No matter if you’re coming from a multimillion-dollar corporation or a local nonprofit, we can all agree that the options for communicating with customers and supporters continue to grow. From social media to email to print, the choices are many but there’s one important thing to never forget with any of them – a personal touch.
That’s right, we’re taking a page from the past. For those of us in New England, a good place to start is the old country store where they knew their customers by name, knew their personal buying habits, and made a point of building personal relationships.
While we all know how important those relationships are, many have lost that personal touch when it comes to their wider communications program. It doesn’t add a lot of work, but it will certainly go a long way toward building relationships, expanding your reach, and growing your organization.
Not quite sure that personalization is important? HubSpot recently noted that:
- “92% of marketers say customers and prospects expect a personalized experience.”
- “Three out of four consumers say a business has never communicated with them online in a way that felt too personalized or invasive.”
These data points highlight the fact that consumers are not only comfortable with personalization, but that they actually expect it from businesses and organizations. If personalization isn’t in your plan, you’re missing the mark.
It’s not hard to add a personal touch. Here are some easy ways to quickly begin making the change, no matter your size or industry.
1. Personalized Salutations
Be honest. Do you really get a good feeling when opening a letter or email that begins with “Dear Friend…” and not your own name? Whether in emails or printed letters, a personalized salutation makes an impact on the person reading it. It shows that you know them and that they’re not just another person on your list. Making this happen is easier than you think, and it all begins with a clean database.
No matter the software your using, keeping a clean database goes a long way to personalizing your communications. Most offer the ability to have multiple salutation options, but it’s easier (and friendlier) to just use first names. Just have their first names and last names separated in your database (first name and last name), which allows for more seamless use.
On printed letters, just use a mail merge that will place the name from the column before printing. All desktop print products offer this capability for small-scale jobs, while print houses usually provide this service for large-scale projects.
For emails, most services offer the ability to personalize salutations. This works like a traditional mail merge, but it’s easier since it only involves including the corresponding tag that will place the desired salutation into the email. Some even offer the ability to personalize the subject line!
2. Contact List Segmentation
Have you ever received an invitation (email or print) to an event – a sale, fundraiser, or grand opening – only to find that you live nowhere close to where it’s being held? This happens a lot with nationwide nonprofits and companies. It gives the receiver the impression that you really don’t know anything about them – not good when you’re trying to build a personal relationship. But this is a simple problem to take care of, and all you need to do is to harness the power of segmentation.
Segmenting your contacts lists – email and print – gives you the power to speak to those receiving your materials on a more personal level. By segmenting your lists, you have the ability to specifically reach out to groups of people in your database in a more targeted and impactful way. You can directly contact those who who may be local to a particular area, who may be interested in an event because of past participation, or who may be able to spend or donate at a certain level because of their previous activity.
3. Clean and Maintain Your Database
A clean database with up-to-date information can be one of your best tools. Is this a bit of work? Absolutely, but it’s time well spent.
Be honest. When was the last time you or someone on your staff went through the database and actually cleaned it up? If you can’t remember, that’s not a good sign. Starting the process now will reap huge benefits for your organization when it comes to adding a personal touch to your communications. Life is always changing. That means that you should never stop updating your contact files – adding new addresses, changing emails, adding spouses, tracking purchasing/donation history, and the list goes on. But be sure to not collect data just for the sake of doing so. Only collect the data that’s relevant and useable for your purposes. Too much information can create a database that’s impossible to track and update.
Once you’ve done an initial cleanup it’s easier to have an ongoing internal process for keeping the database updated.
4. Personal Notes
Not too long ago, it was unheard of to not send a handwritten thank you note right after being interviewed. While the practice can still be effective, the instant nature of communication via email has changed that practice for most job seekers. However, this isn’t true when you’re communicating with those found in your database. A personal note goes a long way with this group.
This isn’t something you can do on a large scale, but it can be implemented into your communications program for those who fit within certain criteria. For example:
- When you get a new customer, send them a personalized note (or email) thanking them for their business and introducing yourself.
- When you’re embarking on a fundraising campaign, have members of the organization write personal notes (just one line) on the letters of long-term and high-dollar donors thanking them for their support.
The great thing is that this is something that others within the organization could help with. For a nonprofit, you could get board members or staff to participate. For a company, the salesperson connected with a particular contact should be the one to reach out since they’ve already built the personal connection. Both examples create an environment that will encourage repeat business or donations by creating a personal dialog with valuable members of your database.
5. Add the Human Element Back to Social Media
Social media plays a huge role in helping organizations build a sense of community, but many forget that the most important element for finding success through their efforts is by making the platforms truly social. Automation is a huge help when scheduling social media posts for the future, but they can also remove the human element from these platforms. The result means that pages on various platforms look as though there’s nobody monitoring them. Have you ever seen questions unanswered or compliments unacknowledged? These are lost opportunities!
No matter the size of the organization, it’s easy to have someone assigned to monitor your social media accounts for comments, questions, or contacts. By providing answers and reactions to posts, you’re adding a human element to these sometimes cold environments. It shows that you’re not only listening, but that you care what your community members say. Even just checking once or twice a day can make a huge difference.
Will you always have positive comments? No! But these are wonderful opportunities to listen to concerns, provide answers, and possibly change someone’s opinion of your organization. It won’t always end happily, but successful organizations are those who at least try.
These are just a few ideas for adding a personal touch back into your communications program. The benefits for your organization will be huge, and your customers or supporters will take notice. That’s how you build a relationship with them that will last for years to come.
Do you need help implementing these ideas? Doodle Consulting can provide you with a customized plan to help your organization build lasting relationships. Contact us today at info@doodleconsulting.com to start a conversation.
