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Personalization Boosts Customer Loyalty

June 13, 2008 I’ve been thinking about customer loyalty lately. In today’s tough economic climate, it’s something we hear about a lot. After all, what’s the adage? It’s easier to keep the customer you have than to acquire a new one? It’s also more profitable. Consistent, loyal customers also tend to purchase more than new ones.

One of the things that got me thinking about this on a more personal level is that I actually received a 1:1 communication piece the other day. It’s something I encourage marketers to do, but it’s a marketing technique that’s rarely used on me. So when I received a personalized letter from my auto dealership, I opened it.

It addressed me by name and told me that my 1995 Honda Accord was scheduled for maintenance. “Our records show that your mileage should now be approximately 164,209, so it’s time for the following service…” This was followed by the phone number and a three-point reason to come to this particular auto dealership:

• Free shuttle service
• Child’s play area
• Early-bird and nigh drop-off available

On the bottom were two tear-off coupons related to my vehicle and the scheduled maintenance.

This letter got me thinking about two things. First, I didn’t know that they offered a child’s play area. That greatly increases the convenience for me. It also got me thinking about the fact that we’d been in to the dealership recently to investigate a dashboard light and hadn’t yet taken action on it. The dealership had the records, so it would be easier to deal with them than someone else.

Key takeaway point: 1:1 printing doesn’t have to be full-color, graphics-heavy, and expensive to output. This application was a black-and-white letter that is very inexpensive to generate. Its effectiveness was based on its message and its relevance to me. It probably cost pennies apiece to output.

All 1:1 printing doesn’t have to be costly. If you have a message, you can boost your effectiveness – even if it’s in black-and-white.

Have questions? Comments? I'd love to hear from you. You can email me at info@digitalprintingreports.com. For more information on primers for marketers and small businesses on digital, 1:1, Web-to-print, and personalized URL applications, visit Digital Printing Reports. You can also keep up with all of my posts on EBS, The Inspired Economist ("Greening Print Marketing"), and other blog sites by following me on Twitter.

Posted by Heidi Tolliver Nigro on June 13, 2008 | Comments (4)