dynamic email content, it’s time to collect the information you need.
Email preferences
Preferences
Segmenting your emails according to demographics is effective when it comes to getting more conversions. Learn this information about your subscribers by asking them a few basic questions when they initially opt in to your emails.If you’re a pet store like PetCo, you could provide three choices for people when they first sign up: Would they like to receive emails about dogs, cats or both? Then send them the content they ask for.Subject line: 3 steps to the perfect meal for your cat
If your opt-in form doesn’t have those questions, you could also send an email asking subscribers to update their preferences. That way, they can tell you exactly what kind of emails they want to receive.Subject line: Update your preferences
Data
In addition to directly asking your subscribers which emails they’d like to receive, you can use your email service provider to keep track of your customers’ opens and clicks. You can get a feel for what kind of content a certain customer prefers to see by tracking what they engage with and don’t engage with. You might learn things about your customers that they don’t even realize about themselves!For example, if one customer regularly engages with how-to content more than other types of emails, send them more of that type of content. Or if someone hasn’t opted into a sale yet (like this flash sale from ModCloth), keep sending them emails about that sale. If they do convert and make a purchase, they’d need to receive different emails — such as a “thanks for your purchase” message, or recommendations of additional products they might like.
Dynamic email content coding
Once you’ve figured out the basics of your dynamic email content, it’s time to get down to the nuts and bolts of creating the email itself. You can create dynamic emails in the BEE email editor using features like merge tags.When you add merge tags to an email, the system will replace that syntax with different text when the email is sent. To add merge tags in a block of text, simply click the “Merge tags” button along the top toolbar:
From there you’ll see a list of options (such as first name or last name) from various connectors (including Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor). Choose the one you need to insert the merge tag into the text.
You can also merge content to add non-text elements (like a list of product recommendations) to emails. With the BEE editor, you have the ability to drag and drop a dynamic content box into your email template.
Wrap-up: Create your own dynamic emails
With the BEE email editor, you don’t need a coding background to create dynamic HTML emails. Choose an email template from the hundreds of choices in our template catalog and then use the BEE editor to design beautiful and effective dynamic emails!