Now I feel special.
I mean, my name….my whole name…. FIRST AND LAST…. plus my address has been printed on this incredibly well designed brochure informing me about your great tire and brake pad special.
Wow.
Colour me impressed.
I mean, you chose me, me of all people, to hear about this special deal. You think I’m special right?
Sure I just bought my car about 9 months ago, of COURSE I want to hear about tire specials.
And brake pads? First thing on my mind after owning this car for less than a year.
Phew, thank goodness you found me, and sent me this GREAT special offer. What’s that? Only 6 weeks to act? I’ll be there tomorrow. Good thing you provided me a map to the dealership….where I just bought my car.
Clearly whoever planned this masterful campaign studied Direct Marketing in University and fully read the chapter about the power of personalization.
I suspect though right after finishing that chapter they dropped out of the course and read no more.
“Direct Marketing Professional” was suddenly added to their skillset and the result is this, and subsequent, great campaigns where my name gets printed on every promotion developed. If my name is on it I am bound to open and act right?
Classic case of personalization that actually isn’t personal.
See, the thing is, I don’t care about your tire special, until I do care. There’s a time for that message, and I want you to talk to me then. That’s personalization. Until then you’ve just sending me a mass marketing message with my name on it. That’s not personalization, it’s lazy.
In today’s world of Big Data you already know SO much about me, there’s no excuse for taking the lazy approach. What I bought, when I bought it, how I bought it, where I live, what I do, my driving habits, my lifestyle, my family details…..so use it. I want you to understand me, and know my needs right before, or as soon as, I do. Create the wants I’m not even aware of that fit with my profile. You can do this, you have the data, so use it.
In fact, personalization has been cited as the top area of increasing importance to marketers. So you better do it right!
When you send out a ‘personalized’ message that is just my name printed on whatever your latest offer is to me because I happen to be on your database, you’ve just wasted my time and your money. “Well maybe he’ll pass it on to his neighbor'” may be the prevailing logic that came out of the brain trust that decided to simply send a generic message to an entire database. To that I say “Really? Sure, because I really care about my neighbor Darryl’s tires…”
Or perhaps the thought is to continually bombard with messages and eventually the right one will hit and stick. Problem there is you’re exhausting me, and annoying me. That’s tarnishing your brand in my eyes.
There are so many opportunities and capabilities today that make personalization all the more powerful. Take printing. Printing alone has seen digital print transform the entire message an individual can receive so that the message AND imagery is customized. That goes far beyond just having my name typed out. And as consumer’s we’re getting used to expecting this. We don’t have time to read everything you throw at us, so just throw us the relevant pieces that speak to us.
Not only is this more impactful to the reader, but has the benefit of increasing your overall response rates too. Segment your data, focus on those that will really be interested in your offer, create a compelling and personalized message, and see how much better the responses are.
NOW I feel special.
