90 | How to make your emails more personalized using custom banners & video messages with Aprille Reed
Increase Your Email Marketing Engagement with Personalized Banners & Video Messages
WITH APRILLE REED
This post may contain affiliate links. This means we may receive a commission if you make a purchase via these links.
As online business owners, we are so used to sending and receiving emails in bulk. Because we have email lists of hundreds, or thousands, of subscribers, it can be really hard to know how to personalise those emails to the individual… of course we can add personalised name tags in our email marketing software, but everybody can do that - it’s really the bare minimum of email marketing.
In this episode, Aprille Reed shares how she incorporates unique email banners and video messages to create truly personalised emails for her subscribers. Through her personalised email strategies, she has been able to increase her email engagement, connect with her ideal clients and turn her subscribers into clients! And in this episode, she’s breaking down exactly how she did it & how you can too!
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
🔗 FREE: 18 Ways to Grow Your Audience Through Collaboration
CONNECT WITH APRILLE:
listen to the episode
As online business owners, we are so used to sending and receiving emails in bulk. Because we have email lists of hundreds, or thousands, of subscribers, it can be really hard to know how to personalise those emails to the individual… of course we can add personalised name tags in our email marketing software, but everybody can do that. And it’s really the bare minimum of email marketing.
As consumers, we know that when we’re on someone’s email list, we’re receiving the exact same email that’s been sent out to thousands of other people at the same time. We know that when we see our name, it’s just an automated tag that fills in the blank based on the information we provide.
Both as business owners, and consumers, we are used to the bare minimum of email personalisation. Which means that when someone goes that extra mile to actually personalise an email, we pay a lot more attention.
Now, you might be thinking “but how can I personalise my emails without spending hours typing out emails to each unique subscriber?” And in this episode, I have invited Aprille Reed to talk to you about her personalised email marketing strategy and how she uses email banners and videos to personalise her emails even more, and make them that much more unique to the subscriber.
Aprille is a multi-passionate entrepreneur who specialises in empowering individuals to monetise their expertise and passions by aligning them with their strongest abilities, all while preserving precious time for family and personal life. She also takes a unique approach to email marketing that allows her to truly connect with her subscribers. Through her personalised email strategies, she has been able to increase her email engagement, connect with her ideal clients and turn her subscribers into clients! And in this episode, she’s breaking down the top 2 email strategies she has used to do that.
Episode Transcript
This transcript is AI generated. Please bare in mind that it may not be 100% accurate.
Leticia Collins
00:00
Hi April, I am so excited to have you on the podcast today. For those listening who don't know who you are, could you just introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your business?
AR
Aprille Reed
00:13
Yes, definitely. First of all, thank you so much for having me here. I was excited for the invite, but for those who don't know me, my name is Avery Reed.
AR
Aprille Reed
00:23
I'm a multi-passionate entrepreneur, and I do a little this, a little that. I started out as a business coach and strategist, And then kind of through the years, my business kind of ebbed and flowed into digital marketing and webinar funnel architecture. And so what I really love doing through all of that is I help empower individuals make money online, teaching what they know. So that's the overarching theme of my business and what I like to do.
AR
Aprille Reed
01:01
And I guess just the coaching and the courses, mentorship is just how I deliver that promise.
LC
Leticia Collins
01:09
I love that. And 1 thing I do know about you is that email is something that you are passionate about. And the reason that I really wanted to talk to you today is because I know you have some really interesting and unique strategies that allow you to personalize the emails that you send and when we're marketing it can be really difficult to personalize our content because of course, we're sending these emails to thousands of people at the same time.
LC
Leticia Collins
01:37
And while you can add like the personalized name field within your emails, that's kind of expected, right? Like it's the bare minimum. But I know that you take it a step further and I really wanna get into how you actually do that. But first I feel like it would be a good idea to start by talking about why it's actually important to personalize your emails.
LC
Leticia Collins
01:57
So can you tell us why personalization is important within marketing?
