Personalization can, and should be, more than just the use of the recipient’s name throughout mailer.  Data fields, blocks of copy and  images can all be variable or unique to each individual piece.

Following are some suggested uses of personalization based on a direct mail campaign for subscription renewal.

• Use personalization to version the piece between renewal donors (those who have made a donation in the previous 12 months), acquisition donors (those who have made a donation previously but not in the past 12 months) and non-donors (those who not have never made a donation)
•  Use subscriber’s previous season ticket information to map their seat information for easy removal. (i.e. number of subscriptions, seating locations, ticket prices)
•  Use color coding to point recipients in the right direction.
• Vary the suggested donation amount dependent upon previous donations.
•  Print a different message dependent upon the targeted group.
• Utilize a personalized url (purl) to pre-populate a landing page for those who reply online.

Using personalization in the proper manner can remove or minimize the friction involved with renewal or donor requests and ultimately increase the response rate , hopefully increasing  the incoming revenue to the organization.