Creating Dynamic Emails in Under 10 Minutes

Today, dynamic content is the most effective tool any email marketer can use. 

Dynamic emails allow us to:

• deliver real-time content to keep our recipients updated. We use it in email digests to send only fresh blog posts; we use it in promo emails to notify every recipient how soon the offer expires, etc.;

• personalize content to make newsletters even more relevant.  We use it in promo emails to craft offers based on individual preferences, on previous purchases, on geolocation, gender, etc., in emails like abandoned carts, order confirmation, etc. 

It is impossible to make email marketing a profitable channel without using dynamic content.

Did you know that 69% of customers are more likely to buy from brands that use personalization techniques? 

And real-time content increases revenue by at least 9%.

So what types of dynamic email content are there and how to implement them in your future campaigns?

1. Dynamic emails with old kind personalization by name

When it comes to personalization by name, you can address by name either in email copy or subject line.

Dynamic content in email copy

Use it to greet a person in email, especially when you are about to ask for something.

Don’t use it in promo emails unless your offer is personalized too.

Interesting stats:

Personalized copy by itself does not impact your CTOR. However, addressing by name is a polite gesture per se. 

So, how to embed this type of dynamic content in emails?

• put a mouse pointer in your email exactly where you want to add a recipient’s name to;

• at the top settings panel, find the merge tags tab;

• in the dropdown menu select your ESP;

• pick the right variable.

If done right, your email will look like this:

Adding this dynamic content in emails will take you approximately:

2 minutes.

Dynamic content in the subject line

Addressing by name in subject lines sets your email apart from tons of other emails in users’ Inboxes.

Probably, because it prompts a recipient that the offer will be personalized too.

Interesting stats:

Proven — personalized subject lines increase OR by 26%. 

You can create this type of content with your ESP and Stripo.

So, how to embed this type of dynamic content in emails?

• you need to get the merge tag that is used by your ESP — copy the one that you applied to email copy — see paragraph above;

• open the settings panel above the template;

• paste the copied merge tag in the “Email subject” field and enter the rest of your subject line text.

Please be advised that every ESP uses its own merge tags. They are not universal and are applicable to a particular ESP only.

Adding this dynamic content in emails will take you approximately:

2 minutes!

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2. Dynamic emails with personalized imagery

As Dale Carnegie said, there’s nothing more pleasant to a person than his or her name.

Personalized imagery creates a sense of close and trustworthy relations. 

Interesting stats:

Addressing by names in imagery has no direct impact on your CTOR. Though, helps you build stronger relations with customers.

You can create this type of content with NiftyImages and add to your Stripo templates.

So, how to embed this dynamic content in emails?

NiftyImages offers over 100 such dynamic email templates. 

• pick the one that fits the goal of your email campaign best;

• set a default value — in case your recipient has not shared his or her name;

• сlick “Save” and enter the file name; 

• preview your image. Here you need to either click the “Random Name” button or enter yours in the appropriate field;

• if you like what you see, click the “Using your NiftyImage” tab;

• copy the embed code;

• open your email template in Stripo;

• drag the basic “HTML” block into this template;

• double click it to open code editor;

• paste the embed code;

• done!

Adding this dynamic content in emails will take you approximately:

Less than 10 minutes!

3. Dynamic emails with countdown timers

Countdown timers are widely used in promo emails to inform customers about how soon a certain sale will end, in event reminder emails — to inform attendees how soon a certain event will start.

Interesting stats:

Countdown timers in email increase revenue by 9%.

So, how to embed this type of dynamic content in emails?

You can build a dynamic email content of this kind either with Stripo or NiftyImages.

To build a timer with Stirpo, you need to:

• drag the basic “timer block” in your email template;

• set a necessary time zone;

• specify the day when your offer expires;

• work on the countdown timer design: set colors, fonts, pick “separators”, etc. 

Important to note:

It is up to you to decide what your subscribers will see when the sale ends — “zeros” or a thematic image, like the one below by McDonald's.

You can upload any image you like. 

For more details on how to build and design a countdown with Stripo please refer to our blog post “Add a countdown timer in your email”. Here you will also find the details on how to set the “Expired timer” image.

