Everyone likes to hear a story, especially if it is a good one. Way back in high school I took a class in Children’s Story Writing. That’s where I learned that the best story somehow always had the child’s name in that the story was being told to. (yes Maggie was the little girl’s name I used, it was the teacher’s name who taught the class, he read them all to her). So it is surprise that when we send out emails to customers we don’t just say “Dear Most Valued Customer”, but “Dear Mary Jane” or “Dear jack”. We have been able to do that for a while now thank’s to mail merge, but all of that is old had. Today we create mailing with graphics and pictures of products that are on sale, specials that are only for this week, and sometimes even a video. So why not tell that story specifically for that customer that the email is for. All the date should be at your fingertips, if it is not then we need to talk about keeping relevant data on your client.
A recent article in MarketingLand gives three examples of how such an email would look. Everything from “how are you enjoying your ______” with photo, to a cool invitation from LinkedIN, to suggesting travel to your favorite team this season. There is much more and well worth the read. The tools that were used for these are not rocket science either. We have listed many here on the blog and continue to find new ones all the time, and most are plug and create.
