Research Shows Personalization Benefits Email Marketing Campaigns

Personalizing the customer experience has become a priority for many marketers, and new research suggests that it can go a long way when it comes to email as well.

The “Subject Line Benchmarks: How Length and Personalization Impact Email Performance Across Message Type and Industry” report from Yes Lifecycle Marketing recently uncovered the benefits of personalization in email.

The research showed that personalized subject lines generated 50 percent higher open rates in Q2 2017, as well as 58 percent higher click-to-open rates. They also saw 2.5 times the unique click rates, compared to subject lines without personalization.

Subject line length can also play a role in the success of an email marketing campaign. The highest open rate (18.5 percent) observed by the researchers came from emails that had subject lines consisting of less than 20 characters. Within this percentage, those with less than 10 characters had an open rate of 26 percent.

“While we can provide a straight-forward account of what subject line lengths drove the highest open rates, it’s important to keep in mind that there are a variety of other factors at play,” concluded the researchers of the report. “Character count is just one piece of the puzzle.”

Timing Email Marketing Campaigns for Success

Subject line length and personalization may impact open rates, but what about when an email campaign is actually launched? Previous research from Yes Lifecycle Marketing took a look at how timing plays a role in the success of email marketing.

The “Q2 Benchmarks: Day of the Week Email Performance” report published at this time last year found that emails sent on Thursday had the highest engagement rate. Open rates for emails sent on this day of the week were 14 percent higher than the second quarter average.

In addition, their unique click rates were 41 percent above average, while their click-to-open rates were 24 percent above average.