Thanks to constantly advancing technology, consumers have started to expect more personalized service from the brands they interact with. Companies who meet the customized needs of consumers are more likely to earn their business. According to Hubspot, personalized calls to action convert more than 200 percent more often than non-personalized ones.
For businesses that want to implement more personalization in their marketing strategy, there are endless opportunities via direct mail and other printed materials. It may seem like a massive, expensive undertaking to add these unique details, and without a system in place, it may be. Thankfully, most commercial printers offer personalization services for a minimal cost to help businesses customize their individual prints. Keep reading to check out our top recommendations for using personalized printing to connect with customers.
Address Them Upfront
In your next direct mail or print marketing piece, make it clear to your potential customer from the start that you are talking to them directly, and not an anonymous group. Adding your contact’s name or other specific information to the title or headline can quickly grab their attention and entice them to read the rest of the document. You can also include information that speaks to their unique interests or buying habits. According to Epsilon, 80 percent of consumers are more likely to make a purchase from a brand that offers a personal experience. For example, if you run a home contracting business, your personalized direct mail campaign for homeowners might feature a headline like, “Emily, Upgrade Your Backyard Deck to Impress Your Indianapolis Neighbors.”
This personalization can also expand beyond sales materials. To provide helpful customer service, it may be beneficial to send customers personalized appointment cards, thank you messages or service reminders. If you’re currently creating these cards by hand, using a professional printing service can save your team valuable time and create an overall more efficient process.
Create Unique Offers
If you’re looking to provide customers with an attractive offer or discount, consider taking a more personal approach to give them an offer that fits their unique needs. A professional printer can work with you to design a range of potential offers that different customers may be more likely to redeem. For example, a mechanic shop could send an offer for a discounted oil change to occasional customers who they haven’t seen in months, because they’re likely due for a change. You could even personalize the deal down the specific make, model and year of the customer’s car to show you remember them. On the other hand, regular customers might prefer an offer for a larger service, such as a brake replacement.
Personalized printing can also generate unique barcodes or links for individual customers. This process makes it easier to redeem one-time-use offers, and helps you track exactly which customers are responding to your marketing. We’ll get more into tracking in the next section.
Track and Improve
Print and digital marketing elements tend to be most effective when they work together. Ideally, your print materials should be designed to drive audience members to take an action, such as redeeming an offer or signing up for an email list. To make the transition from print to digital easier, include a personalized QR code or URL to a specific landing page. With these tracking features, you can follow your customers’ movements throughout your site to see what content they were drawn to or where they dropped off. This is incredibly valuable information that can help you better understand your customers and improve marketing materials in the future.
To achieve this level of personalization, find a commercial printer that offers variable data printing. Our team can work with you and your detailed customer data to create unique and effective variable data marketing materials. In our experience, we’ve seen customized print pieces drastically improve response rates to marketing materials. If you’re interested in starting a variable data printing project, click the Contact Us link at the top of the page to send us a message.