Make It Personal and Make It Count
Let’s get personal, shall we? If you want prospects to notice your message, you need to get personal too.
Long before the digital age, Publisher’s Clearinghouse led the way with personalization. “Hey ANN, you may have already won some valuable prizes.” Using my name got my attention, and piquing my curiosity about the potential prizes won got me to open the envelope. (Admittedly, I never subscribed.) Of course, Publisher’s Clearinghouse had the resources to accomplish this sort of expensive marketing back when mainframes and multi-million dollar printers were needed to pull it off. Now the playing field is level.
Word processing programs allow for mail merges with a few clicks, and every email marketing interface supports personalization. In its simplest form, personalization means using your prospect’s name. Dale Carnegie espoused the importance of personalization decades ago: “Remember my name and add to my feeling of importance.” We all love the sound of our own name. In fact, studies show that response rate improves by 44%* when the salutation uses the recipient’s name as opposed to Dear Friend or Dear Valued Customer. How valued are they really, if you don’t take the time to use their name? And it’s a bit of information that you no doubt have collected in your data base. Technology has made this a no brainer.
Salutation and using your prospects’ and customers’ names throughout your marketing message is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The more data you collect, the more you can refine your message, making it personal and relevant to each recipient. When it’s personal and relevant, it’s going to get noticed. The digital age has exploded the ways with which we can approach prospects, catering to their specific interests, and technological advances have made delivering a personalized message cost-effective. You no longer need access to huge computers and multi-million-dollar printers and the deep pockets to pay for them.
The next time you send a marketing message, at the very least, use your prospects’ names! Then contact me (adeiterich@writewordforyou.com or 484-769-8897), so we can brainstorm ideas on tapping your database for the best ways to create a relevant message that will drive your response rate to new heights.