Use the Recipients Name

Created 2002-04-30 by Rainer Gerhards.

Do you know a person's most important word? It's his or her name! Studies have shown that everyone is vitally interested in his or her name. We all are able to scan even a large text document very quickly and detect our name right there in a middle of many, many words. As of the studies, the words surrounding our name receive part of the attention we give to our name.

So what does this mean in email marketing? Well, it might sound trivial. But believe it or not - it is still the number one mistake emarketers make: start your message with a personal greeting! Not a "Dear Subscriber" or something like this. No, does a "Dear Dan" or "Dear Mr. Smith" not sound much better? Indeed it does!

Be sure to personalize at least the greeting of your message - and you will have an outstanding advantage over many of the eZines circulated today. A message with the recipients name in it is much more likely to be read than one with an unpersonal greeting.

For even greater success, go a step further - use the recipient's name whenever appropriate. Remember: the words surrounding the name will recieive an "importance boost" as researchers tell us.

Let's look at an example: A typical phrase might be "If you liked this newsletter, feel free to forward it to your friends!". It can easily be re-phrased: "Dan, if you liked this newsletter, feel free to forward it to your friends!". See the difference? Wisely used, you can create a much more efficient eZine than without this rule.

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