What is Email Personalization? The Ultimate Guide for Marketers in 2025

In today’s competitive market, providing personal attention and customer appreciation is essential for customer nurturing and, by extension, maximizing your ROI.

Recent studies and surveys have underscored the significant impact of personalization on buying behavior, with 76% of consumers more inclined to purchase from brands that engage in personalized advertising or marketing.

In this blog, we’ll delve into the fundamentals of email personalization, provide examples, and explore best practices to help you kickstart your personalized email campaigns.

What is Email Personalization?

Email personalization is all about making your emails feel more personal and relevant to each recipient. By using data like their name, location, age, gender, preferences, and behavior, you can craft messages that speak directly to them. This approach helps address their unique needs and interests, making your emails more engaging and increasing the chances of a positive response.

Why is Email Personalization Important?

Successful marketing strategies are rarely imagined without personalized email marketing. There’s more than one reason for that:

• Improved open rates. Personalized subject lines allow you to stand out in an inbox filled with generic subject lines. In fact, it’s 50% (source: zippia.com) more likely that your email will be opened if the subject line includes the recipient’s name, job title, recent purchase, or any other kind of personalization.
• Enhanced customer engagement. Recipients perceive email personalized to their likings, needs, or characteristics as much more intriguing. Thus, they’re more likely to engage with the content, which might result in a purchase.
• Increased ROI. Such simple things as personalization can offer ROI significantly higher than compared to generic emails. In other words, it costs almost nothing to include personalized elements but earns a lot more.
• Improved conversion rates. Email subscribers are much more likely to take action when it’s wrapped in the right message meant for the said subscriber. Personalized offers are especially effective as they are hard to resist by individuals.
• Improved customer experience. Tailoring emails to individual preferences and behaviors enhances the overall customer experience, leading to higher customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.
• Competitive advantage. Implementing effective email personalization strategies can set your brand apart from competitors, attracting and retaining more customers in the long run.
• Data-driven insights. Personalized email marketing generates valuable data insights that can inform future marketing strategies, helping you better understand and meet the needs of your audience.

What Are the Different Tiers of Email Personalization?

If you want to start creating personalized emails, you need to know the basic concepts and some advanced tactics to implement personalization. These involve adding standard personalization tags to set up complex triggers and create dynamic content. Let’s look at all of them, one by one:

What is Basic Personalization?

You can expect positive results, such as increased engagement, even with basic personalization. However, keep in mind that these techniques should be reserved for email newsletter-type marketing only—or when you don’t have resources for advanced personalization.

How Can First Name Personalization Improve Engagement?

One of the simplest and most effective ways to personalize your marketing is by using the user’s name. In fact, it can boost open rates by 26% (Campaign Monitor). The reason behind this is rooted in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, which shows that seeing or hearing your name activates brain areas linked to better perception and engagement (source: inc.com).

Why Should You Personalize the “From” Name?

The “from” name is your business name—one of the most noticeable elements when the email hits the inbox.

Most email platforms highlight this field in bold to quicken the sender’s identification before the email is opened.

To make this element even more eye-catching, consider personalizing the “from” name of your emails with individuals from your brand name—for example, a project manager currently responsible for a particular account.

Take a look at Bolt’s email. Using a real person’s name from their marketing team in the “from” field makes email communications more conversational than promotional.

How Does Personalizing the Email Subject Line Boost Open Rates?

Straight after the “from” name comes the subject line—the second most noticeable element of an unopened email, and one that will decide whether it will stay that way or be opened. 

More often than not, subject lines come in bolded font, thus drawing in the eye as an important element. This is because subject lines significantly affect whether the email will be opened. But how do you compete with other emails whose subject lines are displayed the same?

Personalize them, of course. Emails with personalized subject lines see an average 20.66%** open rate compared to 19.57% for non-personalized ones. One of the most common ways to personalize emails is by addressing the recipient by their first name.

But the subscriber’s first name is not all you can add in the subject line—consider including their location, job title, city, or other elements based on your audience data.

If you’re creating a new email campaign with Sender’s email marketing tool, you can easily automate personalization using custom tags and fields.

What Impact Do Personalized CTAs Have on Conversion?

Personalized CTAs, or Call-To-Actions, are the finishing touch of your personalized email. It can be as effective as adding the perfect seasoning to a dish, or ruin your whole effort in seconds (no pressure). 

Personalized CTAs are tailored to the individual based on their behavior, preferences, or past interactions. Instead of a generic “Shop Now,” you might use something like “Continue Your Order” or “See Products You’ll Love.” 

As a general rule, we don’t recommend using the recipient’s name in the CTA unless it has been thoroughly A/B tested and feels natural within the context of the entire email.

What is Intermediate Personalization?

Once you set up the basics, the next step is categorizing your email list into dedicated segments. A segment is a group within your audience that clubs subscribers with common attributes under a single tag.