AR
Aprille Reed
02:03
Oh yes, definitely. So I think not even just email, just personalizing comments on social or just personalizing your interactions with people. It makes people feel special and warmed and welcome.
AR
Aprille Reed
02:18
It makes people feel seen. And maybe back in the day, like decades ago, you didn't have to be personalized so much, but as more and more people jump into entrepreneurship, especially since COVID, more and more people are jumping into entrepreneurship, there really is that need for personalization. And with the introduction of AI, I feel like coaching, which is completely personalized. And so with the introduction of AI, personalization matters so much more because all the cookie cutter templates out there, people are getting hip to it.
AR
Aprille Reed
03:02
They're getting tired of it. And so definitely with AI on the scene and with more people becoming entrepreneurs and sending out emails, we need a way that we need to stand out, that we can stand out.
LC
Leticia Collins
03:16
Yeah, definitely. It's just something that is going to make you stand out that much more and really establish that connection between yourself and your ideal client. So let's talk about some of the ways that you bring personalization into your emails, aside from just the name tag that we already know about and use.
LC
Leticia Collins
03:35
And what actually drew me into your world was when I heard you speaking about personalized email banners, and it really drew me in because I was like, what is this? It sounds so interesting. So April, can you explain what personalized email banners are and why they're so effective?
AR
Aprille Reed
03:53
Sure, sure. So personalized email banners, and if you have like an image in your email that goes at the top, that could be your image headers. Maybe you call it an image header, but I just call them banners.
AR
Aprille Reed
04:11
And so it's the image that goes up top when you send out your emails to your email list. And what I like to do is personalize that with the recipient's name. As you said before, we kind of already know like the email service providers where we put the hey, I'll just use ConvertKit for right now. So like the hey, and then it's the subscriber dot first name.
AR
Aprille Reed
04:35
And so it grabs the subscriber's first name. And that's pretty much as personalized as we get. And so adding that image, I think it just adds a cooler function. Nobody's really expecting it.
AR
Aprille Reed
04:50
They open the email and in the image, it's like, you know, hi Stephanie, hi Tish or whoever. And it's just kind of like a pattern to wrap like, whoa, what is this? Like, they don't know what you did. Like did they actually like create an image specifically just for me?
AR
Aprille Reed
05:09
No. How do they do that? So it's definitely a conversation starter and it does make people feel like you went that extra step just for them.
LC
Leticia Collins
05:22
Yeah that's so interesting and that's like an image right so it's something I would never even think about personalizing but it's interesting to know that you can do that. But is there a specific app that you use to create that?
AR
Aprille Reed
05:38
Yes. And so I think the big companies, I mean, I'm just throwing this out here. I don't know for sure, but I would say like Walmart or Finish Line and stuff like that. They probably use this strategy as well.
AR
Aprille Reed
05:58
Like when you get, okay, what's the holiday that's coming up? Like the 4th of July, the US holiday. So you might get emails with images with coupon codes in your name, like stuff like that. So I think they've been around probably for years, but from the big companies.
AR
Aprille Reed
06:18
But what I haven't seen is the little people like us using them in our strategy. And so that's what kind of got me hip on that. And there is a strategy, you wanna make sure you're doing a blend of creativity, why we're particularly creating this image. There is a technology piece because you have to connect the image to your email service provider, such as Mailchimp or ConvertKit or Drip.
AR
Aprille Reed
06:49
And there is an app that I love to use to do this. And that app is Nifty Images.
LC
Leticia Collins
06:59
Okay, That's interesting. So is it like a piece of code that goes into the top of the email rather than like
AR
Aprille Reed
07:04
a, yeah. Yes, it's definitely a piece of code, HTML code that you add at the top of the email. So interesting.
AR
Aprille Reed
07:15
Or in the body of the email or the footer of the email.
LC
Leticia Collins
07:18
Yeah, I mean, yeah, I would never even think about that. But if I or someone listening wanted to create their own personalized email banner, what key elements would you recommend including?