Adding this dynamic content in emails will take you approximately:

10 minutes!

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If you decide to build a countdown timer with NiftyImages, you will need to embed it in Stirpo dynamic email templates the way we showed in the “How to embed Personalized imagery” paragraph.

Adding this dynamic content in emails will take you approximately:

7 minutes to design and 3 minutes to embed in Stripo.

4. Dynamic emails with live social feeds

Social feeds embedded into a dynamic email get updated every few minutes. This way you show the most recent posts from Pinterest or Instagram in your emails.

This is a perfect solution for bloggers. You can also use it in promo emails in the “Newest products” or “Follow us on…” section.

Interesting stats:

65% of email marketers claim that real-time content is the most effective personalization tactic.

It also improves the virality as users are 3 times more likely to share your content via any social media platform rather than via email.

So, how to embed this type of dynamic content in emails?

You can build it with NiftyImages only.

For the manual, I picked Instagram. But if you choose Pinterest — steps will be the same.

• enter the name of your brand in the “search field”;

• select the number of rows and columns — the number of posts that will be displayed in your dynamic emails;

• in the top-right corner, click “save”;

• copy the embed code;

• open your Stripo email template;

• drag the basic HTML block in it;

• double click to open the code editor;

• paste the embed code;

• click this dynamic content in the template to activate its settings;

• in the settings panel, set the width: 560 px to make the Feeds match the width of your entire email;

• done.

Adding this dynamic content in emails will take you approximately:

5 minutes to design and 4 minutes to embed in Stripo.

Important to note:

As long as this is a dynamic content that gets updated automatically, you do not need to change the link from email to email.

This means you can save the entire content module to your personal library for further use. 

We just showed what types of dynamic emails you can build on your own in under 10 minutes.

Now we are about to highlight what types of dynamic emails are mandatory and how to build them with the help of your developers.

But those will be the real-time elements that you are welcome to use across multiple campaigns.

5. Dynamic emails with RSS Feeds

In fact, RSS is a technology that allows providing users with updated content.

In email marketing, we use it in digest newsletters or welcome series. 

Interesting stats:

The RSS technology saves hours on email production for you.

You craft an email just once — and use in all digest newsletters.

When you are done designing your RSS email, you just save it to your personal content library with Stripo. When starting a new campaign, you just update the head or banner of your email. And the RSS part goes unchanged as its content gets updated every time when the content on your site has been updated.

So, how to embed this type of dynamic content in emails?

In fact, there’s nothing to embed. As Stripo offers a ready-to-use email template.

You will only need to redesign it.

Yet, your tech team will need to create a JSON file similar to this one and set the CORS policy on your website.

Contact our tech support team if any question occurs.

Please be advised:

the aforementioned Stripo dynamic template contains the AMP HTML code. But it already has a fallback for those users whose email clients do not support AMP. Though, you will need to update the links to the blog manually.

You can leave the design that we offer, redesign it — i.e. you can totally customize it down according to your campaign needs.

Use this template

6. Dynamic emails with real-time data source images

The term “real-time” speaks for itself. It delivers the content that gets updated in users’ inboxes every time it gets updated on your side or upon any other activity.

You could use it, for instance, as the weather forecast in promo and booking confirmation emails in the hospitality and tourism industry. 

You can use it in eCommerce promo emails for building personalized offers based on geolocation. 

You can also build abandoned cart emails. 

Interesting stats:

Those email marketers who created dynamic emails based on users’ geolocation and previous purchases claim that CTOR increased by 29%.

Abandoned cart emails win back over 67% of users.

So, how to embed this type of dynamic content in emails?

You can build this type of content with NiftyImages by working with API. You may also contact your ESP for building this type of email.

When building these emails with your ESP, you will need to design a proper email template on your own or use any of ours, then just specify what part of the email body will dynamic and which ones remain static.

Of course, you build them just once for multiple campaigns.

Final words

What is a dynamic email? The best friend of an email marketer. Use dynamic content to personalize emails by geolocation, to be polite by addressing by name, to send offers based on the preferences of each individual user.

It has a positive impact on conversion and overall ROI.

Most of them are built easily in under 10 minutes.

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