We live in times where every enterprise we deal with as consumers or trade partners wants to communicate frequently and directly with us. Each of us is part of numerous loyalty programs, many of which we are not even aware exist. Our SMS folders and mailboxes are cluttered with business communication which has led to the emergence of priority inboxes in many mail and SMS interfaces. This in turn has made communication with consumers extremely difficult for enterprises as getting lost in this clutter of communication is pretty much the default consequence that we expect.
But that need not be the case. Personalisation of messages is an effective tool to overcome this problem. When a consumer sees a message, which feels more like someone is trying to directly speak to her, it grabs a moment of attention. That window of attention is the opportunity to communicate what is intended so it is important to create the window of opportunity.
There are many ways in which communication can be personalised. Let’s look at a few of them.
- Use appropriate salutation
Nothing prompts deleting a message than something that starts with “Dear Sir/Ma’am”. It is the first thing in the communication, and it is important to not lose the consumers’ attention at this stage. Proper salutations and names should be used in the communication as common-sense dictates, if someone is calling out to me by my name, I am more inclined to turn back and listen to them. The information required to do this is available with pretty much every enterprise and it seems like an obvious thing to do. Yet we still see many companies failing to do this and lose their audience’s attention instantly.
- Don’t refer to audience in plural
The message should not feel like a mass mail sent to thousands of people. It should refer to consumer in singular so that it feels like it is directed towards her. This is one of the sub conscious errors that creep up when marketing managers draft communication as they tend to think of the entire group when doing so. But it is important to avoid it as any message which feels like it is intended for thousands of people will fail in capturing individual attention.
- Pick the right occasion
Sometimes it doesn’t matter what the message is when compared to when it is being sent. Identifying the times of the day or days of the week in which the audience is likely to not be occupied otherwise definitely helps. Apart from this each time a consumer interacts with the enterprise, either by purchasing or by visiting the website, it should trigger a relevant communication which refers to the recent interaction. Special occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries are also good opportunities to communicate with the consumer.
- Speak in their language
In a diverse and multilingual country like India, it is important to speak the language the consumer is comfortable with. Preferred language and mode of communication are important pieces of information and they need to be gathered about consumers during the first interaction. This is another one of obvious rules but tends to be ignored as following it involves effort in identification and translation. But if the communication sent is indeed intended to be consumed it is a no-brainer to follow this
These are a sample of ways to personalize communication and there are a million more which can be devised specific to individual enterprises and programs. If you want us to help you manage your communication and loyalty programs, please leave your details in the form in the link below and let us get in touch with you.
https://www.channelplay.in/software/1reach#contact-us
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