What Is A Dynamic Email for Increased Customer Engagement? [2024]

All of us know that customer engagement is crucial to make people take action when they receive our emails. Your business can grow exponentially when customers remain engaged with every offering you launch.

One of the best ways to boost engagement is to use a dynamic email tailored to each recipient. This is where dynamic content comes in handy. In this guide, I will explain what exactly dynamic emails are and provide tips on creating them for high open and click-through rates.

After reading this article, you will learn how to:

• Use merge tags to add recipient names, location data, and other details
• Create targeted segments based on user behavior and attributes
• Set up triggers to send content based on actions people take
• Craft relevant, personalized messages that speak directly to each subscriber

What Is A Dynamic Email?

A dynamic email is a way to send out personalized emails with dynamic customer data, i.e., each customer gets information related to each recipient. This means that rather than sending the same static email to your entire list, a dynamic email generates a unique version for each subscriber tailored to them.

Dynamic emails achieve this level of personalization by using merge tags, segmentation, and email triggers.

When your customers open the email, the technology pulls information about them and adds it to the content in real-time. Even if you send a dynamic email blast to your entire list, every person will see it as a customized message.

Merge Tags or Personalization Shortcodes For Dynamic Emails

With merge tags, you can easily personalize your email campaigns using personalization tokens or shortcodes. These tags grab information from each client’s profile and then automatically insert these details into the email content as you send it.

For example:

• Rather than using “Hi there” to greet every subscriber, you could use the merge tag {FirstName}.
• When that contact opens the email, the system automatically inserts their first name from their profile into the greeting.
• So Jerome would see “Hi Jerome,” Michelle would see “Hi Michelle,” and so on for every subscriber.
• Many email service providers like Mail Mint, Constant Contact, and ConvertKit have merge tags you can easily insert.

For instance:

In Mail Mint’s editor you can click on the Personalization dropdown menu to access common tags like:

• {FirstName}
• {LastName}
• {EmailAddress}
• {City}

You can also create custom fields to track data like birthdays, account types, or favorite products. You will also get dynamic email templates in Mail Mint.

This level of personalization helps make every subscriber feel uniquely catered to.

Commonly Used Dynamic Email Content

Using customer names in dynamic emails is a powerful way to boost engagement.

1. Customer Name

Customer names can be included in various parts of your email:

• Subject Line: You can address, “Hey {FirstName}, items you left in your cart” or “Special promotion for {LastName}!”
• Greetings: Instead of “Hi there,” use “Hi {FirstName}!” or “Dear {FullName}.”
• CTA Text: For instance, “Get your 20% off deal {FirstName}” or “Join now {FirstName}.”
• Body Content: You can say things like “We have curated this collection just for you, {FirstName}.”
• Sign Off: Concluding with something like “Thanks, {FirstName}!” continues the personalized tone from start to finish.

Essentially, looking for any opportunity to replace generic references with the customer’s actual name helps you craft dynamic email Gmail that feels custom-tailored to build engagement.

2. Location for Dynamic Email Campaign

Including location details in dynamic emails also boosts personalization.

• Some ways to add location elements are:
• Subject Line: You can use, “New {City} store opening!” or “{State} clearance sale this week!”, or can generate ideas from this.
• Body Content: An example for you is “We just launched 2-day shipping in {City}” or “The {City} convention discount code is now active.”
• CTA Text: Calls-to-action can leverage geographic details, such as “Get your {State} voucher here” or “RSVP for the {City} meetup.”
• Images/Videos: You can show photos of their local storefront, neighborhood, landmarks, etc. dynamically tailored to their region.
• Date/Address References: Additionally, any date or address details that are specific to the reader’s area make the message resonate more. Such as “We will see you at 1234 Main St. in {City} on {Date}!” with the details filled in for their locale.

