A premium homewares brand built on craftsmanship, design, and customer trust

Wallace Cotton is a New Zealand lifestyle and homeware brand known for its approach to everyday living – blending timeless design, natural fabrics and effortless luxury across premium bed linen, home textiles and sleepwear.

Founded in 2005, the brand has built a loyal following through its considered aesthetic, quality craftsmanship and commitment to creating pieces that feel as beautiful as they are lived in. With a strong retail footprint across New Zealand and a rapidly growing ecommerce presence, Wallace Cotton continues to cultivate long-term relationships with more than 95,000 customers who value comfort, style and thoughtful design.

A Dotdigital customer since 2023, Wallace Cotton expanded its partnership in 2025 with the addition of Dotdigital Personalization, helping translate the same curated, on-brand experience customers love in-store into every touchpoint of the online journey.

Translating a premium brand promise into an efficient website experience, without resorting to discounts

Wallace Cotton has built its reputation on thoughtful design, premium quality, and timeless homewares. Customers come to the brand expecting a considered, considered, on-brand experience – one that reflects the care and craftsmanship behind every product. However, this premium positioning was not fully carried through to the website experience.

Without website personalization, every customer was met with the same generic journey, regardless of browsing behaviour, preferences, or purchase intent. This limited Wallace Cotton’s ability to guide customers toward relevant products, curate meaningful experiences, or increase average order value in a way that felt natural and on-brand.

Compounding the challenge, revenue growth could not rely on traditional retail levers like discounting. Protecting price integrity was critical to maintaining the brand’s premium perception, leaving little room to drive performance through promotional tactics without risking long-term brand value.

Turning the mini cart into a personalized styling experience with Dotdigital Personalization SmartBlocks

To create a brand world that communicated the premium brand promise and aligned it with the website shopping experience, Wallace Cotton partnered with Dotdigital Personalization to introduce website personalization – starting with a strategic focus on the mini cart.

In 2024, the team was first introduced to Dotdigital Personalization at a Dotdigital Masterclass in New Zealand. They were a perfect candidate – with Dotdigital already directly integrated, and a tech stack spanning Shopify & OnTempo, the decision was straightforward: one connected platform that could power email, SMS and website personalization without adding integration overheads. Dotdigital stood out in the selection process, offering a frictionless direct integration between 2 platforms.

The experience uses real-time behavioural data (e.g. products viewed, items added to cart, and previous browsing patterns) to intelligently recommend complementary and higher-value items aligned with each shopper’s interests.

The real time personalization opportunity allowed Wallace Cotton to move beyond a one-size-fits-all approach and instead guide customers toward thoughtfully curated product combinations – such as coordinating bedding, cushions, and accessories – that felt natural, considered, and true to the brand.

The mini cart became more than a transactional touchpoint; it evolved into a personalized styling moment that reflected Wallace Cotton’s attention to detail, craftsmanship, and customer-first philosophy.

Importantly, this level of personalization delighted their audience, allowing Wallace Cotton to increase average order value and drive incremental revenue. Rather than incentivizing customers with discounts, the brand used relevance and inspiration as its primary growth lever – reinforcing its premium positioning while delivering measurable commercial impact.

Dotdigital Personalization, has helped us create more personalized recommendations and experiences that resonate with our customers. We’re already seeing the value of using our customer insights in a more considered way, and with a strong roadmap ahead, it feels like we’re only getting started.

Ben Harris – Ecommerce Manager

The results highlighted the commercial impact of relevance-led website personalization, demonstrating that meaningful revenue growth can be achieved without relying on discounting.

• Average order value 20% higher than the site-wide average
• Measurable ROI over 800% in first 6 months
• SmartBlocks contributed 6% of total website revenue

Dotdigital SmartBlocks turned website personalization into a significant performance driver. Within six months, SmartBlocks contributed 6% of total website revenue, with customers engaging in personalized content consistently achieving an average order value 20% higher than the site-wide average.

Beyond topline revenue uplift, the programme delivered a strong commercial return, achieving an estimated ~800% ROI over the measurement period, driven purely by personalized experiences rather than promotional incentives.

Crucially, these results were achieved without compromising price integrity. By focusing on thoughtful, relevant product recommendations at moments of high purchase intent, Wallace Cotton was able to grow conversion and order value while reinforcing its premium brand positioning and long-term brand value.

Multi-platform expansion of personalization

Building on its success, Wallace Cotton plans to expand personalized product recommendations across the website and into email, delivering a more cohesive end‑to‑end customer experience. Key next steps include enhancing abandoned cart and re‑engagement emails with personalized product recommendations to drive relevance, re‑engagement, and conversion.

Warners Group Publications connects people with their passions, in print, digital, live shows, audio, travel, and education, across 25 brands and more than 5 million people. Running that many brands with a lean team means constant pressure to do more without more budget, more headcount, or more hours in the day.

Ben Romaine, Marketing Manager, and Katherine Brown, Head of Marketing and Advertising for BirdGuides, opened their Dotdigital Summit session by asking the room a simple question: who in here feels time poor, under pressure, and expected to deliver more with less? Every hand went up. It set up exactly the problem they’d spent the last year solving. Not by doing more, but by finally using the data they already had.

The same problem, showing up twice

For years, Warners Group leaned on paid advertising to reach interest-based audiences, and it worked, but it wasn’t cheap or precise. “Historically we’ve been paying a premium across paid advertising channels to reach those interest-based audiences,” Ben explained, “mainly because we have no control over these audiences.”

Meanwhile, the data that could have fixed this was sitting right there, just disconnected from anything useful. The shows team had rich purchase data from ticket sales running through Eventbrite. BirdGuides had web behavior data clearly showing which visitors were spending time in its most valuable membership-gated feature. In both cases, the signal existed but nobody was acting on it.

“We had the data but we weren’t using it where it mattered most,” Ben said of the shows business. Katherine put the BirdGuides version of the same problem more bluntly: “We had the data and an opportunity to convert, but we just weren’t doing it.”

Building one connected data foundation

The fix started the same way in both cases: making Dotdigital the central hub for customer data rather than a bolt-on email tool. For the shows team, that meant syncing Eventbrite ticket sales so every purchase became order insight against the customer record, then layering in subscription, membership, and ecommerce data on top. The result was what Ben called “a rich profile of that user,” a genuinely holistic view instead of scattered fragments.

From there, the real shift was exporting those segments straight into Google and Meta instead of keeping them siloed in email. Past show attendees got excluded from campaigns advertising that same show. High-value segments got prioritized for spend. Email and paid social stopped being two separate channels and became one connected story, powered by the same first-party data.

“So why guess when the data is already telling us who matters?” Ben asked the room. That line is the whole session in one sentence, and the shows team’s numbers back it up: total ticket purchases up 56% year over year, return on ad spend more than doubled, and cost per purchase down roughly 7%.

We stopped guessing and started letting Dotdigital tell us exactly who mattered. Ticket sales, membership conversions, ad spend, all of it got sharper the moment we connected the data properly.

Ben Romaine, Warners Group Publications

Turning intent into memberships

BirdGuides took the same foundation and pointed it at a more specific problem: converting the anonymous intent from those sightings-page visits into paying members. The team built an automation that enrolled those visitors, minus existing members, into a series designed to educate first and sell second, then extended the same segments into paid social so the message followed people across channels, not just their inbox.

For the free trial specifically, sign-up stayed deliberately frictionless, just an email and a phone number, and they ran a 54-day, seven-email journey using Dotdigital. The tone shifts on purpose as the trial progresses. No mention of pricing in the early welcome emails. A soft upsell once a week remains. A clear reminder of what’s about to disappear once the trial ends.

“It works because it’s simple, it works because it’s replicable, and it works because it’s proof.”
Katherine Brown Head of Marketing and Advertising, BirdGuides

The program converted at 12.3%, against an industry standard of 5 to 10%, and generated £10,000 in revenue in year one. Two emails alone, the seven-days-to-go message and the expiry-date message, accounted for 68% of that total. A related automation targeting high-intent, non-member visitors added another £6,000 in direct revenue on its own, converting 70 new memberships at an average value of £82 each, with lifetime value still to come on top.

