Found a neat little personalisation hack thanks to Andrew King from EmailLove (check ‘em out if you haven’t—it’s like Really Good Emails but with extra charm).
Here’s the problem: you’ve got subscribers whose first names you don’t know. Normally, you’d just slap in a generic “Hey there” or “Hi friend” and call it a day.
But Andrew’s idea? Way cheekier.
Instead of hiding it, *highlight* it.
Use something like “Hey Billy No-Name” or “First Name Goes Here” and link it straight to their preference centre.
Why? Cos it’s playful, obvious, and nudges them to fill in the blanks.
Here’s how to do it in Klaviyo (though the logic works elsewhere too):
- Set up a conditional block.
- If you *have* their first name, show “Hey [First Name].”
- If you *don’t*, hit ‘em with the “Hey Billy No-Name (click to edit).”
- Link that text to the preference centre using the platform’s shortcode—don’t just paste the URL.
Simple. Effective. A bit cheeky.
I’m testing this in my next newsletter. Might even go full “Billy No-Name” for laughs.
Would you try it? Or got a better fallback? Let me know. 👀
(And yes, this is me resisting the urge to overcomplicate things. Pinky promise.)