3. Date & Time

Dynamic date and time elements are also very useful for personalization and driving actions:

• Subject Line: You can reference the current date, an upcoming date, or even the subscriber’s local time dynamically. For example, “Only 3 days left! Expires {CurrentDate+3}” or “Event starts today at {TimeStamp}.”
• Body Content: Share time-sensitive information incorporating date/time merge tags throughout your email. Such as “This coupon code expires at midnight {CurrentDate}” or “The webinar begins at {StartTime} in your timezone.”
• CTA Text: Add urgency and excitement to your calls-to-action by including dynamic dates, times, or countdowns. You can say, “Register by {Date+3} & save 50%” or “{DaysToEvent} days left to RSVP.”
• Countdown Timer: Consider adding a dynamic countdown timer that displays the time remaining for the reader to take advantage of an offer or event based on their local time zone. This builds anticipation.
• Date & Address Details: You can also leverage date/time merge tags to share event venue information, such as “Meet us at 123 Main St. on {StartDate} from {StartTime} to {EndTime}.”

4. Countdown Timer in Dynamic Email

Here are some effective ways to incorporate dynamic countdown timers into emails:

• Email Header: Placing a ticking countdown timer front and center at the top of the email creates urgency and excitement. As soon as your product subscribers open the message, they will see time running out.
• Body Content: You can reference and reinforce the countdown within your email copy.
• Images: Consider adding visual representations of the countdown timer within images and/or GIFs to draw attention.
• CTA Buttons: You can add call-to-action like, “Claim This Deal Before Time Runs Out!” displayed right beside the live countdown creating an urgency to click.
• Footer: Additionally, keeping the dynamic timer visible at the bottom of the email allows readers to monitor the time remaining as they scroll through your content at their own pace.

5. Products Showcase in Dynamic Email Campaign

Here are some effective ways to dynamically display products in emails:

• Product Recommendations: One of the most common uses is showing product suggestions based on the customer’s purchase history and browsing behavior. For this, you have to gain knowledge of buyers’ psychology.
• Abandoned Cart Reminders: If a customer leaves items in their online cart without checking out, you can dynamically showcase those products in an email reminding them to complete the purchase.
• Back In Stock Alerts: Notify subscribers when out-of-stock products they previously viewed or purchased are available again with a transactional email.
• New Arrival Announcements: When new products arrive that match a customer’s interests, you can showcase the items in emails, such as “New Arrivals We Thought You’d Like.”
• Category or Brand Emails: You should segment customers by product category or brand affinity to send emails that dynamically display relevant items.
• Upsell/Cross-sell Offers: In the case of suggesting complementary or higher-end addon products based on their current purchases and preferences you can use a dynamic approach.

6. Blogs/News

Here are some effective ways to dynamically display blogs and news content that is personalized for each email recipient:

• Blog Post Recommendations: Tailor your latest blog content suggestions based on topics a contact has read before, shared interests, and reading history data to populate dynamic post recommendations in emails.
• Category Subscription Lists: When new posts are published in those categories, dynamically display them in automated emails to subscribed readers.
• Headline + Excerpt Emails: Many blogs send “Daily/Weekly Digest” roundup emails to subscribers showing just the post titles + short excerpts dynamically tailored to their preferences.
• New Comment Notifications: If a contact comments on your blog, you can trigger automated emails dynamically displaying a snippet of the blog post they commented on as a reminder along with a link back to continue the conversation.
• In-Line Content Recommendations: Similarly to product recommendations, you can detect topics in an email draft and dynamically populate relevant blog posts.

7. Images

Here are some of the most effective ways to use dynamic images in emails:

• Abandoned Cart Emails: Showcase product images the customer left behind in their online shopping cart.
• Customer Account Photos: Retailers/service providers can display the account owner’s profile photo if provided for a more personal vibe, like “Hi {FirstName}!” next to their picture.
• Subscription Boxes: You should display product images of upcoming monthly subscription box contents tailored to the exact variations the customer is set to receive based on their preferences and previous boxes.
• Personalized Promotions: Show lifestyle imagery aligned to the reader’s interests and demographics.
• Account Anniversary: On the one-year sign-up date, dynamically display a celebratory graphic with the number of years the contact has been a customer featured visually.
• Browsing Behavior: You can monitor ads leverage browsing behavior, as well as, similarly send emails with dynamic images showcasing products/blog posts the reader recently interacted with cross-channel. For instance, after tracking the travel destinations of the users on the website, you can send dynamic emails with images and exclusive offers for the locations they showed interest in, enhancing their travel planning experience.

How To Set Up Dynamic Content In Various Email Elements?

