The major indicator is the increasing number of emails going out with personalization extending beyond the usual Dear <firstname> salutation. And there is good reason for the trend - personalization directly impacts open and click rates. A September 2005 Mailer-Mailer Email Statistics survey of 350 million messages found that personalization of the subject line and message increased average open rates from 22% to 27%. There's even more bang for the buck on click rates. Personalization of both the subject line and message nearly doubled average click rates from 3.6% to 6.9%.

Segmentation Rocks

But where personalization gets really interesting is when it is based on segmentation, especially when it comes to a traditional weak spot of email campaigns - promotional messages. According to a Topica study of 650 email campaigns (performed for Marketing Sherpa) sending differentiated messages boosts average open rates from 4.1% to 6.7%. And click rates go straight through the roof - non-segmented campaigns 0.5%; segmented 30.9%!

Segmentation in this instance (promotional campaigns) means targeting the right offer to the right customer at the right time. To do this, take a new look at your email marketing database. Are you recording personal preferences for products and services? How about purchase history and behavior? This information is gold. If you don't have it, time to start developing a contact and content strategy that will both gather this information and use it.