Backing instinct with proof

Both teams tested their way to certainty rather than relying on gut instinct. When BirdGuides A/B tested send day, midweek against weekend, weekends won clearly. “Rather than relying on our gut,” Ben noted, they had the data to support the call instead of just a hunch about what people do on their days off.

Looking ahead

Warners Group has recently onboarded Dotdigital’s Personalization, and because the business is fundamentally about content, that means recommending the right article, video, or podcast to the right reader, not just the right product. The next step is extending the shows team’s Meta and Google integration into the BirdGuides free trial programme, so every touchpoint tells the same story no matter where a customer encounters the brand.

“Get the fundamentals right,” Ben told the room. “Good use of data beats complicated automation.” For Warners Group, that’s meant one platform, one connected data foundation, and two very different problems solved the same way.

Sky-high ticket prices, questions around accessibility, and growing frustration from fans in host cities have all added a layer of tension around the event. Even before a ball is kicked, there’s already a sense that this World Cup feels different. And for marketers, that creates an interesting dynamic.

On the one hand, you’ve got one of the biggest global sporting events in the calendar, with unmatched reach and attention. On the other hand, you’ve got a more divided audience, where enthusiasm, access, and sentiment won’t look the same everywhere.

In this guide, we’ve rounded up the types of campaign moments you can build around events like the FIFA World Cup, and how to turn that shared attention into something more useful for your marketing.

When is the 2026 FIFA World Cup?

The World Cup kicks off on June 11 2026, and runs through to July, with the final taking place on July 19 2026. So, that’s just over a month of near-constant global attention.

It’s also the first tournament to be hosted across three countries, which are the United States, Canada, and Mexico. That means multiple time zones, varied audience behavior, and match times that won’t look the same for everyone on your list.

What the stats say ahead of the FIFA World Cup

The World Cup is one of the biggest cultural moments with worldwide attention that happens every four years, and for marketers, it’s a great opportunity to get involved in, no matter what industry you’re in.

The 2026 tournament is expected to break global viewership records. But with many matches kicking off late in the evenings and in the early hours due to time zone differences, a huge chunk of fans will be watching from home rather than heading out. 

Consumer data from the Paris 2024 Olympics already points to a growing preference for at-home viewing, with electrical goods and appliance revenue rising 44%, which outpaced sports equipment, so expect that same energy this summer.

But sales uplift goes beyond screens and sofas. During the Women’s EURO 2025, categories like children’s and fashion and footwear outperformed expectations too, with revenue rising 54% and 26% respectively, proof that fans buy into the whole experience.

The opportunity here is broad. Wherever your audience is, they’re engaged, and they’re spending.

Why the FIFA World Cup still matters for marketers

The World Cup is one of those rare moments where audiences behave differently.

People aren’t half-watching or casually scrolling in the background. They’re fully in it. Watching live, reacting instantly, and talking about what’s happening as it unfolds.

For marketers, that creates a good opportunity to connect. With matches taking place during the summer holiday season,  people will be travelling, switching off, watching in groups, and engaging in different ways than they would during a typical working week.

Now, of course, this is an international footballing (soccer) event. But the marketing opportunity isn’t really about the football itself. It’s more about timing, context, and knowing when your audience is actually paying attention.

The thing is, brands that do this well aren’t trying to dominate the conversation. They’re simply showing up in the right moments, in a way that feels natural to what’s already happening.

10 World Cup marketing ideas

You might be wondering where your brand fits into all of this, especially if you’re not in sport, retail, or hospitality. The thing is, many brands have a reason to show up; it just takes a bit of creative thinking to find it.

That said, big global tournaments like this come with their own sensitivities too because not every audience will feel the same level of excitement, and not every brand should suddenly pivot to full football mode. The key is finding a genuine reason to join the moment, one that feels natural for your brand and relevant to your audience.

With that in mind, here are ten World Cup marketing ideas you can use and adapt.

1. Cross-channel moments that feel connected

Cross-channel marketing is an important strategy to use all year-round. But during high-energy events like the World Cup, this strategy becomes more important.

People are constantly switching between devices and channels, taking action like checking their inbox before kick-off, scrolling social during the match, and opening an SMS once the final whistle blows. That’s why consistency across channels matters in moments like this. 

An example of this is a match-day campaign that follows the same thread across email, SMS, and mobile.

1. You might start with an email ahead of kickoff, highlighting a time-sensitive offer or piece of content tied to the match
2. As kickoff approaches, an SMS reminder adds urgency or reinforces the message
3. Then, during or after the match, a follow-up message reflects the outcome or keeps momentum going with a relevant next step

The same applies to mobile experiences. During moments where attention is high, most audience engagement will happen on their phone, which means:

• An email needs to be easy to act on quickly
• Landing pages need to load fast
• Mobile-first channels like SMS and WhatsApp are worth leaning into
• Any next step should feel effortless

2. Not every World Cup campaign needs to be about selling

Some of the most effective marketing content comes from responding to what people are already engaging with in real time.

Adidas did this well on Instagram by leaning into the lighter side of football fandom. They shared multiple images of dogs dressed in different national football shirts, which ties back to the teams competing in the tournament.

It works because not only is it timely and simple, but it doesn’t push a product or a hard message. Instead, it taps into something people are already doing during events like this, following teams, backing countries, and sharing the fun side of it with others.

It’s also clever marketing from Adidas because the campaign involves dogs. Now, not everyone is a dog person (we don’t make the rules), but it’s hard to scroll past a Shiba Inu in a Japan shirt without at least cracking a smile. 

3. How B2B marketers can show up during the World Cup

If you’re a B2B marketer, the World Cup still offers opportunities to show up in a relevant way without needing to be overly promotional.

Lenovo does this well on its website, using a football scenario as the backdrop, but shifting the focus back to business. The message is aimed at decision makers, encouraging them to explore Lenovo’s products, services, and solutions.

What makes this work is how the visual is eye-catching and relevant, but the message doesn’t lose sight of the audience it’s speaking to.

That said, B2B marketers don’t need to limit their World Cup marketing to their website or core campaign pages. There’s value in taking the same idea and extending it into other channels where attention is already happening.

For example, this same creative approach could be adapted for things like social ads, email campaigns, or even LinkedIn content, using the World Cup as a visual hook while tailoring the message for each channel. 

4. How search trends can shape your World Cup campaigns

Understanding what people are searching for can be a helpful starting point when creating your World Cup campaigns. Search data gives you a real-time view of people’s intent, like:

• What they care about
• What they’re planning for
• How their behavior is shifting as the tournament gets closer

A good example of this comes from Semrush. In the lead-up to the World Cup, they took their search trend data and turned it into a blog-style report, highlighting what people were actively searching for, like travel queries, interest in host locations, and event-related planning. 

They then used those findings across their social channels to spark conversation and share timely, relevant content with their audience.

If you know what people are starting to look for, whether that’s travel plans, viewing options, or even general curiosity around teams and locations, you can start shaping your messaging or content earlier, rather than reacting once the conversation is already in full flow.

5. Using the World Cup for purpose-led campaigns

For not-for-profits and charities, the World Cup can be a great way to reach people in a more relatable, human way, especially when you connect it to something people are already talking about.

Cancer Research UK’s Football Shirt Friday campaign is a good example of this. Their social content uses a light, familiar tone to draw people in, with messaging like:

“Not another WhatsApp group… Well, maybe just one more for Football Shirt Friday.” 

From there, it quickly moves into highlighting a clear purpose, which is about raising awareness of the symptoms of bowel cancer and encouraging people to take part by wearing a football shirt and sharing key information.

What makes this effective is how accessible it feels. It doesn’t rely on formal messaging. It uses football and group chats to make the campaign feel easy to join and share.

