Playing the Name Game
Personalization is a great way to connect with your subscribers. Simply adding their first name to the message, or including it in the subject line is a good way to endear your brand to those who have agreed to receive messages from you.
If you are going to personalize there are a few things to remember before jumping in to the name game. Personalization gone wrong has the ability to make your subscribers not feel the love you are intending.
Test your fields.
Last year I received a message from a candy company that started with:
Dear [Last Name]!
I am certain I provided my first and last name; it appears the message wasn’t properly tested or run through the proper quality checkpoints. This carelessness reminded me that the message wasn’t hand-crafted just for me. Of course, as an email marketer, I know that’s not the case, however, Jane Q. Public may not, until a glaring error such as this, reminds her.
But what if providing a name is optional? You have names for some of your subscribers, but not all of them. What can you do?
Create a Substitute Name.
Depending on your product and the tone of your message, have fun with the creativity you can have with a substitute name. I would have much preferred “ Dear Candy Fanatic,“ than an attempt at personalization gone bad.
Posted by MindComet on Feb. 06, 2007