With Alura, you can send personalized emails to the right users based on Etsy specific events. Below, we’ll show you how to create targeted, personal and measurable emails that inspire action.
Define your objective.
Before you start writing your email, you need to be clear on why you’re sending it. We recommend setting a goal you want your customers to take after reading your email.
Address your customers’ needs.
Good emails aren’t about what you want to say. They’re about what your customers want or need to know. Before crafting your email, ask questions like, ‘How can I excite people?’, ‘How can I help them?’ and ‘How can I create value?’, rather than ‘How can I make them buy? or ‘How can I make them reply?’ Stay focused on your users’ needs, not yours, and anticipate what they want to know next.
Speak to each user individually.
When your customers open your message and it begins with ‘Dear Sir/Madam’, they’re already losing interest. But why should they care? They can easily tell that the message isn’t written for them. You need to personalize each message so that it's customized to everyone who gets it. But the challenge comes when you’re sending the email to hundreds or thousands of customers. Here’s how to stay personal at scale:
We most often use a simple plain text email as they feel handwritten and direct.
Snappy, casual messages are best for engaging readers.
Speak like a human. A friendly tone builds warmth and connection.
Address your customers by their first name. Add the name attribute by clicking on the lightning icon when on a text section in the email editor.
You can use this to add personalization such as "I hope you have a great Saturday." in your email so that the content is specific to each user.
Alura lets you add your own reply address. Not only does this add a more personal touch, but it can also improve your deliverability by reducing the risk of your emails being marked as spam.
We’ve written in detail about staying personal at scale here.
Focus on the feeling.
‘People don’t buy products; they buy better versions of themselves.’ as onboarding and marketing expert, Samuel Hulick says. Put yourself in your recipient’s shoes and imagine how it would feel to get the email in your own inbox. Your job is to make customers feel understood and to help them envision the success they’ll achieve by taking the action you’re proposing. Maybe success for your customers means feeling smart, seeming cool, or being organized. Decide what your customers want to achieve and focus on fostering that feeling.
Use subject lines that pique interest.
Reader fatigue and click fatigue are making it harder than ever for your subject lines to stand out and get opened. So it’s important to continuously try fresh ideas and test them so you know which ones work best. Great subject lines are brief and trigger an emotional response within your customer. For example, if you say, ‘Let’s make a bet’ they’ll feel challenged and are more likely to click through to see what you’re proposing.
Or if you say something like, ‘Your day just got better’ they’ll want to know why. Break the monotony; don’t let customers get bored or come to expect anything from your brand. Instead, make them sit up, smile, and wonder.
Other ideas you can try to surprise and pique interest:
Change the sender name of your emails (for example, you could send your emails as your own name, instead of the default shop name and see how it affects open rates).
Try a personalized subject line that includes your customer’s name.
Add interesting characters, emojis, and symbols.
Make your links obvious.
While your subject lines should surprise and delight, your link style should actually be obvious and easy to find. A digest style, with predictable link locations, for example, has a far higher click-through rate than scattering links inline. A weak style on a link halves its click-through rate. So make sure your links are obvious, and favor clarity over beauty; your job is to get clicks, not become a master of subtlety.
Utilize the power of the P.S.
It’s often said that the P.S. is the most read part of an email. It's a fun way to say, ‘Now that the business is out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff.’ This “good stuff” can include extra tips for getting the most out of your product, valuable content, a secret discount code, or exclusive information about an upcoming industry event. And it gives you the chance to lightly pitch something in an off-handed kind of way, without directly selling anything.
Use the minimum design for maximum impact.
Messages that contain lots of images, headers, large buttons, and fancy formatting look like advertisements designed for the masses. And as soon as we see a message that isn’t written specifically for us, we afford it less importance. The minimal design works best as it feels more friendly and personal.
Here are some ideas for keeping your design bare, yet visually engaging :
If you’re going to use visual elements in your email, it’s best practice to focus on a select few and keep the rest of the email plain and easy to read.
A well-placed, high-resolution image stretched across the top of your email can grab the attention of customers when launching a new feature. It can also very quickly communicate what you’re trying to say without the user needing to read anything. For example, if you’re announcing a new product.
Your call to action in an upsell email can be a simple button created in a color that contrasts with your branding. Alura lets you add these to your emails without needing to write any code whatsoever.
Your email should be short and scannable. Avoid large chunks of text, break up your paragraphs with whitespace and use bullet points, where needed.
Send your email at the right time.
With Alura, you can set a delivery window to any automatic email to ensure it reaches your customers at the best time for them. Just select the days and times you think will get the maximum engagement. Of course, your delivery window will depend on the type of product you have, but it’s important to make a calculated assumption based on your customers’ behavior.
Test your emails’ performance.
You should review your campaigns to help you pinpoint the types of copy and design your customers respond to best. You can then use this information to improve your email content. We recommend only testing one element at a time. This way, if there’s a clear winner, you'll know which variant caused the difference. You can find out whether your customers prefer a shorter, snappier email or a longer version.
By now, you’ve probably thought of lots of ideas for creating personal and relevant emails. What are you going to say to add value to your customers’ day? :)