Crafting dynamic, personalized subject lines is crucial for improving open rates. There I have assembled many common merge tags for you that can be inserted into subject lines to pull in recipient details.

i. Dynamic Email Subject Lines

Dynamic subject lines are a great way to use merge tags to personalize your email campaigns.

You can place any available merge tag into the subject line field within MailMint’s email builder.

Here’s an example of using a first name merge tag in a MailMint email subject line:

[Screenshot of MailMint email subject line with {{First Name}}, Hi {{First Name}}, We Miss You!]

And some more personalized dynamic subject line examples:

• Hey {{First Name}}, your {City} exclusive offer!
• 30% off for you {{First Name}} – redeem by {{Date of Birth}}
• Back in stock – those instruments you love, {{First Name}}
• {{Last Name}}, we have new {category} deals inside!
• Thrilled to see you again {{Full Name}}! Here’s 20% off.

As you can see, merge tags help reference customer data to create relevant, targeted subject lines that will stand out in any inbox. This will drive open rates significantly upward for your business.

ii. Dynamic Image

Personalized images are another excellent dynamic element you can add to email campaigns thanks to MailMint’s merge tags.

1. When building your email in MailMint’s free drag-and-drop editor through Elementor, drag the Images block and upload any images you may want to use.
2. Then choose “Dynamic Image” and you will see a dropdown to insert a merge tag that will populate a targeted image for each subscriber.

Some common merge tags that work great for dynamic images:

• Location – Show recipients an image of their local store branch
• Category – Display an image related to the product category the customer showed interest in
• Last Ordered Product – Show an image of the item the contact last purchased

Here is an example of dynamic image placement using the Last Ordered Product merge tag:

[MailMint screenshot showing dynamic image selected with Last Ordered Product merge tag populated in the field]

When the campaign is sent, the image will automatically change to showcase the specific product purchased by each recipient based on their unique order history.

iii. Greetings With Dynamic Name Tag

Personalizing email greetings with the recipient’s first name is an easy way to immediately make them feel singled out.

Within your email builder in Mail Mint-

1. Add a text block where you want your greeting to appear.
2. Then insert the {FirstName} merge tag.

For example, you could write:

• “Hi {FirstName}!”
• “Good morning {FirstName}!”
• “Happy Holidays {FirstName}!”

This dynamically pulls in and displays the first name stored in each of your subscriber’s contact profiles when they open the email.

[Screenshot showing Mail Mint’s text editor with a greeting containing the {FirstName} merge tag]

iv. Dynamic Customer Data On Email Body

Inserting additional personal details through merge tags gives further context about the subscriber within your email copy.

In your body content blocks within Mail Mint, leverage text tags like:

• {Company}
• {Address}
• {City}
• {Interests}

You could write sentences like:

• “As a {Company} partner, we have prepared special discounts on your top purchased products.”
• “Your local {City} store at {Address} is having a special 1-day sale on June 15th.”
• “{FirstName}, given your interest in {Interests}, you might like our latest blog post on tips for beginner photographers.”

These details make every subscriber feel recognized and catered to when they see content reflecting information specific to them.

[Screenshot showing body copy in Mail Mint’s editor containing additional merge tags like {Company}]

v. Important Customer Dates Placed Dynamically

Within Mail Mint’s email editor, you can leverage merge tags like:

• {Birthday}
• {LastPurchaseDate}

To integrate date details, try body copy like:

• “We hope you have a wonderful birthday on {Birthday}!”
• “Your most recent purchase was on {LastPurchaseDate}. See some related items below that others also bought.”

When contacts open the email, their specific dates will automatically populate.

This precise specificity to each person’s dates makes the messaging feel like it was tailored just for them.

[Screenshot of Mail Mint showing dynamic Birthday and LastPurchaseDate tags]

vi. Using A Dynamic Footer

An email footer presents another area you can customize based on recipient details like company name and location.

Within Mail Mint, select a “Text Block” element in the Content Builder to create your footer.

Include merge tags like:

• {Company}
• {State}

You could write it as:

Thanks for supporting {Company}! Our teams are actively working across {State} to better serve customers like you.

For example, Sally at ACME Company will see:

Thanks for supporting ACME Company! Our teams are actively working across California to better serve customers like you.

This makes the message feel aligned to each reader’s circumstance.

