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The benefits of personalization are many.  Chief among them may be the customer’s desire to tune out.  Even by adding a name, the most basic personalization effort, opt-out rates drop dramatically.  Even if there is no purchase today, the possibility exists for a sale with the next communication.  Opt-out rates can double without personalization.

 So many marketing departments choose not to enter the world of personalized messaging, thinking they don’t have the data necessary to carry out the process properly.  But if your company can collect a name and address, be it a street address or e-mail, you probably have enough information to make the effort worthwhile.  This information often exists in a company’s CRM or client relations management software system.

 Purchasing a list is seldom adequate.  There is no telling how relevant the information is by the time it is received. The list could be a day old, or two years or more.  Depending upon the product or service, even one day might be past its usefulness.  In addition, the basis for the collection of the list may not match your criteria.  Building your own list is almost always preferable.

 If a company collects mailing addresses, even if only to ship a product, chances are it also collects enough information to send relevant content to its customers.  A mailing address certainly includes a name which can be added to a direct mail piece.  It also includes enough geographical data to offer basic cross selling by location.  A chain of movie theaters can send offers redeemable at a specific theater, even if the initial information was collected at a more distant location.  A department store can inform customers when a product demonstration is in their area.

 Chances are, if you collect names and addresses, you also know what products were purchased. You can send offers for ink cartridges if a printer was purchased or suggest a new line of dress shirts if the customer bought a suit.

 Name, Address and purchase history can be very valuable information and easily merit a trip into the land of personalized marketing.  You can always collect more information as your comfort level increases.  You might automate responses via e-mail and send follow up self mailers. 

 This increased level of sophistication isn’t necessary to be successful.  We can save that blog for another day.