What Is Dynamic Email Content & How Does It Work?

Dynamic email content, also referred to as AMP emails, is all about giving your subscribers a personalized experience.

In an age where we are constantly bombarded by messages, mass and non-personalized emails come off as cold and simply do not work well.

A good way to stand out in the crowd and guarantee your readers actually open and read your emails is to use dynamic content.

So what exactly is dynamic email content? 

Dynamic content, in the realm of HTML and the web, refers to content that is constantly changing based on the persona or user behavior.

As the user progresses throughout their journey and takes or doesn’t take certain actions, the type of content served to them changes.

How It Works

• Segment your users
• Personalizing content
• Add specific variables 

You can make almost any part of an email dynamic and getting started is fairly straightforward. 

First, you’ll need to segment your users based on specific characteristics. Generally speaking, you can build out your segments to provide content based on preferences, email data, or demographics. 

When it comes to segmenting based on preferences, during onboarding, you can ask them questions about the type of content they want to see so you’ll know what you’re providing is highly relevant.

Additionally, you can personalize content based on email data such as what they click on, pages they visit, or even forms they fill in. This gives you an indication of what exactly interests them.  

After you have defined your segments, you’ll need to add specific demographic variables to your mailing lists. Demographics can include gender, age, location, education, and occupation. Once you set up these variables, you can connect them to your different segments. 

Dynamic Subject Lines

Getting someone to open an email isn’t an easy task and personalizing your subject lines can really come in handy. This is especially true if you’re trying to increase open rates. Industry reports suggest that personalizing a subject line can increase your open rates by almost 50%. 

So, when you’re thinking about ways to get people to open your email, spend some time on your subject lines. 

Put yourself in your user's shoes and think of what subject lines would get this segment to open this email. 

Try to get creative and think outside of the box.

Also, you should do some research and look at emails from your competitors. See which subject lines they’re using and what’s getting you to click on their emails. 

Look at emails outside of your industry and see how you can apply their best practices.  

Dynamic Email Body

Trying out different dynamic email templates is important when it comes to email marketing.

A simple factor like the way the email is structured and the colors you use can affect the overall engagement rate and ultimately the click-through-rate. 

You want people to read the email you send and it needs to be visually appealing.

You might be able to get someone to open your email, but are they going to read it? 

Are they going to take the action you want them to take? 

Accordingly, testing different email bodies for different segments is a key aspect of the optimization process. 

Think about adding videos to your emails, test out different layouts, fonts, and other major or minor changes you can make to the body. If you don’t test it out, you’ll never know. Give it a try especially if you’re seeing low engagement with specific emails.   

Dynamic Email Footer

At times, you may want to personalize your email footer and make it dynamic. For example, you may want to have a specific footer with different information in it for customers compared to prospects. 

You might want to update the content according to which country or region they’re from when taking into account GDPR. You may also want to remove it completely in favor of specific segments over others. 

Most emails need to have anti-spam clauses in the footer. Dynamic content can help with that as most email marketing tools will automatically add this to all your emails as a default preference. 

The possibilities are nearly endless with dynamic content, you just need to understand who your demographic is and what you want to show to them based on your goals and KPIs. Be sure to define these ahead of time so you know exactly what you’re measuring. 

The Benefits Of Dynamic Email Content

Dynamic email content is a must for any email marketer wanting to increase engagement, click-through-rates, and by extension, conversions. If you’re not using any personalized content in your emails, you're most likely missing out. 

If you’re still on the fence about it, here's why you should take advantage of dynamic email content by personalizing your emails:

• You’ll see an increase in your open rates
• There will be an increase in your click-through-rates
• You'll most likely see an increase in conversions, but if you're not, look for problems in your landing page
• You’ll build better relationships with your users because of the personalized experience you’re delivering
• It’ll help separate you from the competition given most inboxes are full of spam and irrelevant content. 

Bottom Line

Today more than ever, companies must establish a meaningful connection with their customers and prospects.

Therefore, if you’re not already using dynamic email content or aren't even considering it, you risk lagging behind.