Dynamic Content

Email Marketing

Also: personalised content · adaptive content

What it isContent that changes based on user data

Common inEmail, website personalisation, ads

Impact2-5x engagement lift vs static content

Quick definition

Content that changes automatically based on who is viewing it. In email, dynamic content shows different images, text or offers based on subscriber attributes. On websites, it personalises the experience based on visitor behaviour, location or profile.

Where it shows up in the data

Merge tags / personalisation tokens

The simplest form of dynamic content — inserting a subscriber's name, company or other attribute into email text. {{first_name}} syntax is standard across email platforms. Basic but effective.

Conditional content blocks

Showing different content sections to different audience segments based on rules. If subscriber.gender = female show product block A, else show product block B. Available in Klaviyo, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Campaign Monitor.

Behavioural triggers

Content that changes based on what a user has previously done — browse abandonment, recent purchase, loyalty tier, geographic location. Requires integration between CRM/ecommerce data and your email or web platform.

Website personalisation

Showing different homepage banners, CTAs or product recommendations based on visitor segment. Requires a personalisation platform (Optimizely, Mutiny, or native tools in HubSpot) and sufficient traffic to segment meaningfully.

What it actually means

Dynamic content is the operational execution of personalisation at scale. Instead of creating 10 different email campaigns for 10 segments, you create one email template where the content blocks change automatically based on subscriber data. The subscriber in Melbourne who purchased shoes last month sees different recommended products than the subscriber in Brisbane who has never purchased. The template is the same; the content is personalised. This is why Klaviyo, Salesforce and HubSpot have become standard — they make this technically feasible for mid-market businesses.

Dynamic content is not personalisation for its own sake. It is showing people what is relevant to them instead of making them sift through what isn't.

How it shows up

Dynamic content is implemented through your email service provider's template editor (Klaviyo, Campaign Monitor, Mailchimp, HubSpot all support conditional blocks). Website dynamic content requires either a personalisation platform or custom development. Measure effectiveness through A/B tests comparing personalised vs generic versions of the same email.

The Australian context

Australian geographic diversity creates natural dynamic content opportunities — seasonal variation across states, state-specific promotions, and city versus regional targeting. Klaviyo is the dominant ESP for AU ecommerce businesses with dynamic content needs. GDPR and Privacy Act requirements mean dynamic content decisions made on personal data must be within the scope of consent given.

Where people get this wrong

Implementing dynamic content before cleaning dataDynamic content that shows a subscriber's name but gets it wrong (from bad import data) is worse than no personalisation. Clean and standardise your contact data before activating merge tags.

Over-personalising to the point of surveillanceReferences to very specific browsing behaviour ('We noticed you looked at this product three times') can feel intrusive. Dynamic content should feel helpful and relevant, not tracked.

Not testing the default/fallback contentWhen a subscriber does not match any condition, the fallback content fires. If the fallback is empty or generic to the point of being irrelevant, part of your list sees broken or poor emails.

Common questions

What email platforms support dynamic content?

Klaviyo, HubSpot, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Campaign Monitor and Mailchimp (to varying degrees) all support conditional content blocks. Klaviyo is generally the most capable for ecommerce dynamic content given its deep Shopify and WooCommerce integrations and visual conditional logic editor.

What is the simplest dynamic content to start with?

Start with first name personalisation in subject lines (adds 10-15% open rate lift), then location-based content for geographic relevance, then purchase-history based product recommendations. These three cover 80% of the dynamic content opportunity with relatively simple data requirements.

Keep exploring

About New Rebellion

New Rebellion is a marketing intelligence consultancy. We build tools, score Australian businesses on how their marketing actually performs, and publish Debrief every day. This dictionary is part of how we work in the open.

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