1to1 Magazine
Newsletters
Web Exclusives
Webinars & White Papers
Events
Resources
Get Personal
Not surprisingly, considering I work at 1to1 Media, I’m a big proponent of custom communications. Yes, I understand that there are additional costs involved. But I also think that the short-term costs are worth the long-term customer engagement. And besides all the business rhetoric, here’s why I think so…
Yesterday I handed my 10-year-old daughter, Claudia, a large envelope addressed to her. It was from the camp she’s attending this summer. She opened it rather nonchalantly, but then her face started to light up as she read the letter that accompanied the enclosed camp yearbook. She looked up at me and said, “I really like when they personalize things with my name on it. The letter says ‘Dear Claudia’ instead of ‘Dear Camper.’ That’s so much better.”
Claudia was also excited about the additional personalization within the letter – for example, noting the fact that it’s her first summer there -- making it clear that they know who she is and are interested in her as an individual, not just another name on the roster.
If customization makes that much impact on a 10-year-old, imagine what it can do for your customer relationships. And bottom line (like the 40 percent lift one cruise line got in sales for a typically slow period after a recent marketing campaign that was highly personalized based on previous travel and other known vacation preferences).
Douglas, Michael,
I think you've both hit on that oh-so-important underlying message: You matter to us as a customer.
It's not even that customers need star treatment; it's just making that effort to show that customers indeed are valued. The personal touch certainly goes a long way in that regard.
Months ago my wife and I were driving past our community library. It was under construction at the time, but a giant, colorful sign hung where it couldn't be missed which read "YOUR library is open!"
My wife read that and said "I like that. My library." Now, it didn't say Christine, your library is open, but the underlying concept is the same. The Brand, whatever it is, is saying "you are the reason we are here." The guy at the corner deli knows my name and he uses it and I return to him because of it, even though there is a slightly nicer version of his deli one block further. I prefer to pay less for things when I shop, but when presented with the decision, I'll always pay a little more to the guy who makes me sincerely feel that I'm valuable to him.
I agree with the personalization benefits and the camp obviously spent the extra investments to zero in on the intended receipients. Better yet they are creating strong impressions of how to effectively market as well as setting high expectations for other companies competing for wallet share.
I receive advertisements personalized to my name but they have no idea of who I am. Dear Mr. Thomas, please take advantage of the first 3 visits to our new Tanning Salon (Those who know me can understand why I was not the intended receiver!) or the one I always get about hair replacement (my barber claims that I'm good) so in Claudia's case they did their homework instead of the "nice tie", by the way want to buy something" approach. I wonder how much of marketing budgets are wasted by the shotgun approach.