[Screenshot of Mail Mint footer containing {Company} and {State} text tags]

vii. Conditional Product Recommendation

Some email platforms like Mail Mint allow you to randomly showcase different products tailored to a subscriber’s interests each time a campaign is sent.

1. In the Content Builder, select the “Dynamic Product List” element. Choose to display, for example, “Featured Products” from your online store.
2. Then check the box for “Randomize Product Order” under the advanced settings.

Now every time this campaign delivers, each recipient will see a different set of 3-5 products curated from your featured category, personalized to their unique browsing history and purchase data.

[Screenshot of random product blocks in Mail Mint]

Viii. Weekly Digest With New Blogs

if you own publishers and content sites, setting up a dynamic “Weekly Roundup” email that automatically populates fresh blog posts is highly effective.

1. Within Mail Mint, start by creating an automated email series. In the first weekly campaign, add a “New Blog Posts” content block from the element library.
2. Configure it to pull in your most recent 3-5 blog titles + excerpts automatically for each delivery based on publication date.

So each Monday when this automated email goes out, without any manual updates, the block will refresh itself with your newest blog content added the prior week.

[Screenshot of automated weekly digest campaign in Mail Mint]

ix. Abandoned Cart Products

You can set up automated campaigns in Mail Mint to target customers who have abandoned their shopping carts.

By showing customers the items they were previously interested in buying, you remind them of what caught their attention and prompt them to come back and complete the purchase.

To add an abandoned cart product block to a Mail Mint email:

1. Start building a new automated campaign.
2. Select the “Abandoned Cart” event as the trigger. This targets customers who have left items unpurchased in their carts.
3. Design your email content. This can include text inviting them back to complete their order, discounts or promotions to incentivize purchases, etc.
4. Drag the “Abandoned Cart Products” block into the email body where you want to display the products.
5. The block provides template customization options for styling the product images, names, pricing, etc.
6. Once configured, the campaign will automatically send targeted emails to customers with the products they left behind at checkout.

[insert screenshot]

x. Alternate Text For Missing Merge Tags

In Mail Mint, you can set default alternate text that will display when there is no data populated for a specific merge tag. This helps prevent blank spaces or errors in email content.

To set alternate text in Mail Mint:

1. Open email campaign editor
2. Select the merge tag you want to set alternate text for
3. In the right sidebar, check the box “Display default if missing” under Merge Tag Options
4. Enter alternate text in the “Default” field below
5. This text will now automatically populate for subscribers without data to populate the {FirstName} merge tag

This allows emails to be tailored and personalized, even when profile data is incomplete. Customers see a friendly message instead of disruptive empty spaces.

[Insert screenshot demonstrating the above steps in the Mail Mint campaign editor]

Benefits Of Using A Dynamic Email

Here are some key benefits of using dynamic email campaigns:

• Personalization
  You have to acknowledge that in this current CRM practice, personalization is at scale. Dynamic content allows you to customize emails for each subscriber by pulling the subscribers’ data.

• Contextual emailing
  Emails can change dynamically based on factors like location, time of day, purchase status, and more allowing you to tailor content to be highly relevant to each subscriber in the moment they receive your email.

• Improved segmentation
  Dynamic content will allow you to segment customers differently depending on their lifecycle stage. This will positively impact customer engagement.

• Real-time updates
  Merge tag data can update in real-time based on factors like new purchases allowing you to trigger post-purchase emails dynamically that reflect the latest order details.

• Reduced workload
  Marketers can create a single campaign with dynamic content instead of static emails targeted to smaller segments.

How To Use Dynamic Email Content Successfully?

Now that we have covered what dynamic email is and some of its key benefits, I will provide a quick guide walking through the key steps to utilize dynamic content effectively in your email campaigns.

Using personalized, contextualized content requires some strategic planning compared to basic static email.

In this section, you will learn:

• Important prerequisites like ensuring you have the right email platform and properly capturing recipient data.
• Best practices for planning dynamic content.
• Optimizing your messages by testing and tweaking dynamic content over time.
• Important factors to consider such as data privacy and security.

Following these steps will help you unlock the full potential of dynamic email to engage your subscribers on a 1:1 level at scale.