For example, everyone in the age group of 25-30 is a single segment. You need to segment your subscribers to create personalized emails and send relevant offers/content to them. This can make your marketing more relevant, relatable, and highly converting. 

How Can Personalizing Email Content Based on User Interests Increase Relevance?

Any information you have on your subscriber can be used to personalize the copy and imagery in your email campaigns

Without a doubt, the most common case is to start the email with the subscriber’s first name to spark a conversation from the beginning.

Yet, it’s not the only information you can base your personalization on. For instance, Sundays, a pet food brand, used the subscriber’s first name and based their personalized email content on the fact that the subscriber’s pet is a dog.

Does intermediate personalization look too demanding? Sender offers an intuitive drag-and-drop email builder that seamlessly lets you personalize your content directly within the email. It’s as simple as including a personalization tag. Once the email is opened, subscribers will automatically see personalized information, such as their first name, replacing the tag.

How Does Personalized Imagery Enhance the Email Experience?

Email images are another often overlooked element that can be personalized, which can be a powerful way to appeal to specific subscribers and enhance click-through rates.

Take Airbnb, for example. They personalized their email header based on the recent lodging orders of subscribers on their site, showcasing an excellent way to engage their audience.

What is Dynamic Content in Email Personalization?

Using dynamic content is another great tactic to personalize your email. Dynamic content refers to automatically updating content within an email that offers real-time information to a customer every time an email is opened. 

For example, a countdown timer in a special offer email that tells them how many hours remain till the deal is live, the live location of their shipment, or the in-stock status of their wishlist products. 

Ask and Embla’s example illustrates how dynamic content can be used in a simple yet effective way. The countdown clock is customized based on each subscriber’s location’s time zone, ensuring that everyone sees the correct amount of time left when they open the email.

Why is Behavioral Segmentation Crucial for Effective Personalization?

Behavioral segmentation involves tailoring your email content based on how customers interact with your website, products, or services (i.e., behavioral data).

By tracking specific actions, such as purchases, page visits, or time spent browsing, you can create highly targeted segments that receive content relevant to their behaviors—most importantly, email personalization strategy can increase open rates by up to 15% (source: notifyvisitors.com). 

This approach allows you to send personalized emails that align with where a customer is in their journey, whether they’re new visitors, repeat buyers, or those showing interest in certain products.

Here you can see that Netflix sent new show suggestions only after the viewer finished their last series.

What is Advanced Personalization?

Personalization doesn’t just end at first names and some basic attributes. You can completely mesmerize your audience through advanced personalization tactics. Some advanced strategies include using customer data to weave elaborate personalized experiences through personalized recommendations, VIP content, or triggered emails. 

For example, sending a special offer a few hours after a customer abandons a cart on your website. Or sending a ‘refill reminder’ a week before your customer’s supply of ‘ink’ is about to be exhausted if you run a printing ecommerce store. The possibilities are endless.

How Do Trigger Emails (e.g., Cart Abandonment) Improve Conversion?

Email triggers are based on the user’s activity or behavior on your website. The activity is captured and used to configure triggered behavioral emails. 

You can personalize the customer experience and interactions via email based on several behavioral triggers—purchase of a product, abandoning the cart, time spent on the website, browsing a particular page, etc.

Use a personalized email that triggers based on their behavior to deliver a personalized experience and move the user further into the buyer’s journey.

The most common case of triggered emails are cart abandonment emails sent within one hour after a user leaves the ordering site without completing the checkout. Reminding these users of the items they left, or even better, their benefits or the best—giving a discount on the order are effective ways to encourage customers to complete the order (and increase your sales).

How Can Product Recommendations Drive More Sales?

Customer’s past purchases are a goldmine of valuable information you can easily get your hands on. Leverage it to create personalized product recommendations your subscribers can’t help but click on.

You can cross-sell if the purchase happened recently. For instance, offer matching headphones if the user has recently bought a smartphone from your company. Or you can upsell if it happened a long time ago, offering an updated version of the same product.

Why Should You Use VIP Loyalty Content for Advanced Personalization?

Personalization can also depend on your customer’s status, namely if they’re VIP through:

• buying more often than other customers;
• spending larger amounts on single orders;
• and/or purchase without discounts.

This segment of customers deserves the biggest attention (as they single-handedly bring in the biggest piece of revenue) and, by default, personalized content. This tactic ensures that your VIP customers stay that way and feel appreciated.

What Role Does Multi-Device Personalization Play in User Experience?

With customers browsing and shopping across multiple devices, ensuring a seamless and personalized experience is crucial. In fact, almost every second user will delete email instantly if it looks janky or somewhat broken.

Multi-device personalization tailors content based on the device the user is interacting with, offering consistent, tailored messages and recommendations across their phone, tablet, or desktop. 

