If as we discussed in this post you are segmenting your prospects into different ‘buckets’ based on their needs, goals and desires when they opt-in to your product launch email list, you have a wonderful opportunity to boost your product launch’s response by sending highly personalised email messages to those people that allow you to ‘enter the conversation going on inside their head’ as we discussed here.
And being able to enter that conversation allows you to significantly increase your conversions because you can more closely target what you say to what your prospects’ really want.
The most basic way to customise your messages is to use your subscribers’ name at least once in each message.
That’s because one of the sweetest sounds in the English language is a person’s own name. That’s why personalising an email to your audience using someone’s name can help boost your conversion rates.
But there’s a catch: you need to walk a fine line, because over-using someone’s name can also feel like an invasion of privacy. A person’s name is very personal to them, so if someone uses it a lot, the red flags go up.
Perhaps you’ve experienced this yourself at some point in the past.
When you first meet someone and use your name, that’s acceptable. If they use your name again a little later, you start to feel like you’re building a good rapport. But if they keep using your name, you get those sleezy salesman vibes and it makes you want to get away from the person.
The same goes for your emails that you send to your subscribers. If you use someone’s name once or twice, you build rapport. If you overuse it, the strategy backfires and people feel uncomfortable.
So, with that in mind, let’s talk about the right way (the conversion-boosting way) to personalise emails…
Check Your Email Records
The first thing you should do is check that your subscribers are giving you real first names when they join your list.
Obviously, if someone’s real name is “Jane” and they use the name “Mandy” when they fill out your opt-in form, you’ll have no way of checking if they’re giving you a real name.
Instead, what you’re looking for are really obvious cases of someone giving you a false name. For example, they might use a name like “Mickey Mouse” or “Anonymous” or “Testing” or something along those lines. If it’s obviously fake, then you’ll want to do the following:
• Monitor the contact to see if they’re active. Sometimes a person gives a fake name, but they’re very much interested in your content. That’s perfectly fine (see below for the next step).
If they’re not active – and a re-engagement campaign doesn’t help – the you may remove the entire contact. The person may have signed up just to get a freebie, or if you have a single opt-in system someone else may have signed their friend up for your list.
• Remove the false information. If the person is engaged and seems to be a genuine contact, then remove the fake first name so that it doesn’t show up when you personalize emails.
Note: When you personalise emails, be sure that the content will look okay even if a name isn’t included.
For example: “Hi, [Name].” This looks fine even if the name isn’t included.
Another example: “[Name], what do you think?” This would look odd without the name, because of the comma and not having a capitalized first word.
Which brings us to the next point…
Personalise Once or Twice
As mentioned above, you don’t want to overuse the subscriber’s name. That’s why using it once or twice in an email is generally a good rule of thumb.
Here are three different ways to use it:
• Put it in the subject line. This is a good way to capture someone’s attention when they’re skimming their inbox. E.G., “Do you know this secret [Name]?” (Note: proper grammar says there should be a comma there, but I left it out for times when we don’t have a first name available.)
• Include it in the salutation. E.G., “Hi, [Name]”
• Embed it elsewhere in the content. E.G., “What do you think [Name]?”
Generally speaking, you should use it once in either the subject line or in the salutation. Then use it once more towards the middle or end of your content. When you embed it in content, put the name next to the most important thing you want the subscriber to read. That’s because someone who’s skimming your email will likely see their name in the middle of it, so they’ll stop and read the content surrounding it.
And finally…
Use the Word “You”
While you need to use the subscriber’s name sparingly (which makes it more effective), one word you can use generously to great effect is the word “you.” Whenever you use this word often, it means your content is focused on the reader – and that’s exactly what you want to do to keep readers interested and engaged.
Do this: check how many times you use words like “I” or “me,” and see if you can rewrite those sentences to be centered more on the reader by using the word “you.” Your goal is to say “you”, “your” and “yours” 5 times as much as you say “me” or “I”.
E.G., “I’ll teach my best dieting tips” becomes “you’ll discover the best dieting tips.”
PRO TIP: You can use deep personalisation of your email messages by using a tool such as bucket.io which creates quiz funnels by asking a series of questions and then inserting the options selected by subscribers into your followup messages.
For example, let’s say somebody answers your quiz by saying she is a 50 year old woman who enjoys surfing.
If you were renting holiday apartments near the beach, you could use that information in your messages to say something like:
“Women in their 50’s who enjoy surfing tell us they love the Halcyon apartments because the short walk to the beach saves them from having to drive miles to the beach and find a car park before they can hit the waves.”
This is a very cool feature and once it’s programmed it can run seamlessly in the background sifting and sorting your subscribers, and sending extremely personalised messages to them which are very likely to increase your conversions.
Conclusion
As you just seen, a simple way to boost your conversions both during your product launch and for long afterwards is to use your subscriber’s name once or twice within each email you send. When you’re not using their name, then be sure you’re using the word “you” often to keep the focus on your reader, their problems, and how you can help them solve those problems.
Or you can go all hog-wild and using a system like bucket.io to do deep personalisation of your messages to highly target your messages. Just be careful because the more complex your integrations, the more opportunity there is for formatting mistakes to be made.
Make sure you test your messages by reading them on a variety of browsers and platforms so you know your readers experience is going to be consistent and positive.
And if you’d like to learn more about launching your new product successfully, including seeing how Jeff Walker is segmenting people during his optin process along with examples of email sequences and case studies of people who have used PLF with outstanding success, by checking out Jeff Walker’s free Product Launch Masterclass here.
Talk soon,
Rocky
P.S. Being able to create a Perfect Product is a great start, but you also need a way to generate sales in a consistent way. Running a Product launch is a proven way to not only build your list, but generate Social Proof and make a large number of sales quickly. To learn how to launch your product successfully, check out Jeff Walker’s free Product Launch Masterclass here.
PLUS: When you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you to grow your business using product launches:
1. How To Build A Profitable Launch List.
Building an email list is critical if you plan on doing a launch for your product, service or business. List Warrior will show you a proven way to use free software to build a responsive list of prospects who are ready to buy from you during your launch. Click Here.
2. How To Create The Perfect Product
Creating a product that is perfect for your audience does not need to be difficult. How To Create The Perfect Product shows you how to build high value products your audience will love one after the other. Click Here.
3. How To Attract Buyers To Join Your Launch List So They Can Purchase Your Perfect Product.
Once you have created your Product Launch List and your Perfect Product is ready to go, you need to attract people into your world so they can buy from you. One Minute Free Traffic gives you a proven way to attract buyers with ‘Automated Traffic Machines’ so you can send those people to your optin page, your sales page, your Facebook Group or anywhere else you choose. To learn more Click Here.
And don’t forget to check this out 🙂
How to Earn $20 in 20 Minutes With Any Topic, Niche or Hobby
Disclaimer: If you purchase PLF through my affiliate link I may receive a referral fee from Jeff Walker, however you will pay no more to purchase the program through me than if you went directly to the Product Launch Formula website. If you would like my personal help as you create your first launch using the PLF process, check out my PLF Bonus offer here.