AR
Aprille Reed
07:31
Yeah, so first off, I would say that you probably don't want to just send this to everyone every time, because then it's going to lose that wow factor. So I would, my strategy would definitely be like, okay, what particular group? What, is it people who join this freebie?
AR
Aprille Reed
07:54
Is it only these types of coaching clients? Is it whoever purchases this course? So that's the, that's the strategy part. 1 thing I'm testing right now is even using my strategy for like abandoned cart.
AR
Aprille Reed
08:12
Like, wait a minute, you left something in your cart and using it that way. So that's 1 element. It's just, okay, what strategy? Like, how do I want to use this and when and for who?
AR
Aprille Reed
08:24
And then just being creative with the type of image you want to create, how simple, how complicated. So like 1 strategy I was thinking about doing. So I just hosted a summit that like a month ago and I got too busy. I hate that I got too busy to create the image but what I wanted to do is I wanted to create a picture of me holding their free ticket and then their name is in the on the actual ticket.
AR
Aprille Reed
08:56
And so when anyone opted into the summit, the free summit, the welcome email would be like, hey, here's your free ticket with me holding the ticket and their name on it. And then yes, the technology piece. You can also add things like, but you don't have to be that creative, but you also want to make sure there's a captivating image, probably your brand colors, maybe your logo, a compelling headline, so that could even just be welcome and then a place enough space for their name to go and you can even get more personalized than that but for anyone who's just starting out I would just do like the first name.
LC
Leticia Collins
09:49
Yeah, Janu, that is such a good idea to use it for abandoned cart. And I love the summit idea. Like that is just such a fun way to add some extra spice personalization and just make people feel like welcome and excited.
LC
Leticia Collins
10:02
And yeah, I agree with what you said about how it's got to be used in a way to capture someone's attention. And like you said, if they get it all the time they are not going to be interested after a while. So yeah, I love that strategy.
AR
Aprille Reed
10:17
Yeah, And I think when I first implemented the strategy, well, I didn't really have a strategy. So I was just anybody who received an email, it was personalized. But then along the way, I was like, hey, wait a minute.
AR
Aprille Reed
10:32
If every email that everyone gets, it's always personalized, like what's the wild factor? Like what's makes me special? Like it was special at first, but now, so that's where the strategy came in after the fact. Like I need to be more methodical about this.
LC
Leticia Collins
10:47
Yeah, that's so true. Now, I know that you also create personalized video messages that you send
AR
Aprille Reed
10:53
out in your emails. And I am so curious about this strategy as well. So could you tell us a bit about that?
AR
Aprille Reed
11:00
Yes, definitely. So personalized video messages. Okay, I will say that the other strategy with the personalized email banners, I like that strategy for the set it and forget it components. Like, once you create the image, once you do the HTML code, like that's that.
AR
Aprille Reed
11:22
It will run for you whenever anybody opt in. So the personalized email video messages, Yes, that is a little more involved, but it's not that much more work. It's just creating little short snippets of videos every time you get a new subscriber or however you choose to set up. Again, It's that strategy.
AR
Aprille Reed
11:48
How do you want to use these video messages? So I would say with the video messages even being more selective of that strategy because you are real time creating these personalized videos. So what I like to do is I have it set up with Zapier and ConvertKit. So when someone opts into a particular freebie, I get a message on my phone that says, hey, such and such just opted into XYNC.
AR
Aprille Reed
12:23
And so that triggers me, okay, let me grab my phone, let me go to the app and let me send this video message, just welcoming them, telling them hello, and if they have any questions. And they also have the opportunity to hit a button when you send out that email with your video that they can reply back.
LC
Leticia Collins
12:46
Okay wow that's interesting So do you do that every time someone opts into that freebie? Or do you sometimes get like, oh, I can't be bothered to do this right now?
