Hey {{First Name}}, Anthony here from The Retention Report with an important one for DTC brands like yours who actually care about doing personalization the right way.

Most brands think they’re personalizing emails.

They’re not.

Adding {first_name} isn’t personalization.
It’s decoration.

And building some hyper-complex merge tag monster like:

“Hi {first_name} {last_name}, your favorite color is {person|lookup:'Favorite Color'}”

inside an evergreen campaign?

That just burns time.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Personalization that doesn’t change buying behavior is noise.

People don’t buy because you know their name.
They buy because they feel understood.

And most brands never give subscribers the chance to tell them who they actually are.

So instead of building email systems around intent…

They blast generic campaigns and hope something sticks.

It feels sophisticated.
It does nothing.

If your campaigns feel flat lately… this is probably why.

Let’s go back to first principles:

People buy when the message matches their problem.

Real personalization happens when a subscriber self-identifies…

…and your entire email system adapts to that identity automatically.

Different messaging.
Different flows.
Different offers.
Different timing.

No extra app.
No added cost.
No dev team.

Just one underused Klaviyo feature that quietly turns clicks into customer data.

And once that data exists?

You can:
– Split flows automatically
– Show conditional blocks inside campaigns
– Send only to the right people
– Increase revenue per send

It takes about 3 minutes to set up.

Let’s break it down.

Inside Klaviyo, you can create a link that updates a custom profile property the moment someone clicks it.

No form fill.
No extra page required.
No new tool.

Just a click.

Example:

You’re a supplement brand.

You send a campaign asking:

“What are you looking to improve?”

Each button links to a URL that updates a profile property that says the following:

Primary Goal = Sleep

Here’s what the link would look like:

{% update_property_link 'Primary_Goal' 'Sleep' 'ADD LANDING PAGE URL HERE' %}

And here’s how it will look inside Klaviyo:

The second they click?

That data is saved to their profile instantly.

Now your system understands intent.

From that moment forward:

– Sleep customers see sleep education
– Energy customers get energy testimonials
– Gut health customers see relevant bundles

Not generic messaging.

Intent-based messaging.

They create one “Sleep” email…
and send it to a tiny segment.

Reach drops.
Revenue drops.
They abandon the strategy.

Create personalization at scale by creating a template and swapping our copy + images.

- Sleep email → “Primary goal = Sleep” segment
- Energy email → “Primary goal = Energy” segment
- Gut health email → “Primary goal = Gut health” segment Same number of recipients

Same design template.
Tailored messaging.
Higher engagement.

Now THAT’S personalization.

Once someone clicks and the property updates, you can either:

Hope they understand what happened…

Or confirm it instantly with a super simple pop-up triggered by that email name.

This reduces confusion.
Prevents support tickets.
Reinforces the choice they just made.
Gives you an opportunity to up-sell then and there.

Most brands try to personalize after someone buys.

Smart brands personalize before.

This lets you:

– Build segments based on real intent
– Shorten consideration cycles
– Improve engagement (protecting deliverability)
– Increase revenue per subscriber
– Reduce wasted sends

And it’s 100% free.

You already have this inside Klaviyo.

You’re just not using it.

Not trivia.

Intent.

Think higher leverage:

– Primary goal
– Product category interest
– Pet type
– Skin concern
– Fitness level
– Budget range
– Experience level

Anything that changes buying behavior.

That’s the filter.

We documented the full process our team uses to install this for 7- and 8-figure brands:

– Building the update profile property link
– Structuring the redirect URL
– Creating the confirmation pop-up
– Targeting it correctly (this part matters most)
– Plugging it into flows + campaigns
– Avoiding subscriber confusion

If you want the exact SOP, just reply “SOP” and I’ll send it over within 24 hours.

No pitch. Just the doc.

Click HERE to send me a question, and I’ll send a reply in the next few hours.

– Anthony

P.S. If you want help applying this to your email program, you can book a call here → choose.transparentdigital.agency