by Randy Hardy
Are You Talking to Me?
Anyone involved in marketing today knows that to get heard by your audience, you need to deliver a personalized message that speaks directly to them.
Personalization has been proven to improve response rates and create a greater connection with the recipient. Printed personalized direct mail pieces can generate anywhere from 2 – 15% better response rates than static direct marketing pieces. A study by The Aberdeen Group, a US-based analyst first firm, reports that personalized emails improve click through rates by 14% and conversion rates by 10%.
As a result, print and marketing service providers are employing technology such as variable data software and digital presses to make personalized communication possible.
But technology is only part of the solution. For many print and marketing service providers – and the clients they work with – the biggest challenge they face is that they don’t have the customer data they need to create a highly personalized message.
This presents a huge challenge: In order to get your message to stand out, you need to personalize it, but how do you personalize it when you don’t have a lot of data?
Use What You Know
Even if you don’t have a lot of deep customer insight, you can still create a personalized marketing campaign using what you do know about a customer – even if all you know is their address.
At locr, we have seen our customers use just the address of a prospect to create a mailing that includes a personalized map as part of the campaign. These maps can provide personalized details such as the locations of a business near the prospects home, or the route a customer’s would follow to get to the location of a a business or an event.
These maps are the personalized element that helps to create a connection with the recipient, boosting your engagement and response rates. Best of all, once a prospect engages with you, you can gather more information about them to use for personalizing future campaigns.
Randy Hardy is the North American Representative for locr. He also serves as Chairman of the Xplor Association Board of Directors and was the Chair of the 2013 Xplor User Conference and Vendor Forum. He can be reached at us@locr.com
Connect with locr at these upcoming events:
2014 Dscoop Annual Conference March 6 – 8, 2014 Orlando, Florida USA.
You can visit the locr team at Ruby Partner Pavillion.
PODi AppForum 2014 March 31 – April 2, 2014 Las Vegas, Nevada USA
Xploration 14 March 25 – 27, 2014 Orlando, Florida, USA
Cross Media Production (IPEX) March 25 – 27, 2014 London, UK