So, for charities and not-for-profits, you don’t need to reinvent your messaging for events like the World Cup. Instead, look for simple cultural hooks that lower the barrier to engagement, then clearly connect them back to your purpose.

6. Know when to show up (and when not to)

Not every audience will want to see or engage with World Cup content, and that’s fine. The key is understanding where it adds value, and where it doesn’t.

Research from Marketing Week found that around half of UK adults respect brands speaking out about issues surrounding the World Cup. And research into brand loyalty shows that many consumers now expect brands to stand for something and reflect their values, not just their products.

That said, not every audience is looking for the same thing. Some are engaged in the tournament itself, following matches closely, and are open to brands reflecting that energy. Others are more interested in travel, shopping, or simply tuning out of the noise altogether during a busy seasonal period.

This is where your own customer insight becomes important for your campaigns. Things like engagement data, purchase behavior, and channel preferences will give you a much clearer picture of what people actually want to hear from you, and when.

7. Turn the unexpected into marketing opportunities

One of the most exciting things about the World Cup is its unpredictability. 

Using the moments nobody expects is a fun way to engage with your customers when the world goes football mad. 

We’ve seen this work well before. During the 2018 World Cup, Iceland Foods leaned into one of the biggest early surprises of the tournament when Iceland drew with Argentina in their opening match. 

Instead of ignoring it, they responded quickly and tied their messaging into the moment, joining the conversation while it was happening rather than trying to force attention.

It’s a good reminder that during events like this, you don’t always need to plan every detail. Sometimes the strongest campaigns come from how quickly and naturally you respond when the moment lands.

8. Using social giveaways to join the football conversation

One of the easiest ways to show up during the World Cup is through things like giveaways and competitions. They don’t need to be complex, and they don’t need to feel overly polished to work either.

A good example of this comes from Currys. Ahead of the tournament, they used their social channels to run a World Cup-themed giveaway, offering prizes like smart TVs, soundbars, and streaming sticks, and encouraging people to share which team they were backing before the action began.

What makes this work is timing and relevance. It builds anticipation early when people are already starting to think about how they’ll watch, who they’ll support, and what they’ll need ready for kickoff.

It’s also a format that works well across industries, and you don’t need to be a sports brand to take part. You just need a clear hook that connects what you offer to what people are already getting ready for as the tournament approaches.

9. Remember to stay onside with FIFA’s rules

Before you get too deep into World Cup campaign ideas, it’s worth knowing how FIFA protects its official branding during the tournament. There are restrictions around using “official marks”, including things like the:

• Tournament emblem
• Trophy
• Mascot

Certain “word marks” (i.e., terms) linked to the event are also protected and can’t be used in promotional activity, such as ‘FIFA World Cup’.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t reference the World Cup at all. You can, but it just means you need to be thoughtful about how you position it. So, the safest approach is to focus on the broader sporting moment rather than official terminology. Think along the lines of:

• Football language
• Match-day themes
• Fan culture

10. How brands can use interactive and user-generated content

One of the more engaging ways to tap into the World Cup is by borrowing from the structure of the tournament itself. Things like knockout stages and “who wins” style formats are the type of content that encourages participation rather than passive scrolling.

Dunkin’ Donuts did this well by creating a tournament-style format featuring their coffee products, set up like a mini tournament. Items went head-to-head through quarter-finals, semi-finals, and a final, with audiences encouraged to engage and follow along as the “winner” was crowned.

For marketers, creating this sense of engagement can be as straightforward as taking a format people already know from the World Cup and applying it to your own world, whether that’s products, services, or even customer stories.

Your World Cup email playbook

So you’ve got the inspiration. Now let’s look at making it land. Email is one of the most powerful tools you have during events like this, so here’s what you can focus on.

World Cup email subject lines and examples:

It’s easy to default to generic phrases or overuse football references. The better approach is to think about what you’re trying to trigger.  So, before jumping into some examples, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Keep it timely. Tie your message to real fixtures, stages, or countdown moments
• Don’t force football language if it doesn’t fit your brand
• Be careful with protected terms and official wording from FIFA
• Make sure the subject line reflects what’s actually inside the email
• Test variations. Tournament moments move fast, and audience response can shift just as quickly

Below are subject line examples you can adapt depending on your campaign goal.

Urgency-led subject lines

These work well around match days, knockout stages, or limited-time offers:

• Last chance before kick-off
• 24 hours to score your offer
• Final whistle on this deal
• Don’t miss out before the semi-finals
• Your match-day offer ends tonight

Personalization-led subject lines

These are useful if you know the location, preferences, or purchase history

• Ready for match day, {First name}?
• Supporting {Team}? We’ve got something for you
• Your World Cup watch list, {First name}
• {City}, are you ready?
• Picks based on what you love

Emoji-led subject lines

While emojis can add energy and fun, they should be used in small amounts:

• It’s match day
• Big game energy
• Your team needs you
• The countdown is on
• Ready for kick-off?

Mixed approach subject lines

These combine urgency, personalization, and tone:

• {First name}, your match-day offer ends at 8pm
• Supporting {Team}? Don’t miss this
• Semi-finals tonight. Your deal won’t wait
• Big game. Bigger savings
• Your World Cup picks are live

How to write your World Cup email copy

When it comes to World Cup campaigns, your email copy needs to balance energy and clarity. You want to tap into the excitement of the tournament, without losing sight of your offer or overwhelming readers with your messaging.

Setting the right tone

Energetic:

Reflect the momentum of the tournament. Short sentences. Clear hooks. Tie your message to a specific stage, match, or countdown moment.

Relevant:

Make the connection between the World Cup and your product or service obvious. Don’t force football language if it doesn’t naturally fit.

Inclusive:

Not everyone is a superfan. Keep the messaging broad enough that casual viewers still feel included.

Here are examples of email copy you can adapt:

Match-day themed:

“The knockout stages are here. Whether you’re hosting friends or watching from the sofa, we’ve got everything you need for match day.”

Countdown-led:

“The final is just days away. Get ready before kick-off.”

Offer-led:

“Big games deserve big upgrades. Save on everything you need before the next whistle blows.”

B2B angle:

“While teams compete for the trophy, make sure your business stays ahead of the competition. Explore solutions built for peak performance.”

Community-led:

“Who are you backing in this tournament? Join the conversation on our social channels”.

Writing CTAs that drive clicks

Your call to action should feel like a natural extension of your campaign, so keep them:

• Action-focused: “Shop match-day essentials,” “Upgrade before kick-off,” “Explore the collection”
• Timely: “Get it before the semi-finals,” or “Secure yours before Sunday”
• Clear: Avoid vague phrases. Tell people exactly what happens next
• Visible: Make sure your primary CTA stands out and is easy to tap on mobile

World Cup email design tips

Good design helps your email capture attention and make it easy for your audience to act. So, during a high-energy event like the World Cup, your visuals should feel exciting.

Here are some practical ways to approach it:

Choose visuals that feel real for your audience

It’s easy to default to visuals like football pitches, giant footballs, and bold green backgrounds, but that won’t work for every brand.

Instead, try:

• Using subtle nods like scorelines, countdown timers, or bracket graphics
• Layering in team colors carefully so they still align with your brand palette
• Focusing on product-in-use shots that feel connected to match day, whether that’s hosting, travelling, or working

Design mobile-first

Big sporting events usually mean people are watching matches and scrolling at the same time. For instance, if someone opens your email during halftime, they should be able to understand the message in seconds.

Make it easy to engage subscribers by:

• Using single-column layouts
• Keeping copy tight and scannable
• Making buttons large enough to tap easily
• Avoiding heavy image files that slow load time

Use familiar tournament formats

The tournament format itself, like the Dunkin’ Donuts example above, already gives you ready-made design ideas.

You can experiment with things like:

• Bracket-style layouts to showcase products or services
• Countdown banners to kick-off times
• “Head-to-head” blocks comparing options
• Score-style graphics to highlight stats or benefits

Let imagery support the message

Football visuals should support your offer. So, if you’re referencing a match or tournament stage, make sure the copy clearly connects it back to your product or campaign. You want to avoid decorative imagery that doesn’t reinforce your call to action.

