Personalize your Web site to target
potential customers

B2B Expert - Norm Vallone

Your prospects receive a personalized mail or e-mail message directing them to a Web site… When they visit this Web address, each recipient lands on a Web page that is also personalized. Which means “Dear Jane” sees her name in print on the mailing piece and on the Web site.

No, this column is not about knitting. A PURL, in this case, is a personalized Web site that can ratchet one-to-one marketing up a notch. As we all know a URL (Uniform Resource Location) is the address you enter into your browser to visit a Web site, like www.njvallone.com. A PURL is a bit different. It’s a unique address (URL) that can be personalized to the recipient of your marketing message.

Here’s how it works:

Your prospects receive a personalized mail or e-mail message directing them to a Web site for further information. When they visit this Web address, each recipient lands on a Web page that is also personalized. Which means “Dear Jane” sees her name in print on the mailing piece and on the Web site. We’ve seen research for years that tells us that personalized messages enhance response rates for direct marketing, and using a PURL carries that personalization one step further. Pretty cool, eh?

But wait! There’s more:

Although the personalization factor is a definite plus, an equally important benefit of a PURL is the ability to use the technology to provide real-time, 1-2-1 communications and to gather prospect or customer information. For example, let’s say you offer a free gift for visiting the PURL to learn more about your product or service. The gift could be a helpful booklet in PDF form, a simple on-line tool, or a more tangible item like a flash drive. To get the free gift, the visitors give you some information about themselves by filling in a survey form. This data is sent directly to you as soon as it is submitted. This means that you can analyze the information, qualify the prospect and, if appropriate, contact the visitor while they are still online or shortly thereafter.

Even if you don’t immediately engage the prospect, you can use the survey information to determine next steps and to build your database so that future communications are even more targeted to the prospect’s needs. Additionally, you’ll have an excellent tracking of just how effective your direct marketing efforts are, plus the ability to test various offers and quickly compare the results.

A word of caution:

Although the PURL concept has all of these attributes, you need to exercise discretion in how you use them. Depending on the buying habits of your customers, it may or may not be appropriate to call them as soon as they visit the PURL site. If you have a genuine reason to make the contact, such as the customer’s need is urgent or you can offer a solution to a stated problem, it may be fine to give them a call. On the other hand, if the need is not urgent the prospect may be turned off by getting an immediate call and become reluctant to respond to future communications.

One other caveat:

Using this technology will not cure a weak direct marketing program. If you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig. Keep in mind that, in any direct marketing program, there are three essential ingredients: The right list, the right offer and the right presentation. And the greatest of these is all three.

The right list means that you are sending your message to an audience that you are reasonably sure wants or needs the kind of products and services you offer. Obviously, the more you know about the nature of your current customers, the better you can define this list.

Next, you must have an offer that resonates with the audience and gives them a reason to take the next step. Again, you need to understand what motivates your customers, what speaks to their wants and needs and what it takes to consider you instead of the competition. Successful direct marketing programs have powerful offers.

Finally, don’t underestimate the creative aspect of your program. Even the most powerful message, sent to the right people, is enhanced by strikingly creative words and images that capture attention and entice the prospect to learn more.

Add to these direct marketing fundamentals the advantages of personalization, immediate response, potential 1-2-1 communications and building a relationship database, and your direct marketing results will soar.