Still Hesitating on Personalization?

While personalization is all around us, not every marketer takes advantage of its benefits. A study from NAPCO Research found that if you aren’t personalizing your direct mail, you’re at a competitive disadvantage.

The research from more than 1,300 marketers in various industry verticals found that two-thirds of these campaigns are either personalized or segmented. Of those, the split is even between fully personalized (35%) and segmented (31%). Only 34% of marketers are using the mass media approach. If you aren’t personalizing, you are behind the curve!

While “personalization” has been around for a while, the type of personalization is changing. Most personalization used to be the superficial kind: name only (“Dear <<FIRST NAME>>”). Today, highly personalized mailings have become mainstream, defined as those including variable images, text, or large portions being fully dynamic. More than one-quarter (27%) of marketers use this personalization level. Twenty-six percent are using custom text and offers.

Of course, it takes more investment to produce personalized mailings than static or segmented ones, but marketers are seeing the results. Overall, 44% of respondents say that personalized marketing campaigns have increased their response rates, on average, by 16%. 

The percentage of marketers not personalizing their campaigns is surprising. Perhaps even more surprising is the percentage of people who aren’t tracking their results. Take, for example, nonprofits. According to NAPCO Research, 41% of nonprofits use personalization, yet these same organizations are the most likely to say they don’t know whether personalization helps (39%). Conversely, retailers are the most likely to be tracking their results (78%), and among this group, the percentage that says they are benefiting from personalization rises to 55%. You don’t know if it’s working if you’re not tracking!

The takeaway? In today’s highly competitive marketing environment, personalized and segmented marketing works. But when you personalize, track your results. It’s critical to know what’s working and what’s not. This way, you can justify your additional investment and tweak your campaigns to produce the greatest possible return.