Accessible email design checklist

The World Cup may be fast-paced, but your emails should always be easy to navigate, readable, and accessible for everyone.

Here’s a few things to remember:

• Add alt text to every image so screen readers can describe your visuals.
• Use high-contrast text to keep it readable on all devices.
• Write descriptive link text rather than “click here.”
• Follow a clear heading structure to support accessibility.
• Don’t rely on colour alone to communicate meaning, especially in countdowns or urgency messaging.

Building your World Cup marketing campaign

A week-by-week timeline can make it easier to plan your campaigns and promotions without scrambling once the tournament kicks off.

Here’s how you might structure it:

6-8 weeks before kickoff

This is your thinking time. Decide how big a role the World Cup will play in your calendar, which audiences or markets matter most, and what angles might work for your brand. No pressure to have all the answers yet, but it’s a start in getting the foundations in place.

4-6 weeks before

Lock in your creative direction, confirm your assets, and define your audience segments. If personalization is part of your plan, now’s the time to make sure your data is in good shape.

3-4 weeks before

Create your email templates, SMS copy, landing pages, and any dynamic content. Map out match timings if they affect your send schedule, and start testing your segmentation.

2 weeks before

Start warming your audience up with things like teaser emails, early social content, or a few hints of what’s coming that’s just enough to spark curiosity without giving the game away.

Kickoff week

Launch your core campaign, tie your messaging to the opening matches, and bring your main campaign hook to life. 

Group stage weeks

Stay responsive, but don’t overdo it because not every football match needs an email. Match-day reminders and short-term offers work well here, so just focus on the moments that genuinely matter to your audience. 

Knockout stages

At this stage of the tournament, the stakes are higher and so is the attention. Lean into the tension and excitement with time-sensitive campaigns and urgent messaging.

Final week

Close the campaign strong with either one last push on an offer, a celebratory send (or commisterating), or a wrap-up that ties your campaign together.

Key takeaways

The World Cup is a huge global event, and a great opportunity to jump on the hype and create fun content for your own fans.

There’s plenty of space to get in on the colorful energy, the unpredictability, and the shared conversations happening around it, without losing sight of your brand or your audience. The most effective campaigns will be the ones that stay flexible and relevant, rather than trying to force it.

So test ideas, respond to what’s happening, and have a bit of fun with it.

In this article, we look at how brands using Dotdigital’s advanced personalization tools are tailoring experiences based on what people browse, buy, or leave behind. The examples touch on industries like retail, B2B, travel, and media, but the result is the same, and that is, when experiences feel relevant, people are more likely to convert.

One more thing before we get into it. Dotdigital was recently named a G2 Leader in personalization in the Summer 2026 rankings. G2 rankings are based entirely on verified customer reviews. So, the proof isn’t just in the examples below, it’s in what our customers are already saying.

1. Send abandoned cart emails that match how urgently someone needs to buy

Many brands have an abandoned cart journey in place that runs quietly in the background, doing its job. But not every abandoned cart means the same thing. For example, a sofa can wait, but a match ticket can’t. 

The challenge is that many abandoned carts treat every product the same, such as:

• Same timing
• Same message
• Same level of urgency

And your customers can feel that mismatch. Advanced personalization helps to change that. Instead of sending a generic reminder, you adjust the follow-up based on what was left behind and how time-sensitive it is. 

How Cardiff City FC applied it

Cardiff City FC’s marketing team manages tickets, merchandise, hospitality, and memberships. The team found that fans were regularly abandoning carts before completing a purchase. For ticketing, that’s a different kind of problem than it is for an industry like retail because once kickoff passes, those tickets are gone.

Using Dotdigital’s advanced personalization tools, the team built a two-phase cart abandonment program:

• The first email lands within 30 minutes, showing the fan exactly what they left behind with a direct link back to checkout

• If they still haven’t purchased after 24 hours, a second email adds urgency around the approaching match day, alongside practical support like ticket office contact details

What happened when Cardiff City FC made the shift

• Cardiff’s original target was a 2-3x return on investment (ROI) but it actually achieved a 12.5x return
• Abandoned ticket recovery doubled compared to manual follow-ups
• Fan satisfaction scores for the ticket-buying process climbed consistently to 4+ out of 5 or above

Why does this work?

The timing matches the psychology of the purchase:

• The first email catches people while intent is still high
• The second taps into the time-sensitivity of match tickets without being pushy
• The tone stays helpful and fan-friendly throughout, which matters when you’re talking to supporters

Read the Cardiff City FC case study

2. Using browse abandonment to re-engage early travel intent

Not every website visitor is about to convert. In fact, a lot of early traffic happens while customers are in research mode. This is especially true for travel brands where a typical visitor journey can spread across a couple of visits and may look a little like this:

• People browse possible destinations
• Browsers comparing hotels, prices, or activities
• Saving things for later
• Just getting a feel for what they want

The challenge is what happens after that first visit. If they’re not ready to convert, it’s easy for that intent to disappear. So, the goal is to stay relevant without being pushy until they’re ready to book.

How Blue Sea Holidays applied it

Blue Sea Holidays sees a lot of this early-stage behavior. People are browsing destinations, but they aren’t ready to book yet. 

Working with the Dotdigital professional services team, Blue Sea Holidays used advanced personalization to extend its existing abandonment program to cover destination page visitors. So, instead of only following up when someone abandons a booking, they also send reminder emails when someone shows interest in a destination.

Each email is personalized to what they viewed, with recommendations like ‘people like you browse’ and ‘people like you buy.’ They also built a three-step pre-departure email program at 28, 14, and 3 days before travel, with helpful reminders about add-ons like car hire, travel insurance, and airport parking.

What happened when Blue Sea Holidays moved beyond cart abandonment

Within the first four months, the destination browse campaign was already performing in line with their existing abandonment programs, with a 37% open rate and 32% click-through rate. Since then, the pre-departure emails have become a reliable source of additional revenue.

Why does this work?

Not every visitor is ready to buy, and that’s fine. The key is staying relevant based on what they’ve already shown interest in. If someone is researching a destination, you’re the brand they think of.

The pre-departure journey builds on the same idea, too. Once someone books, personalization continues to add value right up to the point of travel.

Read the Blue Sea Holidays case study

3. What personalization looks like when you’re a team of one (or close to it)

A common assumption about advanced personalization is that you need things like a big team, a complex setup, or constant hands-on management to make it work.

But that’s not always that case. Sometimes the most effective setups are run by small teams who have marketing tech that syncs in real time.

How Anthem Publishing applied it

Anthem Publishing runs six magazine brands with a small team, managing multiple priorities at once. Their setup shows that advanced personalization doesn’t always need a large team or a complex build.

Using Dotdigital’s advanced personalization tools, Anthem Publishing focused on building personalization that runs in the background once it’s set up. On the website, they introduced smart targeting rules for banner slots, so messaging changes depending on who’s visiting. For example:

• New visitors see “Thanks for joining us”
• Returning visitors see “Welcome back”
• Existing subscribers see “Pick up where you left off” or something about their current subscription

They also replaced their previous recommendation setup with SmartBlocks (i.e., real-time, personalized content) on article pages, showing content based on browsing behavior rather than fixed placements.

That same approach was applied to emails, too. Weekly newsletters include automated blocks showing articles and recipes each person has already shown interest in. There’s also a monthly round-up that builds personalized content carousels for engaged readers without any manual input.

What happened when Anthem Publishing focused on building personalization

• Pages per visit increased by 14%
• Personalized newsletter blocks drove 500 additional website visits per send
• The health newsletter’s automated section generates 1,000 extra clicks per send, which is a 30% lift on previous performance
• The program delivered a 5.7x ROI in its first year

Why does this work

Once the rules are in place, Dotdigital does the work. That’s what makes this model viable for a small team. The output scales without the headcount needing to. It also regularly shows content the editorial team had deprioritized, which turns out to be just as valuable as creating something new.

