Most people have seen personalized printing used with direct mail pieces that include your name in the design, such as the example below:
Personalized postcard mailer with recipient's name and company name.However, personalized printing can be used for much more, such as conference collateral, fund-raising solicitations, student enrollment packages, party invitations, insurance policy information packets, and even personalized books with customized character names and images!
Personalize the Whole Package
Going further, don't just think of personalizing one piece. Consider personalizing an entire event! An example is with collateral for a conference. Personalize the invitation and registration mailer, the onsite materials including name tags and table tents, and the conference welcoming packet to include information specific to each attendee.
Personalized Event Collateral
Loyola University personalized move-in pamphlet.Personalized event collateral can really help to make a more organized event - from conferences to college dorm move-ins. This example is from Loyola University of Chicago's personalized move-in manual.
Personalizing to Provide Specific Information
Loyola created a personalized, 12-page, passport-sized move-in manual specific to each student. Nearly every page is customized to the individual student including their name, room assignment, move-in date and time, roommate information, residence hall-specific move-in details and map, and move-in/parking pass.
The pamphlet made for a much more organized move-in, hopefully starting the students off on the right foot.
Click here to see more about the Loyola University personalized move-in pamphlet.
Personalized Sales and Promotional Brochures
Club ABC Tours personalized brochure withrecipient's name(s) and a recommended travel
destination based on previous trips booked with the club.
An advantage of personalizing a sales or promotional brochure is something that every successful salesperson knows - you have more success when the pitch is specific to the customer. For example, highlighting products or services which that customer would be interested in from prior purchasing behavior. This example from Club ABC Tours shows how personalizing can be both more effective and less expensive.
A More Effective Sales Pitch Specific to the Customer
The Club ABC Tours brochure uses the customer's name and a recommended destination (based on previous trips) to immediately capture the customer's attention. Messaging throughout the piece was personalized, including special offers and additional trip recommendations based on previous trips.
Cost Savings
Not only were the personalized brochures more effective, they also cost less. The personalized brochures only included information specific to the recipient, so the cost per brochure was less than the previous full catalog of trip options.
The personalized campaign ended up bringing in over $400,000 in revenue within four weeks as a direct result of the mailing.
Personalized Fund-Raising
The Out-of-Door Academy personalized fund-raisingbrochure - cover graphic, cover salutation,
inside graphic collage and text all personalized.
Personalizing a fund-raising pitch has shown to dramatically increase the response rate and amount raised. Here is an example from Out-of-Door Academy which used a personalized approach for their fund-raising effort, resulting in a large increase in funds donated.
Multiple Personalized Design Elements
The Out-of-Door's main donation request collateral design included more than a dozen items of personalized information in the body of the letter (for example children's names, nicknames, number of children enrolled at the school, grade level, and family giving history.) The body text also was personalized based on the family's giving history. If the family had previously donated, the message made a case for giving more; if there was no prior donations, the message explained how tuition alone did not cover the costs per student; and a third message version was used for families whose student was first year. The letterhead was also personalized to each recipient by including images specific to the particular campus the student was attending.
Adding a Personalized Emotional Appeal
What really added to the personalization and added an emotional appeal was that the design included quotes from the student's specific teachers and accommodated for multiple quotes if the family had more than one child attending.
Multiple Personalized Phases for Better Response
The campaign consisted of multiple phases: the initial personalized comprehensive package; a personalized postcard mailer thanking early donors and reminding others about the comprehensive package with a prompt to request a re-mailing if they had not received the comprehensive package; a follow-up personalized mailer about the fund-raising goals and why the school needed their financial support with a thank-you letter sent to donors.
The series of direct mailers was followed up with a Phone-A-Thon that included a personalized pre-call postcard that included the name of the person who would be calling, the time they would call, the Caller-ID that would appear, and a number to call to opt-out of the Phone-A-Thon.
The result was an amazing response participation rate of 82%, and the campaign beat the goal of $241,000 by raising $345,452!
Other Examples
Distributor Rewards Program
Building material wholesaler All Tile conducted a personalized campaign to promote their distributor rewards program. Previously the company had conducted web-based marketing, standard direct mail and sales calls to promote the program which had only achieved a .25% participation level. The personalized campaign consisted of a hard-copy personalized program statement that included accumulated reward points, personalized messages, special offers and promotions. The personalized campaign achieved 100% participation.
Re-Activate Inactive Customers
Footwear retailer Shoe Carnival conducted a personalized campaign to bring back inactive customers who had signed up for their customer loyalty program. The personalized postcard included the customer's name, ID number, loyalty reward balance, date of last visit, and number of points needed to reach next rewards level. The campaign achieved 26% response rate bringing in more than $200,000 in sales (after discounts) on a total project cost of $3,400.
Sell Specific Products
Knapp Shoes wanted to move-out overstock and specific shoe sizes from their inventory. They analyzed their customer database to identify customers meeting their criteria and created a mini, personalized catalog for each customer containing only the shoes and sizes they wanted to move. To break even, Knapp needed a 2.55% response rate with an average order size of $40. The personalized campaign achieved an 11% response rate with a $45 average order.
Wilson Printing