By tracking user behavior across devices, you can create a cohesive experience that feels personal no matter where the customer is. This includes things like continuing a shopping cart from mobile to desktop or offering device-specific product recommendations.

What Are the 12 Proven Strategies for Email Personalization Success?

You must respect some accepted best personalization techniques when you want to get good email marketing results. Here are twelve best practices to implement in your email marketing campaigns to get the benefits of personalization:

How Can You Craft Personalized Subject Lines?

Email subject lines are powerful attention-grabbers that help you stand out in a crowded inbox. It plays a huge role in whether someone opens your email, clicks the link, or even gets past the spam filter. So, craft subject lines that are customized to each recipient.

You can include the recipient’s name or the product/service you promote to personalize a subject line. Or you can use the following tactics to maximize the impact: 

• Use a personalized greeting: Use the first name of your subscriber instead of “Dear Friend.”
• Create a personalized offer: Use a phrase related to the offer being promoted, like “Your next purchase will be on us!”
• Add personalized call-to-action: Instead of “Click here to buy now,” use “Get the latest deals now.”

Why Should You Use an Individual’s Name as the Sender’s Name?

Your name makes you human. And that’s what people appreciate – getting information from a human. Customers feel more connected when they talk to a human than a company account. 

So, make sure that your sender name is not your company name. It’s always better to send an email in your own name. This helps build a good rapport with your subscribers and creates a more personal connection.

For example, an email from ‘John’ or ‘John@company.com’ would have a better chance of being read and answered compared to a company email sent from a generic address like ‘promotions@company.com.’ 

How Can Audience Segmentation Improve Personalization?

You should always segment your list based on personal attributes like: 

• location;
• gender;
• age;
• interests. 

This helps you create more engaging email campaigns that give better results. For example, sending a targeted deal, and dynamically inserting their name or product preferences using the merge tags option, right after someone abandons their cart has a better chance of converting than a generic email.

Make sure to have a marketing automation solution like Sender that helps you set up automation triggers and segment your email list easily. 

How Can You Leverage Customer Data for Better Personalization?

In today’s digital marketing day and age, getting the most out of user data is necessary to offer personalized and spot-on experiences. Getting your hands on these valuable resources allows you to tweak your targeted messages, deals, and interactions to perfectly fit customers’ needs and preferences.

So, where should you begin? 

1. Gather relevant user data from different channels: websites, mobile apps, and social media. This could include demographics, what people click on, what they buy, and what they like. Build up detailed customer profiles to understand each person.
2. Use analytics tools to dive into your gathered data. With machine learning and predictive analytics, you can uncover trends and patterns that help you predict what people might want next.
3. Use analyzed data to personalize your marketing efforts. Split your audience into different groups and tailor your campaigns to suit their tastes and preferences. This will boost customer engagement and make your marketing efforts more effective.

How Can Personalized Recommendations Increase Engagement?

Enhance your email marketing game by incorporating personalization offers based on browsing behavior. This strategy elevates personalization, enabling you to craft highly captivating email campaigns that drive purchases by suggesting complementary or upgraded products. This tailored approach ensures that each email is uniquely relevant to the recipient.

For instance, if a customer recently purchased a camera, consider sending them a personalized email suggesting related accessories like a tripod or protective gear. By demonstrating an understanding of their potential needs, you deepen the customer relationship and enhance their lifetime value.

Why Should You Use Behavioral Trigger Emails?

Sometimes, when an email is sent, what’s inside it is as important as when it’s delivered. Leverage the power of personalized emails to stay with your customers long after interacting with your brand, i.e., buying a product or using a service. Even better if the interaction is a joyous moment for the customer.

Let’s say you offer online yoga classes. After one month, you can congratulate your customer on a successful start and thus motivate them to continue. As well as to create a supporting and friendly brand image.

How Can Localized Content Improve Email Personalization?

Email localization adds a personal touch to your emails, making them feel tailor-made for your diverse audience. It’s more than just translation; it involves understanding cultural quirks, preferences, and sensitivities to craft emails that truly resonate.

While it’s super important for places like the USA with its diverse population, email localization is handy wherever you have different cultures under one digital roof, like Spain with its different time zones.

With businesses going global, it’s a no-brainer that emails should speak the language of their recipients. Here are a few fun ways to do it:

1. Cultural Relevance: Instead of a generic “Christmas sale starts on Monday,” why not jazz it up with “Lunedì iniziano i saldi di Natale” for Italian-speaking folks?
2. Local Events: Inject some local flavor by mentioning events or holidays like “Holi Discounts” during India’s colorful Holi festival.
3. Currency and Units: Make life easier for your international audience by converting prices and measurements to their local currency and units.

Why Should You Employ A/B Tests for Personalization?