Read the Vegan Food & Living case study

4. Using product recommendations to increase order value in B2B journeys

B2B buyers don’t usually come in looking for just one thing. They’re trying to solve a wider need, so every purchase is part of a bigger setup. 

B2B buying journeys are often longer and more complex than standard shopping experiences. Because of this, there’s  an opportunity to increase order value through relevant add-ons and complementary products. 

But the challenge is that while customers sometimes need multiple related products, many marketing teams don’t have a way to show the right add-ons at the right moment. It usually ends up being manual, inconsistent, or based on guesswork, which means opportunities to increase order value get missed.

How Lockhart Catering Equipment applied it

Lockhart Catering Equipment supplies professional kitchens across the UK. Their customers typically need multiple related products, but with a catalog spanning thousands of items, showing the right bundle at the right moment wasn’t something the team could do manually at scale.

Using Dotdigital advanced personalization tools, the team launched AI-driven product recommendation emails based on purchase history. Instead of using generic product pushes, customers received recommendations tailored to what they had already bought, including complementary items and relevant bundles. The program runs automatically, and is triggered by behavior rather than manual sends.

What happened when Lockhart Catering Equipment made the switch

• The program generated over £50,000 in revenue within 90 days
• Delivered a 10x ROI
• Produced a 1,200% improvement in last-click attribution

Why does this work

Customers don’t always know what they’re missing until it’s shown to them. When recommendations are grounded in real purchase behavior, they feel helpful rather than promotional. Automating this means every customer gets relevant suggestions at the right moment, without relying on manual targeting or team capacity.

Read the Lockhart Catering case study

5. Turning B2C browse behavior into targeted follow-ups

When someone browses or adds products to a cart, it usually means they’re interested, but they’re just not ready to buy yet. The challenge for most teams is scale. It’s easy to miss those signals or rely on generic reminders that don’t reflect what the customer was actually looking for.

How Wurth UK applied it

Wurth UK is one of Britain’s leading suppliers of trade tools, fasteners, and workshop consumables. With tens of thousands of products and a large customer base of tradespeople and businesses, delivering a follow-up that feels personal rather than automated was the challenge.

Using advanced personalization tools alongside Dotdigital, Wurth UK built a comprehensive abandonment program covering both cart and browse behavior. Customers received personalized emails based on the exact products they had been viewing or considering.

What changes did Wurth UK see

The program generated £800,000 in revenue from abandonment campaigns and contributed to a 72.4% overall revenue increase. 

Why does this work

In B2B, people compare, review, and come back when the timing is right. When your email marketing reflects what someone has already shown interest in, you stay relevant during that decision window without the need for manual campaign management. This helps keep your brand front of mind, increasing the likelihood they return and convert when they’re ready to buy.

Read the Wurth UK case study

6. Reminding shoppers about the items they nearly bought

People don’t always leave because they’ve lost interest. Most of the time, they’re just still thinking it over. The challenge is turning that hesitation into a return visit without relying on generic reminders that don’t reflect what someone actually viewed or added to their cart.

How Harvey & Thompson applied it

Harvey & Thompson, one of the UK’s leading pawnbrokers and jewelers, had plenty of traffic coming into their online ecommerce store but weren’t converting as much as it wanted. People were browsing products, adding items to their cart, then leaving before completing the purchase.

Working with Dotdigital’s personalization tools, Harvey & Thompson built a cart abandonment program with personalized emails showing each customer the specific items they left behind.

What happened when Harvey & Thompson switched to personalized emails

The program generated £151,843 in revenue within its first 10 weeks and delivered twice the UK retail conversion rate average, which is between 1% to 4%.

Why does this work

Jewelry is rarely an impulse purchase because people come back multiple times before they commit to buying. Sending a personalized reminder that reflects the exact item they were considering brings them back at the right moment in that journey. It feels timely and relevant, rather than a broad message sent to everyone.

Read the Harvey & Thompson case study

Where to start your personalization journey

These six examples cover different industries, different channels, and different use cases, but they all point to the same thing and that is, when content feels relevant to the customer, they’re more likely to act. 

None of these brand examples needed a large team or a lengthy build. Most were up and running in weeks. If you’ve been putting off personalization because it sounds complicated, then these results are a good reason to reconsider.

Dotdigital makes this kind of personalization accessible for marketing teams of all sizes.

So, we’ve pulled together six practical ways Dotdigital customers are using AI in their campaigns, along with the outcomes they’ve seen, to give you a clearer picture of what’s working in practice.

1. Subject lines that get opened

Coming up with fresh, compelling subject lines week after week isn’t easy. Over time, it’s natural to fall back on familiar patterns like reusing similar phrases or sticking to the same formats that have worked before. The challenge is, your audience notices when subject lines start to feel similar, which can influence how they respond.

AI helps you break out of that cycle by quickly generating multiple subject line variations you can test and refine. Instead of starting from a blank page, you’re working with a range of options that you can repeat and optimize.

What happened when brands made the switch

Mountain Warehouse was stuck in exactly that cycle. The team started using Dotdigital’s AI to generate and test subject line options, and campaigns hit open rates of 50%, well above the usual baseline of around 35%. 

Rodalink Bike Store saw a 54% increase in open rates bydoing the same thing. It’s not that AI writes better subject lines than you do; it just gives you more options to test, faster, without the blank-page problem.

2. Copy that sounds like you and not like everyone else

A lot of AI-generated content sounds the same right now; the same filler phrases and the same vague enthusiasm, like:

• In today’s fast-paced world
• Game-changing
• Unlock new possibilities

If you’ve spent time building a distinctive brand voice, that can be frustrating.

Our AI tool’s new brand voice feature is designed to fix that. Train it on your guidelines, share examples of your best work, flag the words you would never use, and it writes campaigns that sound like you rather than a generic AI output. The more context you give it, the better the results.

3. Adapting your message for every channel

Managing email, SMS, and WhatsApp alongside everything else means the challenge isn’t usually having the right message. It’s having the time to adapt it properly for each channel.

Goodwood’s race against the clock to lift ticket sales

Goodwood, one of England’s greatest sporting estates, needed to drive last-minute ticket sales for its August Bank Holiday race meeting. Since SMS marketing is well-suited to urgent, time-sensitive messages, they turned to it for this campaign. With 160 characters, a tight deadline, and no margin for error, they had to create four messages, each tailored to different audiences like families, regulars, and casual racegoers.

What happened when they let AI do the heavy lifting

The team used AI to write and A/B test these SMS messages. On the day the campaign went out, Goodwood sold twice as many tickets as the previous week. They also replaced a general post-event email survey with targeted SMS feedback requests, and survey completion jumped from 10% to nearly 25%. 

See the strategy in action

4. Product recommendations that convert

Most marketing newsletters are sent to broad audiences, which means the content won’t always resonate with every recipient.

Adding tailored product or content recommendations helps make those messages more relevant and engaging, and AI can support this by helping you generate and deliver those recommendations.

Making newsletters more personal

4Cabling, an Australian D2C (direct-to-consumer) manufacturer of cabling and electrical accessories, added AI-powered “best next” product recommendations to its newsletter. Rather than having the same product lineup for everyone, each contact now sees a personalized section based on their purchase history and browsing behavior.

What happened when 4Cabling made the switch

The result was a 20% increase in revenue and a 53.6% jump in newsletter conversion rate. 4Cabling applied the same personalization logic to its abandoned cart program, which went on to drive 54% of total email revenue. It was a relatively small change to an existing program, but the numbers speak for themselves.

5. Smarter A/B testing beyond just subject lines

Most marketers test their subject lines, but few go further than that, mainly because running more tests manually just adds to the workload.

What happens when AI makes campaign testing easier

Mountain Warehouse used AI to test more than just its subject lines. The team experimented with lifestyle imagery and the order of content in emails. It’s the kind of testing that’s easy to push down the list when you’re doing everything manually, but becomes much more manageable when AI helps handle the heavy lifting.