AR
Aprille Reed
12:57
Yeah, so I try to, but I had to just go with the mindset. Like, you know what? If I missed an opportunity, then I just missed an opportunity because let's face it, who's actually doing this?
AR
Aprille Reed
13:09
Like, really anybody. I've never received a video message before in my life so far. So even if I miss some, because sometimes, because we're all over the world, like my business caters to people all over the world so sometimes people ops in at 04:00 in the morning and It's like I'm not doing a video at 4 a.m. In the morning.
AR
Aprille Reed
13:32
So sometimes the opportunities are missed, but I also, in order to do it more so, just keep with the mindset, like just be real, just be yourself. Like you don't have to be GQ. You don't have to, you know, everything doesn't have to be in place. You don't really need the best audio or anything like that.
AR
Aprille Reed
13:56
It's just grabbing the phone, grabbing the app and just saying, Hey, a short sentence, welcoming them or whatever the strategy is, maybe it's letting them know about an upcoming webinar or summit or something that's going on in your business at the moment and just sending it away. And I think just being real, people appreciate that.
LC
Leticia Collins
14:22
Yeah, I totally get that. And on the other side of it, it is so special to receive a video message though. Like I recently signed up to a membership and an hour after I joined they sent me a video message and they said my name and I had filled out like this intake form and they mentioned what I wrote in there and it just felt so personalised, so special and it made the whole onboarding process so much better than anything I've ever joined before and that is because of some simple personalization that has taken someone maybe 30 seconds to film.
AR
Aprille Reed
14:59
Yes, Exactly. Exactly. And yeah, look at the how that made you feel just from that.
LC
Leticia Collins
15:08
Yeah, it's amazing. It is amazing. And I think it's something that we don't always think about doing.
LC
Leticia Collins
15:14
Like it's just the little ways. Maybe it would be too much to do it for a freebie where you've got hundreds of people signing up
AR
Aprille Reed
15:22
every week.
LC
Leticia Collins
15:23
But if you have like a membership or a course or something paid where you can just film a quick video and just welcome that person, How good is your onboarding experience? How good is your customer journey going to be?
AR
Aprille Reed
15:37
Exactly. And when I was first doing this in the beginning, I was doing, like I said, You know, anything I try out, I think is usually there's absolutely no strategy involved. I'm just doing something and then the strategy comes after the fact. So I did have this link to a freebie and some of those short video message that I sent out, those people turned into clients or buying my higher prize courses.
AR
Aprille Reed
16:09
So it does work. I thought I was just, you know, I'm just want to get to know people a little more. I just want people to feel special. There was no real strategy, like I want this person to enroll in my course.
AR
Aprille Reed
16:24
But yeah, that's some of the benefits that can happen when you just remember that there are people out there. It's not 2000 people, 5000 people, 10, 000 people on your email list. Like it's John and Terry and Sarah, Melissa and Jordan, you know, these are people and they have lives.
LC
Leticia Collins
16:43
Yeah, no, exactly. And I'm glad that you mentioned that because I was actually about to ask you what results this will be strategies have generated for your business. And I love that you've gotten clients from it.
LC
Leticia Collins
16:56
I'm sure there are loads of smaller benefits that you've experienced as well. So could you Could you tell us about any of those?
AR
Aprille Reed
17:03
Yeah, so sometimes people will reply back. Sometimes, and like the app I use, it has a affiliate program. So sometimes people are like, oh my gosh, this is so cool.
AR
Aprille Reed
17:16
Can you share your affiliate link to the program? I wanna start doing it too. And I will say that the people that I have sent personalized video message to are likely the ones that are opening my emails like years later just because of that personal element versus the ones I I haven't sent a personalized email to So it's kind of like when people know, like and trust you or at least are able to see your face and your voice and you went the extra mile, they're more excited to see, okay, what did April send me today?
LC
Leticia Collins
17:58
Yeah, I think at the end of the day, it's just going to make people feel more connected to you, isn't it? And although they might not purchase straight away, you're always going to be at the top of their minds and the person that they keep on coming back to again and again because of that connection.
