Personalised emails get results, but only if they feel relevant, not forced. Here’s how to make every message smart, simple, and actually worth opening!
September 17, 2025
We’ve all received that awkward email that starts with our name but still feels like it was churned out by a robot.
That’s the danger with personalisation: done well, it makes your emails relevant, human, and effective. Not done properly, it makes people hit unsubscribe faster than you can say “limited-time offer.”
We believe personalisation is about making people feel seen without making them feel watched.
Why personalisation matters
People get hundreds of emails a day. But, the ones that stand out are the ones that feel like they’ve been written and catered to the recipient.
Personalisation doesn’t just boost open rates, it builds trust and your reputation.
The trick?
Keeping it relevant.
Don’t just stick a first name in the subject line and call it a day.
The basics (done right)
When we work on email campaigns, here’s how we usually start:
- Keep it simple: use a name sparingly, not five times in one email.
- Segmenting smartly: new subscribers don’t need the same emails as long-term customers.
- Send at the right time: timing is just as important as the wording.
This is where Brevo comes in handy for us. It makes segmentation and scheduling painless, which means we can focus more on the message and less on the mechanics.
Beyond the basics
Once the foundations are in place, it’s time to step it up:
- Behavioural triggers – following up when someone abandons a cart, downloads a guide or isn’t engaging with the content that they are receiving.
- Dynamic content – adjusting parts of an email depending on who’s reading it so that it feels the most relevant to them individually.
- Location relevance – offers and content that fit where your audience is and what they would be most interested in.
Using a CRM system helps us automate a lot of this, but the strategy behind it is where the magic really happens.
What not to do
A quick word of warning:
- Don’t overuse someone’s name.
- Don’t creep people out with hyper-specific tracking (“We saw you looking at red shoes at 2:04am…”).
- Don’t slap the “personalised” label on irrelevant offers.
Personalisation should feel thoughtful, not intrusive.
Our take
For us, tools are just the enablers.
Personalisation works because you understand your audience, not because you have the fanciest platform. We use Brevo because it’s simple, scalable, and doesn’t get in the way of strategy.
Our clients have seen a big lift in engagement just by breaking their audience into multiple segments instead of sending one generic email blast.
No gimmicks, just smarter targeting powered by Brevo.
Before you hit send…
Personalisation isn’t about showing off how much data you’ve got. It’s about delivering something relevant to the right person at the right time.
If you’re new to it, start small: segment your list, personalise a subject line, or set up one simple trigger.
From there, you can build out into smarter, more engaging campaigns.
Because at the end of the day, the only thing worse than a boring email…
is a creepy one.
Interested in Brevo?
We’ve got you covered.
From designing professional email templates and tracking campaign analytics to managing and creating your entire email marketing strategy, we’re here to make it simple and effective.
Get in touch!