eLearning Series
by Jeff Finkelstein 6. Lack of Personalization 
Hello! 
PERSONALIZATION WORKS!
According to Personalized & Database Printing: The Complete Guide, personalization can increase the size of a customer’s order by 25%. For repeat customers, the number jumps to 50% when personalization is used effectively.
Why does personalization work?
It makes people feel good when you know their name and something about them. When a person hears their name or sees it in print or on a computer screen, it grabs their attention and draws them into your message. When we mail-merge in your name, you can’t help but pay attention. Nobody likes interacting with a huge, monolithic organization where you’re just a faceless account number, stuck in an endless voicemail tree.
Have you had this happen to you? You walk up to someone you’ve met three or four times, and say hello… and they don’t remember your name or who you are. This makes you feel like you aren’t very important to that person, and is a subtle blow to your ego. (It’s also possible they’ve had a series of closed head injuries and can’t remember anything.) Contrast that with an old-style hardware store that’s been around for 35 years, where the person working behind the counter knows you and your family. The person knows what you’ve purchased over the past years. You can tell the person in the store that the part you bought last year has worn out, and he knows the whole history, and can make recommendations. Yes, you could save a buck or two by going to a larger box store that’s a little farther away, but for the personalized service, people (at least in my neighborhood) are willing to pay a touch more. In direct marketing, there are many new cost-effective ways to harness personalization. New advances in variable data printing allow you to do much more than just personalize a message with someone’s name… you can personalize the message with customized graphics or past products a person has ordered. You can even use a personalized web page as a response mechanism, where you can take someone to a web page that will greet them by name and personalize the experience.