Rodalink took a similar approach with CTAs. Based on AI’s suggestions, the team tested “Check Service Fee” against other options and found it drove a 60% click-through rate, well above industry benchmarks. 

Get the full story here

6. Asking your data questions in plain English

This one is less about campaigns and more about how you interact with your data day-to-day.

Dotdigital’s MCP (Model Context Protocol) Server lets you connect external AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude directly to your account. From there, you can ask plain-language questions about your marketing data and get real answers without building reports or digging through dashboards.

For example, you might ask:

• Show me our email open rates for the past three months, broken down by week
• How does our open rate compare to the industry average in retail?

Questions like these become straightforward to answer, which frees up time to actually act on the insights. 

Build your business case for AI marketing

When you’re evaluating AI, it helps to think in terms of the outcomes it can support your marketing. From saving time to improving performance, AI can play a role across different parts of your workflow.

Save time on repetitive work

AI can help handle tasks like audience segmentation, tagging, scheduling, and reporting. This can reduce manual effort and free up time for more strategic work.

Deliver more relevant customer experiences

By analysing behavior and preferences, AI can help tailor messaging across channels like email, SMS, WhatsApp, and web. This supports more relevant recommendations and more personalized journeys.

Improve campaign performance

AI can support audience targeting, suggest optimizations, and help you test and refine campaigns over time, giving you more visibility into what’s working and where to adjust.

Make sense of your customer data

AI can highlight patterns and trends in your data, helping you understand behavior, identify opportunities, and inform future campaigns.

Support consistent cross-channel execution

AI can help align messaging and timing across channels, making it easier to keep campaigns coordinated without adding extra manual effort.

Where to start

The marketers seeing the most value from AI are using it in a few specific areas where it can make a real difference. Things like speeding up repetitive work, generating ideas they wouldn’t have time to explore manually, and testing more variations without adding extra pressure on their team.

If you’re deciding where to begin, pick one area from this list that feels most relevant to your current challenges. It could be subject lines, testing, or something like product recommendations. Start small, see what works, and build from there.

And there’s a lot worth exploring. Dotdigital was recently named a G2 Leader in 13 product categories in the latest rankings, recognized by the marketers who use the platform every day. So, we’ve rounded up Dotdigital’s top features that often fly under the radar but will help you get campaigns up and running faster.

Get campaigns out the door faster

Keep your messages sounding just like you

Generic AI copy is easy to spot, and marketers are usually the first to call it out. The good news is that Dotdigital’s AI doesn’t have to sound generic. You can train it on your brand‘s verbal identity, so it sounds authentic. All you need to do is upload your guidelines, share examples of content you’re proud of, or just answer a few questions about your writing style, and from there, it writes and checks your campaigns so they always sound like you.

For a brand with a sharp, distinct tone that’s been spending more time editing AI drafts than using them, this is a big turning point. When first drafts start sounding right, the editing gets lighter, and the content actually feels like it came from your team, helping you get campaigns ready to send faster.

Fix links after you’ve sent a campaign

Sending a campaign to thousands of people and realizing something is wrong is one of the most stressful parts of the job. Dotdigital’s link manager takes most of that stress off the table.

With Dotdigital’s link manager, you can:

• Check links before you send: catch any broken or incorrect URLs upfront
• Update links after sending: fix mistakes quietly without bothering your audience
• Keep your links accurate: like CTAs pointing to last season’s sale instead of your new collection

Edit images without leaving the platform

Chasing down a designer to make last-minute image changes can be a real roadblock when you’re trying to get a campaign out, fast. The good news is you probably don’t need to. Dotdigital’s image manager has a full editing suite built right in, so you can crop, resize, apply filters, and add text overlays yourself without leaving the platform.

It also makes it easy to apply big changes without factoring in additional admin time. For example, you can update an image’s alt text in the manager, and it carries over to every campaign where that image appears. So if you’ve used the same hero image across multiple sends, you’re not hunting them down one by one.

And finding the right image in the first place is easier than you’d think, too. The image manager uses AI to search based on what’s actually in your images and not just the file name someone gave it. Search for “Easter,” and it’ll pull up every Easter-themed image in your library, even the ones that got saved as “IMG_4823” and never renamed. So, when a last-minute seasonal campaign lands on your desk, and you need a specific shot fast, you can search by scene, find it, make your edits, and drop it straight into your campaign. 

Turn an email into an SMS in one click

Whether you’re testing SMS as a marketing channel or your boss wants an SMS version of your top-performing email by the end of the day, Dotdigital’s one-click email to SMS tool helps you get up and running faster. 

After all, starting from scratch is the last thing you need when your to-do list keeps growing. Dotdigital’s built-in AI reads your email, strips it back to what matters, and suggests SMS copy that matches your original message, all in a single click.

So, next time your Black Friday email is done and approved, and you need to build an SMS touchpoint to catch anyone who misses the email, AI is on hand to draft it in seconds. All that’s left for you to do is tweak, approve, and move on.

Personalize with confidence 

Skip the awkward merge tag fail

“Hi {First_Name}” is the kind of thing that ends up screenshotted in a very unforgiving LinkedIn post. It happens when personalization data is missing, and there’s no fallback in place. Using Dotdigital’s dynamic content blocks can safeguard your campaigns against this. By adding dynamic content blocks to host your personalized content, you can ensure customers see content when you have the data and skip it gracefully when you don’t. 

That means a repeat customer gets “Hi Jenna,” while a brand-new sign-up whose name you haven’t collected yet gets a greeting that reads just as warmly, without a broken placeholder in sight. It’s a small thing that makes a big difference to how polished your campaigns feel.

Segment without a preference center

Building a preference center takes time, and you’ll have a handful of subscribers who never fill it in anyway. But you don’t always need one to send relevant, targeted content (though, of course, it’s super useful in the long run). Dotdigital’s link groups and campaign tags let you build segments based on what people actually do, like the links they click, the campaigns they engage with, rather than waiting for them to tell you what they’re interested in.

A charity wanting to reach supporters most likely to respond to a fundraising appeal, for example, could group donation links across recent campaigns and build a segment of contacts who clicked more than once. No preference data is needed; it simply uses real subscriber behavior to help you reach the right person with the right message.

Find more customers like your best ones

When you come across a contact who represents exactly the kind of person you want more of, you don’t have to manually recreate their profile in a segment builder. You can generate a lookalike segment based on them with a single click, putting Dotdigital’s AI to work.

So, if your highest-value customer has a specific combination of purchase history, location, and engagement behavior, a segment of customers who share those attributes will be ready to use in seconds. This makes sure your high-value campaigns reach the right people every time.

Reach more people, in more places

WhatsApp: the channel your customers are already on

WhatsApp is available in Dotdigital and gives you more ways to connect with your customers than you might expect. You can reach 180 countries with rich two-way conversations and no character count restrictions, and all managed from the same place you run the rest of your marketing channels.

For brands sending time-sensitive updates, like travel companies, this makes a real difference. Booking confirmations and trip reminders land on an app customers already use every day. Response rates go up, and the volume of inbound customer service queries tends to go down as customers have immediate and easy-to-find access to the information they need. 

Two-way SMS: the conversation doesn’t have to end

Most marketers know Dotdigital does SMS. It’s a powerful channel we’ve been giving marketers since 2017. Fewer realize it goes both ways. You can view and reply to SMS responses directly inside Dotdigital, in the same place you manage your WhatsApp and chat conversations, so you’re not jumping between tools to keep track of who said what.

For example, a retailer running an SMS campaign that asks customers to reply with their nearest store for a personalized offer, that’s a meaningful difference. Instead of responses disappearing into a system nobody monitors, they land in Dotdigital alongside every other conversation. Your team can reply, route, and follow up without ever leaving the platform.

There’s a lot more where this came from

The best way to find your next favorite Dotdigital feature is to get curious and start clicking. If any of the features in this post caught your eye, your customer success manager can walk you through them, or explore the Dotdigital knowledge base to dig in yourself.

