More on yesterday's post

My co-worker and friend Jennifer Ringler shared a few very good points with me yesterday following my blog post.  I didn't necessarily finish as strongly as I could and she had comments that I thought were insightful.

So, instead of taking credit for Jen's brilliance, I offer up her feedback for your review.

"Think you are personalizing when you are really not?” Personalization takes time, money, and effort – schools know they need to personalize, but too often take a quick, simple approach and it is doing them more harm than good.  Personalization is about more than slapping a first name after the word “Dear”."

Jen, I agree completely.  As we all recognize, prospect outreach is something that must occur.  However, in this case, it was the execution that thwarted these four colleges in their attempt to initiate dialog with Stacey.  The vendor in question failed all four institutions in the name of expediency.  While I am sure that all four institutions will see results from this campaign, Stacey is just the one example we know about.  How many other Stacey's might there be?  How much better could the results have been with only a little more effort AND an attempt to truly present a unique face in prospect outreach by any of these institutions?

Comments

[Christian]

I'm confused. What do you and Jennifer mean about personalizing the right way? Can you give me some example that goes beyond plugging in fields available in the data into the text of a letter?

[Darren Wacker]

Christian-
Thank you for your question. Relative to this one instance, the execution of all four campaigns was the larger issue. The search mailings were all the same format, very similar responses mechanisms and derived on "the same design template". Had they all arrived days apart from one another, the similarities may not have been noticed by the recipient. But, because all four schools used the same vendor (something I have confirmed), pushing close to identical content to the same fulfillment list and obviously mailing them all on the same day, the attempts at personalization made by each school were completely lost.

So, this instance was more a macro issue of execution, than a micro issue relative to personalization of each piece.

Had any of the four schools utilized a unique design or format, they would still be in consideration with this student. However, the aggregate effect was "Stacey" disqualified all four.

So, a possible solution in this instance, had I been one of these schools, would be to perhaps require my vendor to provide me a more unique design to my search piece, assure my mailing is beating my competitors out the door, or adjust in some other way that makes me unique. Don't settle for a template approach, if feasible.

I will expand on this further in an additional response.

[Julia Myers]

I have a bit of concern that the vendor may not understand the motivations behind the can-spam act. Educational institutions are currently exempt from some of the provisions can-spam act, but may not be forever if recipients are not happy. With or without exemptions to can-spam, complaints to ISP's may effect deliverability of future mass emails from these same institutions. Just a thought. We should tread lightly and intelligently if we want to keep our preferred status.

[Darren Wacker]

Julia-

I agree with you point, in that institutions of all types need to be smart about how they utilize email and connect with prospects via the Inbox. Relative to CAN-SPAM, I am most interested to see how each of these institutions will utilize electronic communications in conjunction with their print campaigns over the next recruitment cycle.

[Darren Wacker]

Christian-
More specifically to your question from yesterday. As it relates to print communications, there are a number of possibilities.

Designs can accommodate variable images as well as text. A search piece could be created with a primary image are that is variable based on an indicated student interest. Areas of text can be dynamically swapped out based on this same information.

As it relates to the web and e-marketing, entire emails, landing pages and even web portals can be personalized to the end user, if the content resources and data are available. The possibilities can be truly endless.