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I’m getting personal! (And why you should too.)

When you receive an email — or postcard — with your name on it, what do you do?

You look!

We’re used to responding to our names (thanks to our parents!), so no matter where we see it…

We take a double look.

In the marketing game, addressing someone by their first name is called personalization.

So what does personalization in an email, or on a postcard, have to do with growing your business??

Well, I recently came across a ton of research that addresses that question directly, and in depth.

And what I found was really shocking!

Keep reading to find out more…

We’ve all received personalized marketing…

In fact, if you accessed this article from an email I sent you, it’s likely that email stated your first name!

Similarly, have you ever received a postcard with your name on it?

It would look like this — and where you see <<NAME>>, your first name would be printed.

personalized postcard for insurance agent

That’s personalization, too!

Personalization is when you take an otherwise general marketing message and customize it to communicate directly to a consumer, one-on-one.

It’s a marketing tactic that larger companies do EXTREMELY well.

Amazon recommends items for you based on past purchases you’ve made. Love it! How convenient, right?

amazon suggestions

Google and Facebook’s search and ad platforms are designed to show you products, ads, and even friends you may want based on your past behaviors.

But personalization, honestly, goes a little bit further than marketing…

If you’re in Marriott’s loyalty program, you already know that your check-in experience is personalized to your preferences — regardless of where on earth you stay.

3 bottles of Fiji water on your desk? Done.

Hershey’s chocolate bar on the pillow? Check.

Above the Marriott, the Ritz-Carlton has fine-tuned their high-end personalization at a VERY granular level.

Guest preferences are logged into a database and then used to, you guessed it:

Personalize your experience to your precise preferences.

If you raved about a McDonald’s vanilla milkshake to the concierge your Ritz stay in San Francisco, then you might just get one, without asking, when you check in at the Ritz in NYC.

Why go the extra mile?

Because personalization makes the customer experience more special.

It isn’t just a “nice” thing to do —

It’s a full-on business strategy to differentiate YOUR customer experience from whatever your competitor does.

But let’s dial back from luxury hotels and discuss how we can use this principle in our small businesses…

First:

I know that YOU know that all this personalization is hardly hand-chiseled by some magic elf…

Usually, personalization isn’t even provided by a customer service person.

Personalized marketing communications from businesses are obviously automated.

So even though we know these messages aren’t hand-crafted by a real person who sat down to write this ad for us specifically…

Why do they work?

Or…

DO they work?

Well, check out these statistics I came across, and see for yourself:

  • 90% of consumers find personalization appealing
  • 88% of U.S. marketers report measurable improvements due to personalization
  • 79% of consumers say they’ll engage with an offer IF it’s been personalized to reflect previous interactions with the business
  • 78% of consumers said personally relevant content increases the likelihood that they’ll buy (Mortgage brokers and Insurance agents – you can do this easily)

Consumers clearly prefer personalization over being roped in with everyone else.

But why?

I’ll give you my two cents:

Seeing something familiar — like your name — grabs your attention because it strikes a cord of commonality.

Every day, we’re weeding through a LOT of data in our lives and businesses, so when something seems to speak directly to you…

You look!

Plus:

When you consider that we see THOUSANDS of marketing messages per day (some say 10,000), any communication that acknowledges you as an individual — and less like one of the masses — simply sticks out.

And making your marketing stand out will:

  • Grab prospects’ attention
  • Entice them to read your marketing message
  • And hopefully respond!

Remember:

88% of U.S. marketers report measurable improvements due to personalization.

Well, of those 88% who measured improvements:

  • 53% reported an increase in measurable business results greater than 10%
  • 10% reported an increase greater than 30%
  • 63% reported an increase in conversion rates (someone that converted from looking at the marketing to interacting with the business or buying)

So yes:

Personalizing your marketing DOES result in more leads…

Which makes sense, doesn’t it?

Don’t you hate receiving marketing that:

  • Clearly wasn’t designed for you
  • Or doesn’t appeal to you at ALL?

Luckily, adding personal touches to your marketing can not only generate more response and revenue, but it’s EASY to do!

I put together 4 ways to add personalization and personalized elements to your marketing, plus —

Most of them cost sheer PENNIES extra per piece, or are completely free!

1. Add a prospect’s first name to your postcards to boost response

Using a printing technology called variable data, you can customize every postcard in your mailing for its intended recipient.

Where you see <<First>> in the below postcard is where every first name on your mailing list gets printed — automatically!

personalized postcard for window cleaner

When you buy a targeted mailing list, adding your recipient’s first name to your postcard design automatically makes your marketing jump out!

Here’s another design:

personalized happy birthday postcard from a dentist

That’s a postcard design from our automated monthly Birthday Program by the way.

And guess what:

It costs PENNIES to add this feature to your direct mail campaign, making it both easy and affordable!

Along the same line…

2. Maximize personalization and increase response 63%

Above and beyond first names…

You can customize your direct mail with many other pieces of data.

Take this real estate postcard, for example:

personalized postcard for real estate agent

Both the first name AND the street address are customized to the recipient…

Love that!

Someone who’s contemplating selling their house will notice this postcard immediately from their mail stack.

Why?

Their name AND actual property address are up top!

Plus, the image of this realtor makes the postcard even more personal. People don’t want to see stock photos, and most can recognize a stock photo right away.

I highly recommend you show pictures of you and your team on your marketing materials, especially if a great deal of trust is required to do business with you!

Here’s another one I like:

3. SHOW what you can do for each individual prospect to triple up on personalization

This mortgage lender wastes no time showing prospects how (much) they can help:

personalized postcard for mortgage lender

This design uses real, finite numbers to immediately SHOW prospects exactly how much they could save on their insurance.

That’s huge!

A strategy like this is direct and informative. You’re saving prospects a ton of time by telling them upfront what they can get from your services.

So you’ve seen a few examples of how easy personalizing your direct mail campaign can be — with some examples you may not have seen before…

Up next:

4. Use a CRM to organize and catalog your contacts

A CRM (customer relationship management) system is a program that organizes your business’s contacts and prospects.

So why am I bringing this up and what does it have to do with personalizing your marketing?

A CRM allows you to not only keep track of your contacts (and stay away from tedious spreadsheets), but you can generate lists of prospects or customers with certain criteria that will be useful in your marketing.

Here’s what I mean:

If you’re a dental practice, you can generate a list patients who visited you a year ago, reminding them that it’s been a year since their last dental exam and cleaning…

And it’s time to book another appointment!

personalized dentist appointment reminder postcard

Or another idea…

You can export a list of all your customers with their birthdates, so you can mail them “Happy Birthday” postcards — with a special discount included to help them celebrate!

personalized happy birthday postcard from a restaurant

I know that I keep an eye out for these postcards when it’s close to my birthday. Consumers have almost come to expect it.

The options to personalize your marketing are, fortunately, ENDLESS.

And personalization won’t be going away anytime soon…

So I recommend finding a CRM that works for your business. Salesforce is a good one.

Because here’s the thing:

If you make your business seem less like a business and more like a place that cares about people…

Your marketing will generate more leads and sales — as well as loyalty.

I hope you’re inspired to try some personalization tactics for your next marketing campaign!

If you have any questions about starting your next direct mail campaign, contact one of my marketing experts at 800-628-1804 — their advice is 100% FREE!

Best,

Joy

P.S. Our next Growth Summit is coming up April 3-5th here in sunny Clearwater, FL! See who’s speaking and reserve your seat today!

FREE DOWNLOAD: Know Thy Customer

 

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