In this post, we’ll help you assess whether opt-out emails are still working for your audience, and what to do next if they are not.

Originally popularised by online florist Bloom & Wild in 2019, opt-out campaigns were widely praised as a thoughtful response to potentially sensitive occasions. They offered customers control and showed emotional awareness at a time when inbox marketing often felt one-size-fits-all.

Several years on, opt-out campaigns are now a near-standard fixture in inboxes. Holiday and occasion marketing continues to drive strong engagement, and many brands plan campaigns well in advance. For occasions like Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, there’s a whole other timing element to contend with: opt-out email campaigns.

The challenge is that when every brand adopts the same approach, the gesture can lose its impact. What once felt personal can begin to feel repetitive, and even performative.

What is an opt-out email campaign?

An opt-out campaign is an email sent ahead of a potentially sensitive occasion that allows recipients to opt out of future marketing related to that day. Most commonly, these campaigns focus on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, though Valentine’s Day opt-outs are increasingly common.

From a best practice perspective, this aligns well with preference-based marketing. Encouraging customers to share their communication preferences enables more relevant and respectful messaging.

An opt-out email campaign is typically simple in design, uses an empathetic and kind message, and includes a clear CTA that allows readers to opt out of future sends related to the occasion.

However, while the intention is positive, the sheer volume of these emails means they can unintentionally draw attention to the very occasion a customer may be trying to avoid. In some cases, they act as repeated reminders rather than a single moment of choice.

Have opt-out emails become overkill?

We first asked our LinkedIn audience for their views on opt-out campaigns in 2022, with opinions evenly split. This year, we asked again, and 61% of people voted that these campaigns are overdone. So it seems like these campaigns are getting more prevalent, and people are getting frustrated.

Beyond sentiment, timing has become a significant issue. As marketing calendars expand, opt-out campaigns can arrive weeks or even months before the relevant date.

In theory, customers who find an occasion difficult can simply step away from promotional emails closer to the time. In practice, early opt-out campaigns make that harder. Instead of avoiding reminders, customers may receive daily prompts about a sensitive occasion long before they are prepared for it.

This year, the first Mother’s Day opt-out email I received arrived more than a month before the day itself. It was unexpected, and I feel unnecessary to be sent so early on, and it set the tone for weeks of similar messages to follow.

7 ways to deliver sensitive opt-out marketing

You want to deliver relevant, personalized campaigns while still being emotionally sensitive to your audience. At the same time, many customers are clearly fatigued by opt-out emails.

The solution is not to abandon empathy, but to apply it more thoughtfully. Below are seven best practices for creating effective and empathetic opt-out marketing.

Consider whether an opt-out campaign is necessary

Before sending an opt-out email campaign, consider how much communication you are actually planning around the occasion.

If you are only sending one promotional email, an opt-out campaign may be unnecessary and may simply add to inbox noise. Opt-out emails are most valuable when customers are likely to receive multiple reminders from your brand across a short period.

Use your preference centre year-round

One of the most effective alternatives to repeated opt-out campaigns is a well-designed preference centre.

By including options for sensitive occasions as part of your standard preference management, you allow customers to make these choices on their own terms. For many people, selecting preferences during signup or via an account area feels far less emotionally charged than receiving a standalone opt-out email later.

Preference centres mean you can store these preferences permanently and apply them automatically across campaigns, reducing the need for repeated opt-out messaging year after year.

Bloom & Wild and Hotel Chocolat provide strong examples of how preference centres can be used to manage sensitive communications and topics clearly and respectfully.

How your preference center can boost deliverability

Giving your audience the chance to opt out of campaigns around certain occasions can also improve your email deliverability. When subscribers repeatedly get email campaigns they don’t find relevant, they’re more likely to mark your email as spam.

By giving your audience a clear place to let you know exactly what they do and don’t want to hear about, you’re protecting yourself from unnecessary unsubscribes and even spam complaints.

Remember these preferences

Many opt-out email campaigns link only to a single opt-out button rather than a full preference centre.

In theory, this should still capture a customer’s choice. In practice, many people find themselves opting out of the same brands year after year, suggesting those preferences are not always stored or reused effectively.

This creates unnecessary effort for your customers and introduces friction that you can easily avoid. Linking opt-out campaigns to a preference centre allows customers to manage all sensitive occasions in one place, one time, and ensures brands retain and respect those choices long term.

Include the opt-out in a broader email campaign

If you do choose to send opt-out emails, consider making them a secondary element within another email rather than the sole purpose of the message.

Emails entirely focused on opting out can feel heavier than necessary, particularly when their design closely mirrors the promotional campaigns that follow. A small block or banner can provide the same control without making the email itself emotionally charged.

Use banners thoughtfully

This approach works particularly well when integrated into broader campaigns. This example from Harvey Nichols shows how a discreet Mother’s Day opt-out banner can sit within a regular email.

The opt-out option is clearly available, but it is not the central message. This strikes a balance between visibility and restraint.

Use segmentation to deliver relevant email campaigns

For those who do opt out, use segmentation to send an alternative campaign on the day itself, with no mention of the occasion at all. Segmentation means you can make sure that any opted-out customers get a positive and relevant email campaign on the day in question and aren’t excluded.

Create inclusive campaigns for sensitive occasions

Sensitivity should not stop once an opt-out option is offered. When creating campaigns for these occasions, inclusive language can make a meaningful difference. References to mother figures, step-parents, grandparents, chosen family, or those who fill a parental role help soften the impact without detracting from the message for those without sensitivities around the day.

It is also important to remember that email is only one touchpoint. Customers cannot opt out of social media, television advertising, or in-store messaging, and not everyone who finds an occasion difficult will have opted out.

This creates an opportunity for email marketing to act as a safe space within a broader commercial environment.

A strong example comes from cookware brand Our Place, which handled Father’s Day with honesty and empathy. The campaign acknowledged the complexity of the day and included inclusive copy aimed at those who may not celebrate in traditional ways. I wouldn’t expect a huge Father’s Day focus from a cookware brand, but the leaning into the occasion and the many ways it can look for different people added a real layer of intention and stops the campaign from feeling like using a familial holiday for commercial gain.

The next stage of empathetic marketing

Seasonal and Hallmark holidays remain important commercial moments, but they are also opportunities for your brand to demonstrate empathy and emotional intelligence.

With a bit of forward planning and a considerate preference center, you can deliver sensitive campaigns (or not) without asking your customers each year. Delivering a positive experience and making your customers feel cared for has never been more important. Luckily, we do have the tools to do just that.

By moving beyond performative opt-outs and investing in smarter preference-led marketing, brands can create experiences that feel genuinely respectful and customer-first. With the right tools in place, it is entirely possible to balance commercial goals with care and consideration.

Most brands are adding someone’s first name to an email. But that doesn’t mean the message actually matters. In fact, just 23% of consumers say the marketing they receive feels relevant to them. That’s a big gap and a real opportunity.

So while emails may look personalized on the surface, they often miss the mark when it comes to timing, context, and intent.

That’s where cross-channel personalization comes in. When you connect your data across email, SMS, web, mobile, and beyond, you can move from surface-level personalization to experiences that genuinely reflect what your customers want and need.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to:

• Drive stronger engagement, conversions, and loyalty
• Turn customer data into meaningful, connected experiences
• Deliver consistent messaging across every touchpoint
• Use automation to personalize at scale

What is cross-channel personalization?

Cross-channel personalization, also known as multi-channel personalization, is more than adding a name to an email. It’s about creating a seamless, connected experience that feels relevant no matter where your customer interacts with your brand like:

• Email
• SMS
• Website
• Mobile app
• Even in-store

By using customer data and past behavior, you can deliver experiences that actually matter. That might look like:

• Recommending products based on previous purchases
• Sending promotions through the channels your customers prefer
• Offering support tailored to their past interactions

When done well, cross-channel personalization helps your brand feel smarter, more helpful, and consistently in tune with your audience.

