In email marketing, personalization has interesting effects.

I don’t know about you, but I’m always giving away my email address. Want a free e-book? Sure, just give us your email address. Free 7-day subscription so some service or other? Email address. From contests to free resources, a viable email address is the currency of the realm, these days.

Giving out my email address doesn’t bother me; nor does the spam email I get as a result. I unsubscribe myself from newsletters and mailing lists daily, and when I don’t have time to or don’t care to do that, clicking that trash-can button doesn’t take a lot out of my day.

Occasionally, though, I’m not sure whether I signed up for something because I actually wanted to receive it. Did I want that marketing deep-dive daily email? Did I order something from that company? I can’t always remember.

Personalization in email marketing takes the guesswork out of this issue. If I’m giving my information for something from which I know I’m immediately going to unsubscribe, I use a different name. That way, when I get their email, I know right away:

“Thanks for the reminder! UNSUBSCRIBE.”