Personalized Communications
Everybody is different. What does that tell you about treating everyone the same?
When you get something with for-your-eyes-only information in it, what do you do? That's the whole point with personalized communication. Make it impossible to ignore the signs that it's important.
Printing someone’s name in the sand on the front of a postcard is personalization. It's kind of cool to send it. When you get one, though, do you feel connected to the sender? Are you motivated to follow instructions, return calls, and send something back?
How about a less cool, more outcomes oriented approach? It's called, "use it or lose it." How much data do you have that you are not using? By not using it, you are losing ground.
Everybody has names and addresses. What else do you have? How about inserting statements with local offerings, specific product information, deadlines, meeting dates, times, locations and customer-specific offerings.
Using Personal / Confidential Information
The concept is easy. Just move confidential information from point A to point B. You put it in an envelope. You mail it first class. You follow up with a telephone call. Maybe you mail it again. Maybe you send an encrypted e-mail.
What could go wrong? If you are using confidential information, answering that question is your obsession. You eat, sleep and drink it. Okay. Maybe that's just us, but we doubt it.
Every piece must be perfect. One mistake and it’s going to take more than a band aid to fix it. There are fines, jail time, expensive identity theft insurance, and some very angry people (that’s an understatement). Not to mention lost business and lost jobs for your company.
Delegating this is risky. You have to find people who care as much as you do. You look for people who are also aficionados of HIPAA, data security, and Murphy’s Law. It takes an obsessive compulsive to know one.
Are you proud of your OCD? We are. Not everyone will admit this, you know. Geeks unite! (Maybe that's a little obsessive.)
Electronic / Mobile Communication
Nothing beats a personalized document that comes with a PURL or a QR code or a text option. You can send an e-mail blast with hyperlinks. It’s so easy. People love this stuff. Well, they love it if you have something good waiting for them when they find you online.
Picture this. You see something you like and you click the icon for “more information.” You feel like you are heading in the right direction. And then you get hijacked to a home page. There’s nothing screaming at you telling you where to get the information you want.
It’s pretty annoying, isn’t it? Two words: be prepared. It works for the Boy Scouts and it will work for you. Think like your user thinks. Be useful to them. Help them. You will get loyalty in return.