Key strategies for effective personalization

Here’s some key strategies you can use to kick off your personalization strategy: 

Data collection

Collecting and analyzing customer data is important for understanding your audience. You can collect zero-party and first-party data to gather valuable insights directly from your customers. 

Zero-party data is information that customers voluntarily share with a brand, which can include:

• Preferences
• Interests
• Feedback

You can build trust and gather highly relevant data by proactively asking customers for their input.

Whereas, first-party data is collected from email clicks, your website, or an app. It includes information such as:

• Browsing behavior
• Purchase history
• Demographics

Implementing a simple script on your website can quickly help you to collect this data. With a solid data collection strategy in place, you can make cross-channel personalization work for your brand.

Data analysis

After collecting important data, the following step is to perform a thorough analysis. By unifying data from across your CRM, ecommerce store, automation platform, and more, you can get a clear insight into your customers’ preferences and behaviors.

The expansion of AI functionality in recent years means it’s easier than ever to analyze data and create bespoke customer experiences. You can use predictive analytics to make educated guesses about your customer behavior. 

This includes when your customers are most likely to purchase again or to identify those who are at risk of churning. This helps you to deliver timely and personalized recommendations that drive customer engagement and boost sales.

Customer segmentation and targeting

Once you have a solid understanding of your customers, it’s time to segment them into smaller, more targeted groups. A powerful method for customer segmentation is eRFM (engagement, recency, frequency, monetary) customer modeling. This method provides a comprehensive view of your customer’s value and potential.

By tailoring your messaging to specific segments, you can deliver more relevant and impactful content. For example, you might send personalized product recommendations to frequent shoppers or offer exclusive discounts to first-time buyers.

Creating a consistent brand voice

A consistent brand voice is essential for building trust and recognition. This means using the same tone, style, and language across all your marketing channels. Develop clear brand guidelines that outline your brand’s personality, values, and messaging. By using these guidelines, you can ensure that your brand’s voice is consistent and authentic, no matter the platform.

How to personalize across channels

Cross-channel personalization is all about creating a smooth and consistent experience for customers across different platforms. Here’s some effective strategies to make every interaction feel personal and customized.

Cross-channel coupons

Using cross-channel coupons is a great way to enhance engagement and drive sales at various touchpoints. Set up a unified coupon system that generates and tracks offers seamlessly across all channels.

Each coupon can be tailored to a customer’s behavior and their current stage in the buying journey. For example, a new visitor to your website might encounter a pop-up inviting them to share their email in exchange for a discount for first-time customers.

On the other hand, a returning customer could receive a targeted email featuring a different discount to encourage another purchase. If you operate a physical store, think about using QR codes to connect your physical and digital channels, making it easy for customers to redeem their coupons.

Product recommendations

Imagine walking into a store and being greeted by a sales associate who presents you with exactly what you’ve been looking for. Personalized product recommendations can replicate this experience. By analyzing user behavior across various channels, you can create a list of tailored product suggestions.

Whether customers are browsing your mobile app or checking out your website, offering them relevant items boosts the chances of conversion. The key is to keep your recommendations current and responsive to their evolving preferences and needs.

Dynamic content

Dynamic content can tailor your message based on the viewer. By updating visuals and messages in real time according to user preferences, you make sure that what you present remains relevant.

From email newsletters to website banners and app interfaces, personalized experiences can significantly boost user engagement. Dynamic content keeps the experience fresh, making customers feel that every interaction is uniquely theirs.

Recently browsed

Helping users continue from where they left off is a powerful strategy. Displaying recently browsed items across different channels serves as a convenient reminder of what caught their interest, simplifying their buying decisions.

If they checked out a new pair of sneakers on their desktop or explored some gadgets through your mobile app, showcasing these items during subsequent visits or on other platforms can gently encourage them to make a purchase.

Social proof

Including social proof into your cross-channel strategy can greatly enhance your success. That’s because 66% of customers are more likely to purchase a product when they see evidence of social proof, making it an essential tool for brands.

However, our Hitting the Mark research indicates that only 19% of brands feature user-generated content (UGC) and reviews on their home pages, while only 26% use social proof on conversion pages. Displaying reviews, ratings, and testimonials throughout all interactions with your brand helps build trust and encourages customer action.

Seeing a thumbs-up from a friend or reading a glowing customer review on an item they’ve been eyeing can significantly influence users’ purchasing decisions. Integrate these elements seamlessly into emails, apps, and websites, ensuring customers encounter positive feedback at every touchpoint.

Push notifications

Push notifications can serve as a helpful reminder that encourages browsing to turn into purchases. Customize these messages to add value, whether it’s a nudge about an abandoned cart or a special offer tailored to previous purchases.

It’s important that these notifications resonate with user interests and behaviors, ensuring that customers stay engaged without feeling bombarded. Striking the right balance is essential, so think about offering helpful updates that come across as a friendly reminder instead of unwanted spam.

Examples of successful cross-channel personalization

Let’s explore a real-world example of brands that have effectively implemented cross-channel personalization:

Blue Sea Holidays

Blue Sea Holidays optimized and automated customer engagement across email and website channels by using the combined power of Dotdigital and Fresh Relevance. The company created personalized and visually appealing emails using Dotdigital’s email builder and used Fresh Relevance’s AI-driven capabilities for dynamic content personalization.

The personalization strategy includes:

• AI-powered email recommendations: Fresh Relevance’s AI personalizes each email with specific recommendations based on the destination page the customer visited

• Seamless email delivery: Dotdigital ensures that these personalized emails are delivered efficiently while maintaining an attractive design

• Social proof: The emails incorporate valuable information such as “People like you browse” and “People like you buy,” leveraging social proof to enhance engagement and conversions

• Dynamic website content: Visitors to the Blue Sea Holidays website experience personalized content, with recommendations and offers tailored to their preferences and behavior

By implementing this cross-channel personalization approach, Blue Sea Holidays has created a cohesive and relevant experience for their customers across both email and website touchpoints. 

Choose Dotdigital as your cross-channel personalization solution

Dotdigital is the ideal choice to elevate your cross-channel personalization efforts. With a suite of powerful tools and an intuitive platform, you can deliver highly targeted and engaging customer experiences. Here’s some of the benefits:

• Comprehensive integration: Dotdigital easily integrates with various marketing tools you already use, making it a seamless addition to your existing setup. Whether it’s your CRM, ecommerce platform, or social media channels, Dotdigital connects them all, making sure that your customer data flows smoothly across different platforms

• Cross-channel capabilities: Dotdigital provides a comprehensive suite of cross-channel marketing tools under one platform, allowing you to reach customers across email, SMS, push notifications, live chat, and WhatsApp. This unified approach helps you to create consistent and personalized experiences across all customer touchpoints

• Advanced personalization: With Fresh Relevance, Dotdigital offers enhanced cross-channel personalization capabilities. This integration empowers you to drive excellent customer experiences at every point in the customer journey. You can use advanced website and email personalization tools, including countdown timers, weather tools, image personalization, and advanced product recommendations

• Intelligent automation: With Dotdigital’s powerful automation features, you can set up personalized campaigns that run like clockwork. Automate your email marketing, SMS, and more, all while maintaining a personal touch. This means less manual work for you and a consistent experience for your customers

• Data-driven insights: Dotdigital provides valuable insights into customer behavior and engagement. With detailed analytics and reporting tools, you can track your campaigns’ performance and fine-tune your strategies. More importantly, you can use this data to truly understand your audience and tailor your messaging accordingly

• Scalability: Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, Dotdigital scales with your needs. As your business grows, the platform can easily adapt, providing advanced features that support even the most complex personalization strategies.

With Dotdigital as your cross-channel personalization partner, you can effortlessly create impactful marketing campaigns that enhance engagement and deliver results across various channels.

Get started with cross-channel personalization today

Creating meaningful connections with your customers relies heavily on cross-channel personalization. By adopting effective strategies and using platforms like Dotdigital, you can create personalized experiences that resonates with people across various platforms.