Can you guess how many emails were sent in one day in 2018? 

Would your guess be in the thousands or millions? Surprisingly, it is actually in the billions. In one day in 2018, there were 281 billion emails sent and received. Even more surprising is that number is expected to increase to 347 billion in just three years. 

If your company is sending out marketing emails and you were already wondering how to stand-out, that number might not be what you want to hear. However, the good news is there are plenty of tips and tricks you can incorporate into your content to get noticed, read, appreciated and convert leads into customers.

Personalize Your Subject Line 

The first way is an old trick, but one that is still useful to marketers. If you made sure to get everyone’s first name when building out your email lists, this is one you can start using today. Now, you may be wondering if this still gets higher open rates, since you likely aren’t the first person your customer has seen add their first name to a sales email. 

According to Experian, your customers are 29% more likely to open your email if their name is used. The study showed that personalized emails generated six times higher transaction rates. This is one of the quickest and easiest ways to get noticed and make your customer feel like you know them by name. 

Take a Conversational Tone 

Knowing what to say is the first part to writing a great email and the way you make it more personalized, is knowing how to say it. The tone of your messaging is an important way to stand out and shouldn’t be overlooked. Many sales emails that go out to inboxes everywhere take a more formal or sophisticated approach. That is not how people usually talk to their friends. You don’t have to make the tone too informal, but it is necessary to take a conversational approach to your content. 

The easiest way to do this is to write like you would if you were talking with some friends. For example, use the word “it’s” instead of spelling out “it is” because when you read it out loud it usually sounds more awkward and not how people normally talk. You can also use words like “just” or even add in some emojis to make the email more fun to read. Let’s face it, people enjoy opening and reading emails from their friends more than they do from businesses. 

Use Humor in Your Emails 

On the note of emojis in marketing emails, another way to make an email more personalized is by adding in humor or some well-loved puns. Again, this is how friends talk to each other and it makes your content that much more fun to read. A lot of fashion and retail marketers are catching on to this trend and we aren’t mad about it. If you are going to get an email in your inbox in the morning, wouldn’t you rather it be something that brightens your day or makes you smile?

Brands are now seen as more humanized, doing social good and they want to be seen as more approachable. They want more people to share their content, forward their email to a friend or post about them on social media. Brands want to build trust and they see the value. It’s a risk, but what if it’s one your competitors are willing to make? Of course, every marketing email message is different, so always make sure it is appropriate. 

Segment Your Email Lists 

Another great way to make your emails more personalized and feel less like a bulk email, is segmenting your lists. This isn’t something marketers always take the time to do, but it’s an important step if you’re also hopefully using email link clicks for tracking your leads. There are a few ways to segment your lists, but a popular one is by the target audience. If your company sells to a few different markets, organizing your lists will help you tailor your email marketing content.

Let’s say you work with multiple industries, by segmenting your lists this way, you can write an email just focused on the interests and problems your product solves, just for them. When you are writing content for the masses, it’s more difficult to make your point.

Use Automation to Send the Right Message at the Right Time

Marketing automation doesn’t have to mean the end of email personalization. With so many affordable marketing automation platforms on the market, businesses that aren’t utilizing this technology are falling behind. Keep an eye out for specific buying signals, such as a demo request, email engagement, or pricing page visit, and use those signals to trigger intelligent automation that will make your prospects feel like you’re reaching out to them on a one-to-one basis. 

As a small business, you don’t have time to send one-off emails to prospects all day every day. Marketing automation allows you to put the processes in place to ensure that your outreach is nurturing leads through your sales funnel and never letting prospective customers fall through the cracks. 

Email personalization is key to getting noticed in the overcrowded inbox. Using the tips we mentioned above, you can increase your odds that your prospects will open and engage with your emails – even when their inboxes are flooded.