Step 1 – Collect Additional Customer Data

The foundation of impactful personalization is collecting quality data beyond basic contact information like name and email address.

You can collect data like, purchase history, browsing behavior on your website, interests and preferences from past surveys or feedback forms, important dates, location data, social profiles, and more.

This can be gathered explicitly by asking for or importing extra fields into your customer records.

Strategically find ways to enrich each record with 5-10 additional personal data points through subscriber-provided details, observed behaviors, and integrations to enable the next level of customization.

Step 2 – Segment Leads Based On Customer Data

You should consider segmenting your leads based on the customer data you have collected.

That means you could separate leads into segments by demographics, interests, past purchase history, or how they came into your sales funnel.

Take some time to analyze the data you have on your leads and identify ways you could meaningfully group them into segments.

You may consider creating segments for high-intent buyers who have visited specific product pages, segments for previous customers to re-target, segments for leads who recently abandoned their cart, and more.

This extra level of personalization can boost campaign performance.

Step 3 – Choose A Tool That Allows Dynamic Emails

When it comes to sending targeted, dynamic email campaigns, I would highly recommend using MailMint.

Specifically designed for WordPress users, MailMint is a powerful email marketing plugin that makes it easy to build personalized, automated campaigns right within your website dashboard.

It comes equipped with dedicated tools for creating dynamic content through merge tags, custom fields, and conditional content blocks.

MailMint’s conditional content blocks allow you to display different text, images, product recommendations, etc based on factors like location, interests, transaction information, and more.

Other key features like segments, tags, and triggers allow you to target very specific groups with tailored messaging. The drag-and-drop editor, ready-made templates, and automation workflows make executing dynamic campaigns quick and simple.

If you’re looking for the secret sauce to more impactful WordPress email marketing, MailMint is it!

Step 4 – Plan A Personalized Email Campaign

Based on your created segments, you can now plan targeted campaigns that speak to each group’s specific interests and behaviors.

You can create a campaign to win back abandoned cart customers by offering a special personalized discount code or free shipping to incentivize them to complete their purchases.

Before that just make sure to showcase products they had previously added to their cart. You could also leverage dynamic capabilities in your email marketing platform to deliver more relevant content to leads.

The more you personalize and tailor both your message and product recommendations to your segments, the better your campaign performance will be.

Step 5 – Use Dynamic Elements That Resonate With Campaign

Here is an example of using both a merge tag and a content block in an email created in MailMint.

The merge tag pulls in the first name of the contact, and the content block shows a dynamic product recommendation based on their browsing history:

[MailMint email screenshot showing a merge tag for first name and a dynamic product recommendation block].

As you can see, the merge tag allows me to personalize the email with {{First Name}} to address the contact directly. The dynamic block titled “Products for you” will populate with different product images and details for each lead depending on their unique past interactions on the website.

This combination of merge tags to leverage customer data and dynamic blocks to showcase relevant products or content is an impactful way to boost personalization.

Conclusion

I couldn’t agree more, personalized, dynamic email campaigns can truly help you achieve higher open and click-through rates.

I highly recommend taking advantage of dynamic email builders like Mail Mint as much as possible. It has a high deliverability rate because it has integration with email sending service provider SMTP plugin. This can positively impact deliverability while significantly boosting engagement across the board.

The use cases are endless. But the results will undoubtedly impress – higher open rates, more clicks, increased sales, and ROI.

What are you waiting for? It is time to make your email marketing personal!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is a dynamic email?

A dynamic email changes and displays unique content to each recipient based on data such as their name, preferences, purchase history, etc.

2. How is dynamic email useful to marketing people?

Dynamic email allows marketers to create highly personalized messaging and product recommendations for each customer, leading to higher open and click-through rates.

3. How do you use dynamic content in email marketing?

Use merge tags to pull in customer data and dynamic blocks to automatically populate relevant images, text, product recommendations, etc tailored to each recipient.

4. What is the best example of dynamic email?

An abandoned shopping cart email that shows the products they left behind and offers a customized incentive to complete the purchase.

5. How do I create a dynamic email using Mail Mint?

MailMint’s drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to add personalized merge tags, conditional content blocks, custom fields, segments, and more to design dynamic emails. it has a high deliverability rate because it has integration with email sending service provider SMTP plugin.