AR
Aprille Reed
18:15
Yes, yes, totally agree with that.
LC
Leticia Collins
18:18
Yeah, and if someone listening is thinking about implementing 1 of or both of these strategies into their own business, what advice would you give them or what steps would you recommend they take to get it set up and running.
AR
Aprille Reed
18:33
So if anyone is interested in doing like the email banners, it's really simple. And I do have a $9 course, it's just $9 that they can sign up for. And I'm sure there's gonna be like show notes, so we can link that at the bottom.
AR
Aprille Reed
18:52
But if you just want to like be in my world and have questions about either the email banners or either the personalized video messages, You can totally just sign up for my newsletter. You can get, you can find that at www.apri read.com for slash newsletter. But again, that was probably just going to be a link in the show notes that you can click on that to come into my world and find out more about that?
LC
Leticia Collins
19:21
Absolutely, yeah. I will link both of those in the show notes. And I did have 1 other question actually, because I was scrolling through your everything page And this isn't related to this conversation, but I was just curious about your nothing offer because I've never seen anything like that before.
LC
Leticia Collins
19:39
And I was wondering whether you'd be willing to share firstly, what your nothing offer is for those listening and then how that's working for your business.
AR
Aprille Reed
19:48
Yeah, so my nothing offer is nothing. Okay, so, okay, story. Someone reached out to me about participating in a bundle.
AR
Aprille Reed
20:02
Yeah, it was a bundle. And I didn't know this person, so I was going through their website trying to figure out who they were. And they had 1 of those tip jar services on their website, which I've seen before. But from this particular time, I was just thinking, I was like, oh, how boring.
AR
Aprille Reed
20:24
But I probably need a tip jar on my website. But I just don't want to have it if you want a tip. And so that kind of got me thinking like how can I? You know participate Have people like give me money for nothing and it's basically a tip jar But I'm not giving them anything and it's like oh you're giving them nothing like Nothing, so at that point I went I use Kajabi So I created a landing page because I didn't know what software she was using or anything.
AR
Aprille Reed
20:56
And I didn't feel like signing up for a tip jar and trying to figure out how to opt in or how to connect it to my website and da da da da but I did know how to create a form or a checkout page so that's when I just whipped out the checkout page and The idea of just okay. What am I gonna say on this checkout page ideas just kept flowing say it this way say it that way and that's how the nothing offer came into play and I think it would be really funny to create a full sales page Just to sell my nothing offer now. I will say this. It's a great conversation starter Which full transparency I have gotten nothing so far for the nothing offer.
AR
Aprille Reed
21:49
So I don't know how, other than a conversation starter, I don't know how much it works for like bringing in the money, but at least it's a conversation starter.
LC
Leticia Collins
22:03
It's fun though, isn't it? And like you say, it's a
AR
Aprille Reed
22:05
conversation starter. Yes, it's fun. It's funny.
AR
Aprille Reed
22:06
Yeah.
LC
Leticia Collins
22:07
Yeah. And I'm sure like, I don't know whether you do this, but maybe if you were to put it at the bottom of your emails, like people do with those buy me a coffee links, then
AR
Aprille Reed
22:14
you might get people feeling
LC
Leticia Collins
22:15
like, oh yeah, I'll purchase nothing.
AR
Aprille Reed
22:19
Yeah, exactly. I should do that. I will say anything, anytime someone purchases anything from me, they do get access to my student only, client only Facebook, or not Facebook group, but my community.
AR
Aprille Reed
22:32
So it's not exactly nothing, but yeah. Yeah, it's access. Okay, so before we wrap up, as you know, we are all about keeping business and marketing simple on this podcast. So April, I would love to know what you're currently doing to keep business simple.
AR
Aprille Reed
22:54
Ooh, that is a great question. I think I'm, What I, okay, so what I am really working on is my mindset and this need to be perfect. I'm really trying to look at the strategies that I'm keeping in my marketing and seeing, okay, what's the bare minimum I need to do to get this done or to get this out there? And really listening to myself and, and setting things in boxes like this is a nice to have, this would be nice to include and stuff like that.
