The online transaction landscape in Malaysia has undergone a striking evolution in recent years. Spurred by the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country has seen continued and significant e-commerce growth, accompanied by changing consumer habits. Today, Malaysia leads Southeast Asia in the adoption of digital payments, with more than half of Malaysia’s population currently using e-wallets on a daily basis. Add to this a remarkable 96.8% internet penetration and over four million active cellular mobile connections, and it’s evident that Malaysia is a market that is brimming with opportunity.
For businesses, effective marketing strategies will be a key enabler in harnessing this potential. And of these, email marketing remains a crucial channel to reach and engage the right customers. But in an era where inboxes are flooded with generic messages, brands need to create meaningful relationships with customers if they want to maintain top-of-the-mind recall. Today, personalisation must be at the forefront of every email campaign, with a strong emphasis on putting the customer first.
The why and how of personalised email marketing
In an increasingly digital landscape, consumer preferences are evolving. Whether it is purchasing products and services, or booking tickets or stays, consumers today expect a highly personalised experience from brands – and Malaysia is no exception. From online banking to awarding a brand their loyalty and advocacy, Malaysian consumers want more personalised experiences across the board.
As a result, businesses who employ personalisation in their email marketing have everything to gain. But for brands who are yet to do so, taking a more personalised approach will require a shift in how they look at email marketing. The key lies in prioritising customers over campaigns and transitioning from one-off engagements to sustained conversations that encourage customers to consider the brand in a long-term context. In practice, this means understanding the needs and preferences of each customer and tailoring messages accordingly
It’s also important for brands to educate themselves on the types of personalisation available to them. Rather than typical broadcast emails or generic blasts that send often irrelevant messages to a large audience base, businesses can try the following personalisation strategies:
- Attribute-based personalisation: This involves identifying attributes and demographics that distinguish each customer, and creating a tailored experience that matches these attributes.
Attribute-based personalisation can be a simple yet powerful way to improve the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns. By personalising emails to the recipient, businesses can increase open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and brand reputation.
- Behavior-based personalisation: This approach personalises emails based on individual customer preferences, actions, purchase trends, and overall behavior. Think reminding customers to top up their wallets before it runs out or telling them about a new restaurant that opened up based on their preferences or location.
Behavior-based personalisation allows you to reach customers within the right
context—when the chances for email opens, clicks, and conversions are at their highest.
- Journey-based personalisation: This includes designing flexible, multi-step customer journeys that send out various message versions across different channels and different times based on the customer’s lifecycle stage.
Emails that utilise this strategy perform better than any other type of email because they allow brands to address specific customer needs and meet their precise requirements.
How personalisation impacts your bottom line
Personalised emails don’t just meet customer needs – they directly impact business bottom lines. MoEngage recently analysed 10.9 billion emails to determine how personalisation helps brands in Southeast Asia prioritise customers over campaigns and establish meaningful conversations. Our findings showed that personalisation directly improved all email marketing metrics across a variety of industries, regardless of the level of personalisation used.
For example:
- Conversion rates for the Retail and E-commerce industry increase by 12X when marketers use Behavior-based Personalisation
- Open rates increase by 10.8X for the Banking and Fintech Industry when marketers deploy Journey-based Personalisation
- CTOR increases by 13X for the Education industry with the use of Attribute-based Personalisation
- Similar insights were observed for other industries such as Media and Entertainment, Classifieds, Health and Wellness, Travel and Logistics, and Real Estate.
Brands that are personalising their emails are clearly winning. And as consumers in Malaysia continue to shift their habits online, personalisation will become increasingly key to better engagement, growth, and customer retention in a competitive email marketing market.
By Raviteja Dodda, Co-founder & CEO, MoEngage
