Next time make it personal

Getting personal with your mail

There is nothing quite as cheesy or predictable than the “this is personal” snarl found in the dialogue of a second rate American action movie. But making things personal does remind us that it creates desire and action because it touches us as individuals.

We all like “personal attention” and being made to feel special and it’s the same with how we value and perceive the information we are bombarded with on a daily basis.

Nothing quite cuts through the noise than seeing our name or recognising something we own to get our attention. However personalisation can be overdone – remember the old style direct mailers that used to rely on poor registration of names and address details, usually in red italics!

It’s possible nowadays to read the data you have of an individual and send communications materials that reflect gender, age, location, purchasing history, lifetime value, and a host of other highly specific criteria.

Valid reasons to send something out that is generic?

• It’s just a broadcast item that does not need to be personalised
• The data you have is not set up for personalisation
• It’s perceived as being just too complicated

Reasons why you should send something out that is personalised?

• It’s becoming expected  – the quality of Direct Mail and other marketing communications is getting better all the time
• Personalisation has been proven to increase response
• It’s costs very little in relation to the overall costs
• It’s easy and allows for greater use of creativity

If you are going to send something out then please take a few minutes to think about what you could change to make it a little more personal. Perhaps an image or something that the recipient recognises and confirms in their mind they are important.

Author: Mailprinter