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Personalization increases response.

These three simple words may strike terror in the heart of the marketing or production manager who has little or no experience using personalization in direct mail programs. However, the evidence for using personalization to boost response rates is hard to ignore. According to Cap Ventures' 2003 Study on Personalization, more than 69% of consumers prefer highly personalized hard-copy direct mail to non-personalized direct mail offers. So, when it's time to bring personalization to your direct mail program, following these seven steps can help keep the fear at bay.

1. The internal review process

   Conduct an internal review of your infrastructure to identify what you have and what you need in order to add personalization to your program. Determine what information you have about customers and prospects, how the information is housed, and who “owns” the information in your organization.

   You'll need to ask questions about legacy systems and desktop systems and what resources, if any, are available to work with your customer data. In many companies, IT help is at a premium and it may be difficult get such assistance for your project. Your personalization vendor can help navigate through the needs analysis and technical requirements that can cut months off the project's rollout date.

2. Schedule a brainstorming session

   Gather an internal group to discuss how personalization can best be employed. Step 1 identified the type of information you have on targeted prospects and customers. Your brainstorming session should identify how much information you have — and how much more you need. This group should determine the components of your direct mail package and prioritize them. This priority list may become very important when you start to bid the project and find that your dream package is outside your actual budget.

   Schedule the session with enough notice so that participants can gather and bring samples of personalized direct mail packages they think are effective — and, perhaps more important, samples of personalized direct mail packages that don't work. As you enter into this next phase of your direct mail program, there's no point in repeating someone else's disasters.

   The session also should identify cost estimates and limitations as well as production cycle time and quality expectations. Such parameters will help streamline the bidding process by providing invaluable information to vendors bidding on the project. Your lists of priorities and expectations should be used to create written specifications. It's also extremely helpful to create a mock-up of your package to see how your ideas might translate to an actual direct mailing. The mock-up will show what works and what needs more thought as you write the specs for your program.

3. Hold a “supplier summit.”

   Meet with your supplier base to review requirements and expectations. It's critical to take this step at the beginning to avoid disappointment and frustration later on. Ask suppliers to suggest formats that will meet your program's needs. Encourage suppliers to design programs that best fit their equipment rather than follow your specs to the letter.

   Ask your suppliers to explain their personalization capabilities and limitations. It's important to understand what is efficient in addition to understanding what is possible. For example, duplex personalization may sound exciting but if capacity is limited, or the capability is limited to one vendor with one machine, it's probably not the best format for your new program.

   Requests for quotes should include a request for a schedule so you can understand the production cycle time required for each supplier. If your goal is to mail twice a month to generate call center leads, but the production cycle is three weeks, you may need to revise your program goals before proceeding.

4. Review the options

   When your supplier base has submitted formats and pricing, get the brainstorming group together to review options and determine what best meets your program goals. It may be tempting to “cherry-pick” formats and ask Supplier A to use the envelope format designed by Supplier B, but remember that you asked for efficiency to help keep the costs and production schedule in line. This may be the time to review your priorities and streamline the vendor-selection process. The personalized buckslip that one vendor suggested and that the group loves should not drive the selection process if it was last on your list of priorities.

5. Select the best fit for your needs

   While it may seem obvious, choose the supplier who can meet your product design requirements as well as your cost, production cycle time and quality expectations. Ask for references if you haven't worked with the vendor before and question the references about their best and worst experiences when implementing a new program. You'll want to hear that the “fear factor” was minimal and the implementation or transition was close to seamless. Everyone should get better with practice but it's the planning and education that goes into the first program that often distinguishes a great supplier from just a good one.

6. Perform a resource audit

   Confirm that the hardware and software capacity and capabilities identified in your needs analysis (Step 1) can be met — both by the supplier and you. In addition to these capital assets, confirm that the human assets are available. Your chosen supplier should identify a rollout team that includes the technical resources critical to a successful program start. Ask to meet with the team and be sure to include their peers from your own organization. Days can be lost and costs can soar when a technical resource is communicating through a non-technical resource. Let the people who speak in acronyms that no one else understands speak directly to a fellow acronym-user.

7. Never settle

   Don't stop working on new ideas. Create a permanent channel to discuss, develop and test new ideas using these steps. Require personalization technology, capacity and capability updates from your suppliers to help you understand what's “out there.” Provide your suppliers with a wish list to help guide their investments in equipment and technology.

While it may seem like no one will want to share ideas, sponsor cross-supplier summits to drive collaboration and share best practices. When suppliers understand that your intent is not to share proprietary information but rather to help improve your program, they likely will participate enthusiastically. (If they don't, you may want to rethink your choice of supplier.)

These seven steps will help structure a successful personalization program. But also keep those three essential words in mind: Personalization increases response.

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Debora Haskel (debora.haskel@iwco.com) is vice president for marketing at IWCO Direct, Chanhassen, MN.