Mail personalization is not something new. For many years, companies have been customizing direct mails to enhance customer experience, strengthen customer relationships, and to make customers feel special. Today, it is a common practice to address customers using their names when sending a piece of mail.
But these strategies are not enough to attract new and engage current customers. The ever-changing customer sophistication and technological advancements are some of the things that you should deal with as a marketer. You, therefore, need to be creative when creating your marketing campaigns.
To compete effectively with hundreds of other businesses seeking customer’s attention, you will need to have custom office envelopes for marketing mails, customized images, landing pages, offers, and graphics.
By taking advantage of modern tools, you can get information about current and potential customers on organic customer databases. Use this information to create customized marketing campaigns.
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Why You Need to Personalize Your Direct Mails
Since people are bombarded with a lot of physical mails and emails everyday, they are incredibly selective about what to read and what not to read. People are more likely to open direct mail from a company they are familiar with compared to if it came from an unknown organization.
Let’s look at the reasons that make mail personalization so effective:
It Makes Customers Feel Special
Most people, if not all, feel special when they get a customized piece of mail and are likely to give it more attention. Using a person’s name in a conversation increases their chances of connecting with you.
The same is true for direct mail. When a person sees their names on the envelope, they are more likely to open it.
It Boosts Customer Experience
When you send a personalized content, the recipient has an easier time deciding and taking action. Imagine going through a list of popular movies and being unable to choose a Friday movie. Frustrating, right?
The process can be much easier and quicker if, for instance, Netflix offers you a compiled list based on your viewing history, which it does.
It Offers Relevance
A person’s mind continually filters irrelevant information so it can concentrate on what matters most. Filtering is what allows you to choose who to talk to when a lot of people are seeking your attention. Typically, personalization takes advantage of this brain capability to get attention. By tapping into people’s interests, you grab their attention and make them feel special.
It Boosts Customer Response Rate
Mail personalization makes customers respond better. When you personalize your message according to the needs and desires of each individual customer, you’re not only making them feel special but you are aligning your message with their personality. Results? Most of them are likely to respond to your offer.
Offers Become More Appealing
Personalization allows you to tailor your message to a specific person or audience. By taking advantage of the information you’ve collected from customers based on their buying history, you can design more appealing offers.
With personalization, you can use each person’s demographics, preferences, and buying history to personalize offers.
How to Personalize a Direct Mail
Now that you know the benefits of direct mail personalization, let us look at some ways to personalize your next direct mail campaign:
Offer
Designing your offer to align with the customer’s needs is an effective personalization technique. Succeeding in targeting a person’s needs increases their chances of responding. This can be done by researching a customer’s purchase history with your company.
Gather as much information about your customers and then use that information to personalize your marketing offers.
Images
You can use visuals to get your mail opened. Just remember to tailor your images according to each recipient’s preference.
Consider choosing images based on the location of each recipient to make the content more relevant. You can also customize the images according to the recipient’s hobbies. For instance, a mail for a traveler may have an image of a vehicle, while the one meant for a dog lover may have a photo of a cute puppy.
Gender
Keep in mind the differences in perception of a similar product between women and men. Adjust your marketing campaign based on gender to make it more appealing to both men and women.
Industry
Take note of the industries that your recipients represent. Each of them might have a different reason for buying your products or services, so be sure to customize your message based on their reasons.
Envelope
The envelope plays a considerable role in determining whether or not your direct mail gets opened. The message on the envelope should clearly address your target audience. Use keywords and phrases that relate to your recipient’s interests or identity.