A/B testing is the perfect method to determine which part of your campaign works best for your goal. A/B testing involves splitting your email recipients into two segments and using A and B variants of the same email copy.

For instance, you can send one variation that features an image and another that doesn’t. This will help you determine which email design generates more opens and clicks.

Experimentation helps to optimize future campaigns for better results like higher open rates, click-throughs, etc., and prevent human bias. Also, it helps you understand what works best to engage your audience. 

How Can Feedback and Surveys Be Used for Better Personalization?

Who knows best what your customers want? Your customers themselves! That’s why you should gather feedback by conducting surveys.

Ask your customers directly what kind of content they want and gain genuine insights into their preferences, interests, and expectations. This helps you tailor your marketing efforts more effectively and strengthens your relationship with your audience by showing them that you value their input and are committed to meeting their needs.

To simplify the process and encourage a stronger feedback loop, consider directly incorporating interactive elements, such as a rating scale, into your emails. By doing so, subscribers can easily share their evaluations without leaving the email.

What Are 5 Examples of Successful Personalized Email Campaigns?

Your brain must be brimming with email campaign personalization ideas by now. We’ve gathered some great examples of personalized email campaigns if you need some inspiration. Let’s have a look at how brands are using different types of personalized email campaigns: 

How Do Personalized Welcome Emails Drive Engagement?

Welcome emails are among the most important emails you send to a subscriber. Starting the relationship on the right foot is critical to creating a positive first impression. So, brands use personalized welcome emails to show how valuable they are to the brand. Take the following example from Sonic: 

Subject Line: robert,🎉 Welcome to All Things Sonic 🎉

The subscriber’s first name personalizes the email’s subject line. Though the email initially looks like a standard welcome email, the basic email personalization tactic of using the first name makes the whole campaign much more effective. You can take note and use the subscriber’s first name throughout the email copy to create a much more personalized welcome email. 

How Can Product Recommendation Emails Boost Sales?

Sending personalized recommendations to buy from you is a great email marketing tactic. Everyone from Amazon to Netflix sends personalized recommendations to their customers. It helps them improve bottom lines by reaching out with something based on user behavior. Take the following product recommendation email from Air New Zealand: 

Subject Line: Lisa, The Islands are Calling

The email starts with a personal salutation to announce their special 72-hour sale. But the interesting thing about the email — it’s sent to customers who have been browsing for an island trip or airfare between select destinations. The personal note sounds like an appealing invitation. 

The next part of the email shares some personalized recommendations and special deals based on the online behavior of the recipient. Have a look: 

With special offers and deals that are tactically targeted based on the user’s online history, this email is sure to convert many prospects into customers for the airline. The emailer format and product blocks are placed strategically to make users check out the offers on the website. 

Why Are Personalized Content Emails So Effective?

To maximize your blog traffic or engagement, sending an email with personalized recommendations from their favorite reads or your latest blogs is a great idea. You can use your audience’s online behavior for personalized recommendations and create an automated email newsletter. Take the following emailer by Food Network, for example:

The email header has a content piece along with ‘top picks’ that are selected based on the user’s history on the website. Users will surely love to try out the different recipes shared based on their liking, and it will bring traffic to the blog. You can even further personalize such an email by adding custom field tags and dynamic content to the email copy. 

What Makes Targeted Email Campaigns Successful?

Targeted emails are the epitome of data-driven marketing. Such campaigns ensure that the right person gets the personalized message at the right time. By using customer insights about user preferences, marketers can create relevant content that resonates with their audience on a deeper level. 

Overall, targeted communication is a powerful email personalization software for enhancing the customer experience and achieving marketing objectives.

An abandoned cart recovery email is a great example of targeted personalization for business. Here’s a compelling use case:

Subject line: We noticed you, noticing us, Sophie 😉

Abandoned cart recovery emails are sent to customers who have added items to their online shopping cart but did not complete the purchase. Sending these customers emails with specific elements tailored to the recipient’s preferences and shopping behavior. 

This can include using the customer’s name in the subject line or, reminding them of the items left in their cart and providing personalized recommendations.

How Do Reactivation Emails Bring Back Lost Customers?

Reactivation emails are sent to inactive subscribers who might have been overwhelmed with life and forgotten about you. Scheduling reactivation emails brings back old customers (and prospects) and even helps you maintain a clean email list. These emails are a great opportunity to re-engage inactive subscribers and spark interest again.

Here’s how Mountain Hardwear uses personalization in their reactivation emails: 

Subject Line: Just checking in with you, Lori 

A reactivation email has one job — to bring back the prospect’s interest in the website. This email does a good job of that. First, the personalized subject line and then a personal note inside give a reassuring feeling to the reader. The contextual CTAs, along with the imagery, are all on-point and would have interested a reader in what the brand offers. 

Key Takeaways