When designing a variable data marketing campaign you want to hit your target customer with accurate information relevant to that recipient. With the availability of lists broken down by dozens of demographics or with your own in-house lists you can send your message the group that meets your strictest criteria. From there you can tailor the information to be personalized for each customer.
However, how personal is “too” personal? You want to avoid the “creepy” factor that a potential client may feel if you demonstrate the intricacies of their likes, dislikes, personal (as opposed to business) information and spending habits. Just because the majority of this information is available, some for purchase some as public domain, doesn’t mean it’s wise to use all of it.
I personally have experienced the “creepy” factor. I had just visited a website and not ten minutes later a salesperson called asking if I had any questions. I intentionally put only my email address as a form of contact. I was on a hunt for something specific and they weren’t able to supply it. The salesperson looked up our number based on my email address and phoned me. I was annoyed and a little uneasy. I likened it to saying hello to someone in a crowd and then finding them sitting in my car. I was interested to a point but then I moved on. Don’t try to make more of this than I, as the customer, am ready for. As I mentioned this company didn’t have what I was looking for but even if they did I wouldn’t have considered doing business with them. The “creepy” factor had been established and once it’s there…it’s there.
In another instance shortly after my youngest was born I started receiving phone calls about life insurance coverage for him. The last thing a hormonal new mother wants to think about is her child’s mortality. I don’t mind direct mail, catalogs, brochures or even email. You realize that by signing on to one “Baby Name Finder” website you are going to be on every mailing list in town. However, as a consumer I have the ability to look at those items in my own time. Okay, so you know I’ve just had a baby…As a sleep deprived woman with a newborn it is completely unsettling and intrusive to be interrupted by a sales call about getting some cash if my child were to perish.
In another instance the company had information about me that was WRONG and wouldn’t let it go. A friend was in a difficult spot in her marriage so I signed us both up for a seminar on divorce. I thought that by going with a friend the information wouldn’t seem as harsh. Shortly after the seminar I was called and offered the services of the company that ran it. They left a message on my ANSWERING MACHINE. I wasn’t the one considering divorce but even if I were don’t leave a message on my machine. What if it was supposed to be a birthday surprise for my husband?!? I called the company and told them that although the event was informative I was there for support and was not in need of their services. Over the next few months I continued to receive mailings from them. Nice way to waste postage… or were they? Maybe if they sent enough of them my husband will think I was planning to dump him and he launches a preemptive strike…using their services. Hmmm, maybe they aren’t so dumb after all. No, wait. They’re still dumb. They alienated someone who knows a lot of unhappy people. No recommendations from this girl.
So in your marketing strategies think about how you use what you know about a customer or potential customer. You may know they like video games, gourmet cheeses or that they have a child in college but unless it is truly relevant and appropriate for what you are trying to introduce, it’s best to keep that under your hat. Continue reading →
