Boost Your Sales and Revenue with Customized Messages

The Power of Personalized Messages

Recently, I was paying my bills and noticed a sticky note on one of my checks, reminding me to order more. The next morning, I received a sales catalog from an office supply company I frequently use. On the back cover was an image of the same style of business check I use, with a personalized message urging me to stock up for the year and save up to 73 percent. I immediately placed an order.

This large corporation understands the value of personalized messages. Their system keeps track of my order history and generates personalized offers accordingly. I am confident that this personal touch significantly boosts their sales compared to their competitors.

Personalized messages are even more beneficial for small businesses and are easy and cost-effective to implement.

The Importance of a Name

What's the most important word to you? Your name. Similarly, the most important word to your prospects and customers is their name. It's a powerful tool you can use to grab their attention instantly.

For instance, I always include my customer's or prospect's first name in the subject line of my outgoing emails. This strategy immediately attracts attention and ensures my message gets read. While I do this manually, there are software options available that can merge different text into the subject line and body of each email.

The Need for Real Names

You likely already have the personal names of your customers. You'll also have personal names when you compile or rent a prospect list for postal mail. However, you may not have the personal name for most of the prospects you collected online or from email requests. Often, you only have their email address.

I've found an effective alternative when I don't have a person's real name. It's hidden in every email address - the part to the left of the "@" symbol. For an email address like "AB6@yz.com", it's the "AB6" portion. I use this part of the email address where I would normally put the person's first name. While it's not as personal as the real first name, it attracts more attention and yields a higher response than no personalization at all.

Make it a habit to collect and store the real name of each prospect along with their email address. This will allow you to personalize your messages to them. You can often find it in the header of the email message when the sender doesn't "sign" the message.

Tip: You'll automatically get more real names in email messages by revealing your real name first. I do this by using my real name as my email address. Over 75 percent of the email messages I receive include the sender's real first name.

Don't Overdo It!

Use a person's name no more than 2 or 3 times in a communication. Overusing it can annoy the reader and reveal that the message is part of an automated mass mailing.

Sometimes, all you need is a prospect's name to get results. For example, I send a lot of prospecting postcards by postal mail to targeted lists. The only message on the postcard is the recipient's name followed by a benefit statement and a phone number, email address, or website where the prospect can get more information. I always get a high response because each recipient is attracted by their name and can't resist reading the rest of my brief message. None of these postcards get tossed without being read.

Start personalizing your communications to prospects and customers. It will significantly increase the response you get without increasing your costs.