(From the latest COMMUNICATE e-newsletter by Simon Young)

A while ago the i-Copywriting discussion list started talking about personalisation in emails and web pages.

The discussion eventually came down to - the recipient usually knows it's a mass message, but personalising the message can be kinda nice.

We usually think of personalisation at the beginning of a message ("Hi Simon, here's your copy of...") or even in the subject line ("Simon Young to feature on DLB cover?"). Not many people bury the personalisation within the message.

But it works!

This morning I received Colin Green's email newsletter, Trade Show Tips and Tricks. This issue covered "Three Big Things" you need your stand to say:

- What you Offer (eg boat anchors, e-Commerce solutions etc...)

- What you Seek (eg to appoint distributors and resellers)

- Who you Are (Simon Young or your Brand)

Hang on! That last one had MY name in it! Wow!

Upon a few moments' reflection, I realised it was just as easy as putting my name in the subject line or intro. But it did catch my attention!

And not just mine. One of Colin's subscribers emailed:

"Hi Colin,

Very good. I'm impressed.

You personally addressed the email to me. It's readable (no xml gobbledygook or other rubbish in it), and you included our business name in the first viewable page. And I did read it!"

Great stuff. So how do you do it? Do you need to do it?

The Communicate! e-newsletter isn't personalised; for one thing we don't ask for your name when you sign up (oops!) and the software we use doesn't do personalisation. But that's okay. I'm sure you enjoy the highly personal flavour of the writing, right?

But if you do want to personalise, here's how: Colin used a customer contact program called Goldmine. Similar programs like ACT can integrate with web-based email software, and some of the more advanced packages available simply hook up to whichever system you use.

For personalised messages to clients, I use a combination of Microsoft Outlook and Word, which works pretty well.

-  sy@simonyoung.co.nz

Editors note:  Take care when using personalisation.  In the latest iStart e-newsletter we took personalisation one step further.  The lead article with an intro as follows:

"Why NZ e-commerce uptake is slow...or is it? Don't be too quick to beat yourself up if your site can't handle transactions. It could be that your customers don't want it to anyway and are looking for something different from the [your company] site... Read more: "

Where it says [your company] above, our MessageMedia email system inserted the company name of the recipient. (where we had it, left blank if not and the sentence still made sense)  It worked a treat!  Got a lot of readership. 

Problem was, some people didn't know about the personalisation and thought I had sent an email to 7,200 people criticising their company web site.  We got three irate emails in reply and one particular contact was a prospective client who suggested I had done it in retaliation for not exhibiting in the virtual e-business expo we run. 

All in all, one of the funnier things to happen all week!  We politely explained how personalisation software works and made a mental note to be more careful in future.

• Your thoughts on online personalisation?  Relationship builder or privacy infringement?  Email: marty.verry@istart.co.nz
• More info on: Email marketing and e-newsletters
• Keen to use personalisation in you e-newsletters?  The find out more about the Goldmine CRM system or the MessageMedia email campaign management system that we use.

August 2002

Simon Young