AR
Aprille Reed
23:37
But what's the bare minimum? Is it just a checkout page telling people what it is they want and then linking them to a way to get paid, like a PayPal link or whatever that I can update later because I do find that it's so much easier to update later than trying to be perfect from the start and also simplicity is just picking 1 thing So not really trying to spread yourself across Facebook and Instagram and this and that and everything, but just picking that 1 element of your marketing that you're just gonna focus on. And again, what is your implementation strategy? Now, maybe if you don't struggle with perfectionism or procrastination, this isn't for you, but if you do, like what is the bare minimum I need to do to get this out there and still represent me.
LC
Leticia Collins
24:34
I love that focusing on the bare minimum because sometimes that is all you can muster and that is completely okay. I've done the same at times when I'm struggling with my mental health or I'm just struggling to get into work. And it can be so easy to just feel really guilty and kick yourself because you're not doing everything.
LC
Leticia Collins
24:56
You're not busy all the time. But sometimes all you have to do is just show up and just do the little things.
AR
Aprille Reed
25:04
Oh yeah, I love how you said that. Cause like even, I think like our bodies and our mental health goes in seasons as well. Like I barely want to do anything in November and December.
AR
Aprille Reed
25:17
It's just, it's so hard to get me to start anything new. And for the early on in my business, it seems like I was always trying to implement maybe a new podcast or a new this or a new that and always struggling. And even just looking at yourself and understanding yourself Okay, what what is my biological seasoning and I? Need to do these strategies during this you know day of the week or this week of the month or this quarter or this part of the season versus that part of season, this part of the year, really understanding yourself, slowing down to understand yourself and what business looks like that matches with your personality.
AR
Aprille Reed
26:05
And just creating a business model that fits that is your best way to succeed. So I like that.
LC
Leticia Collins
26:14
Yes, I'm glad you mentioned that because when you structure your activities around the seasons or even your menstrual cycle you could find that you are so much more productive in certain periods and so much less in other periods and then you can find that you can focus on the lesser things that you wouldn't normally get done when you're really busy, but will still make a massive impact. Like, you know, like the organization of your business and things like that. I love to do that in December where it's really slow and I don't wanna start a project, but I'm like, right, I need to
AR
Aprille Reed
26:44
get organized. So yeah. That's true.
AR
Aprille Reed
26:48
Yeah. Now, before we go, I know you've already shared your $9 offer and your newsletter, but where can everyone go to connect with you? Definitely. So you can find me on Instagram and it's just, you know, my handle is at April Reed.
AR
Aprille Reed
27:09
Or no, just at April Reed. Sorry. I have the little checks. I don't know if there's anybody out there impersonating me, but I'll just do that little disclaimer.
LC
Leticia Collins
27:18
Hopefully not.
AR
Aprille Reed
27:18
Just in case. But I have the blue check.
LC
Leticia Collins
27:22
Perfect. Thank you. Everything will be linked in the show notes so you can go and connect with April now. But April, it has been lovely to chat with you.
LC
Leticia Collins
27:31
Thank you for coming on and for sharing such unique and interesting strategies with us.
AR
Aprille Reed
27:37
Thank you for having me again. This has been so much fun.
PIN FOR LATER
Save this post to Pinterest so you can tune in later!
hey, I'm Tish!
I'm a multi-passionate business owner, digital marketing strategist, business mentor & part-time digital nomad ✈️
I'm on a mission to help you create more time, freedom & profit in your business through the implementation of sustainable & scalable business and marketing strategies!
let’s connect
work with me
The Simple Marketing Podcast is for ambitious entrepreneurs who want to build a sustainable & scalable online business. With bite-sized, actionable episodes, you’ll learn how to create more time, freedom & profit in a way that feels good to you.
