Rather than the general type of advertisement made to suit everybody in a mailing list (i.e. Dear Valued Customer,) many customers, actual or potential, appreciate getting personalized e-mails instead (Dear Mr. John Doe,). This gives them a feeling that they are being valued enough for the company to take the time to get to know them better and to obtain personal information about them. This is one of the strategies employed by “netrepreneurs,” or online businesses to creating a connection with their customers and increasing sales in their e-mail advertising campaign.
Because personalizing of e-mail messages has been found to increase customer response, many online businesses have employed this method. When it is done correctly, it does help in establishing a good relationship with the customers. However, in some instances this method may backfire on your business, so be very careful if you do use this as part of your e-mail marketing campaign strategy.
One of the things to watch out if you personalize your messages is the entry fields. Email campaign software usually grabs information from the contact database and insert it directly in the blank fields of your general message. It is not part of your software’s job description to check the accuracy of information. However, if some information for a certain contact is missing, this can create problems of fields not being filled in with the needed information and may appear as blank instead (i.e. Dear ,).
Worse, are errors in contact entry (i.e. Dear Mr. Jane, which is an error in entering the right sex of the customer). It is always best to check information fields from time to time and update your database. Another problem is that some customers find personalization superficial. Others just find it invasive that a certain company knows much about him or her. Be careful not to overdo personalizing of messages in your email campaigns. Instead, aim for a nice balance.
