Increase Customer and Community Engagement With Message Personalization
“Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”
There’s a good chance you’ve come across the above quote at some point, from the famous writer and godfather of corporate training, Dale Carnegie.
This principle is one of the foundations of successful communication, and it’s as true in the world of marketing as it is anywhere else. That’s why IRIO has put the time and effort into developing Message Personalization for mass messaging.
A lot of times, when we talk about personalization in marketing, we talk about more advanced methods of personalization like behavior tracking and data collection. The pieces of information that tell us, for instance, which website pages a customer (or potential customer) visits or what they like.
But the simplest form of personalization is using someone’s name. Unfortunately, most SMS marketing initiatives fail to put this into practice, instead sending out generic messages that run the risk of feeling impersonal.
IRIO created Message Personalization because we recognize how critical it is to make the messages that end up in people’s phones feel as directed and individualized as possible, even when the same message is going out to lots of people at once.
And because customization and flexibility are at the heart of everything we do, Message Personalization goes beyond just using first names. Any information in your database can be pulled into the messages you send — first name, last name, building or office number…even a custom field specific to your business.
And furthermore, our data backs up the notion that personalization matters. More personalization means better engagement, more sales, happier customers, and a better overall image of your marketing efforts — and by extension, your business.
But IRIO’s text messaging systems aren’t just for marketers. TextCommunity allows you to communicate with your customers, followers, residents, associates, and anyone else that makes up your community.
Building a sense of community is a powerful thing. And one of the best ways to increase the sense of community is to make people feel personally connected, not just another anonymous number in your database.
For instance, imagine you’re managing an apartment community and you want to notify the residents about an upcoming pool party. Now imagine two different mass messages you could send out — one unpersonalized, and the other personalized.
Unpersonalized: “Hey Bluffs Residents, We’re having a pool party this Saturday at 3pm! Come join us!”
Personalized: “Hey Melissa, We’re having a pool party this Saturday at 3pm! Come join us!”
Putting yourself in the recipient’s shoes, it’s easy to see that the second message is going to connect much better than the first.
Whether you’re sending marketing messages, flash sale notices, community information, or any other kind of message, you can ensure that every person on the other end of that message understands that you see them as an individual, and that you’ve taken the time to implement a system that speaks to them individually. Even when you’re sending to your entire list.
That can be the difference between a message that pulls people in, makes them feel like part of your community, and builds a sense of trust and loyalty — and one that falls flat.
Customization and Personalization Go Hand in Hand
Because IRIO’s text messaging systems are customized for every one of our clients, the options for tailoring the messages that go out to your customers, followers, or community are endless. Check out our case study on Texas A&M University for information on how they used a customized, personalized SMS solution to overcome one of the their biggest communication challenges.
