Believe it or not, there are still marketing professionals who have not embraced personalized marketing. They are either too busy or too untrained to realize the advantages, and keep putting it off. Yet, research has shown consumers actually prefer direct marketing that is relevant, targeted and appropriate.

If you’re stuck sending direct marketing pieces to “valued customer” instead of a finely honed list, it’s time to rethink your strategy and invest in data segmentation. Take Amazon, for example. They long ago stopped sending you “people who bought X also bought Y” emails. Now the leading ecommerce company makes recommendations on a broad range of criteria, including your own interests.

Beyond basic marketing

Most companies, working with tight budgets and margins, just plan to cover the basics with their communications, with one-size-fits all brochures and email blasts. As a result, even though they look busy, these companies are actually not very effective. Low-cost electronic communications with average returns have not encouraged marketers to explore high-value touch opportunities.

Why is that? Personalization doesn’t add value by itself. Just having the right name on the envelope isn’t enough to create conversion. Personalization bonded with relevant content is the secret. For example, thanking a customer for their purchase, with an accompanying coupon offer, in an email is basic, even expected. It’s table stakes in today’s customer service world.

Relevancy is taking the next step. If you have a bike shop, for example, are you alerting customers to new accessories for the touring bike a customer bought six months ago? Are you regularly sending tips to them based on their type of bike?

To accomplish a high-level of personalization and relevancy, your marketing staff needs to know not only your products and services, but also how customers interact with them. Take that product knowledge, and craft a relevant message to reach that customer again and again. Darwill provides highly sophisticated data services so your direct-marketing campaigns reach the best targets to produce the best results. Our in-house data team is at your service to help you segment your data, and also build creative modeling solutions to increase response for acquisition campaigns.

Keep the message simple and effective

With the wealth of data at our fingertips, it’s tempting to just overdue the personalization, without realizing the value of the communication in the first place. A thank-you card, featuring content specific to the customer’s purchase, is a more valuable touch point than a routine reminder to get an oil change or HVAC tune-up. When the time comes make that offer, whom is the customer going to want to listen to: The business that takes time to thank them or the “valued customer” postcard?

This is a key element to turning one-time buyers into lifetime customers. That first interaction is not just a transaction, but the beginning of a long-term - and more profitable - relationship. There will always be “one-and-done” buyers but they are should also receive the same attention, if only for the potential word-of-mouth and goodwill.

Also, Darwill’s IP targeting technology, which sends digital display ads to direct-mail prospects, can boost that goodwill for greater message exposure. The platform uses a patent-pending algorithm to determine the IP address, based on the physical address, and incorporates offline data sources like direct-mail lists, voters’ registrations, customer databases and modeled data. The system can also provide location-based out-of-home mobile ads to these customers.

Personalization and relevance in real life

Here are some ways you can use relevancy and personalization to build relationships and sales.

• Keep the information coming. Announce a sale to previous customers of related products, like accessories they may have missed the first time or debuts of new products they may be interested in.
• Bask in the reflected glow of reviews. Feature positive reviews of your business, from customers most similar to your target market. Let your reviews speak for you.
• Make heroes of your front-line employees. Whenever possible, use specific names of staff members customers will be interacting with, and maybe the products they recommend this. Indie bookstores and record shops do this, featuring books and LPs that staff write mini-reviews for. Not surprisingly, despite competition from Amazon and other online retailers, these community-building specialists are doing well.
• Go for the combo platter. A product recommendation based on past purchases is an old tactic, but still effective. Combine these recommendations with positive reviews and see the results.

The takeaway

Personalization and relevancy is the path to building compelling customer communications. This certainly can take more time and be more work, but the results are worth it. The danger is your brand becoming irrelevant. Think, for example, of the major retail brands that have struggled in the past few years; are they know for being relevant to their customers? If you want to stay relevant and vital to your customers, consider working to creating effective digital and physical touch points before, during and after the sale. This requires you having your data, your marketing strategy and your customer knowledge at a peak level.