Customization, Personalization, and Localization in Email: What's the Difference, and Why Do Each Matter?

Customization, Personalization, LocalizationWHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE, AND WHY EACH MATTERS.

There’s a lot of confusion and ambiguity around these phrases

Many companies are doing one or two of these really well.

But very few companies are leveraging all three. Not cashing in on the full opportunity.

The Good News: By thinking about data in new ways, it’s easy to execute using all three.

It’s what customers want and expect in 2015.

More Good News: It’s good for your business!

Here’s the proof:Emails with personalized subject lines have 26% higher open rates**

Source: Balihoo Customer Data

Localized email produces 15% higher open rates*

Source: Experian

Consumers are at least twice as likely to open and click on emails sent in response to a trigger event*

Source: Yesmail

What is customization?

Customizing means targeting the right consumer with the right message.

Think of customization as targeting segments of your business...

… such as people who have purchased a type of product

For example, an Insurance Company might customize their marketing messages to the following segments:● Life● Auto● Home

A National Gym Brand should customize some messages based on attendance:● Once-a-week attendees● Daily members● No-show members

CUSTOMIZATION

And a Financial Institution probably caters their marketing to different customers: ● Size of portfolio● Type of account

Customization is a very basic first step to optimizing your email campaigns

What is personalization?

Personalization means leveraging recipient-level data to empower the message.

Think of personalization as pulling in data about the customer

Personalization = Endless Possibilities

It’s only limited by your customer/prospect data

● Name● Product specific info● Pages visited within a site● Whitepapers/case study downloads,

videos watched● Activities performed (loyalty)

TYPES OF PERSONALIZATION DATA

PERSONALIZATION

Personalization is a great way to improve upon your email campaigns, but takes a more advanced level of coordination

What is localization?

● Right message● Right consumer● Right time● Right place

LOCALIZATION MEANS

Think of localization as utilizing real-time data about individual markets to get hyper-specific

LOCALIZATION

● Demographic Make-up● Weather Events● Events in local area● Seasonal promotions● Local CTA around location/agent

TYPES OF MARKET LEVEL INFORMATION

Localization is the ultimate way to optimize and achieve the highest ROI possible

In fact, these types of triggered emails are estimated to be responsible for over 20% of email marketing revenue.*

Source: Epsilon

Localization by national brands is on the forefront of cutting edge marketing

By this time next year, it will be commonplace

Start investing your efforts now

79% of U.S. consumers expect some sort of personalization from brands.*

AND 66% of U.S. consumers welcome email retargeting based on their actions.*

Source: AgilOne

● Customization is basic segmentation to make the message relevant

● Personalization is using recipient data to make the message more powerful

● Localization is using real-time market data to trigger personalized messages at the right time and right place

TO RECAP...

Want to localize before your competitors? The most important aspect is data.

Source: AgilOne

Not big data, but the right data

Scalability is the key

And it’s done through AUTOMATION

Local Marketing Automation can provide you the tools you need to connect your consumers with the local providers of your products and services...

LOCAL WEBSITES

SEARCHENGINE

MARKETING

LOCALEMAIL

SOCIALMEDIA

TRADITIONALLOCAL

LISTINGS ANALYTICS

“From a corporate perspective, it has made it much easier for us to release new campaigns across a single platform. From a financial angle it is also easier for us to work with our vendors and payments when it is handled by Balihoo directly.”

– Brant Schmitz, Online Marketing Manager, Snap Fitness

BALIHOO CUSTOMERS SEE RESULTS WITH LOCAL MARKETING AUTOMATION

13:1 ROI demand-gen and relationship campaigns

Think about your company’s objectives (retention, engagement, ROI, new customers)

Evaluate your data resources

Now it’s time to evaluate local marketing automation so you can SCALE

sales@balihoo.com | balihoo.com | 866-913-8417

ABOUT BALIHOO Leading national brands, across a multitude of industries, use the Balihoo local marketing platform to activate millions of data-driven local campaigns for over 350,000 local outlets.

Balihoo is proud to call many of the top companies in the world our customers, including Geico, Ace Hardware, Wendy’s and New Balance.