Image by rick via Flickr

I’m not Lisa, my name is Jodi.  One of my spammers doesn’t seem to know that though.  He just left a comment saying, “Lisa, this is a nice video.”

This is not a post about complaining though.  It’s not even a post about spammers or how to fight  trolls.

It is a post about using personalization the right way.

Get personal

You see, the spammer is using a technique that would work really well if done properly.  Talking to people by name is a good way to get attention.  Everyone likes to see their name (even if you don’t particularly like your name; my parents got mine out of the newspaper; if only they’d seen the name Katharine or Elizabeth instead… sigh.. but I digress).  The idea is that people react to the sound of their own name.  I once worked in an office with another Jodi, and every time I heard “my” name, I’d turn around, even if it was her boss calling and not mine.

Use it Wisely

Inserting someone’s name in an email or a letter can work wonders.  I once got a mailing that had my name inserted in several places – including photos of t-shirts and other merchandise with my name on them.  Pretty clever.

Just don’t overdo it.  Using names in email subject lines used to work really well, I think now the effect has lessened, since only marketers do that.
UPDATE: Paul Cunningham just pointed out this statistic from a recent Mailer Mailer email marketing report:

Personalization in subject lines dramatically reduces both open rates and click through rates — with open rates of 6.7% (compared to 11.2% overall) and click through rate of 1.2% (compared to 1.6%). -MailerMailer “Email Marketing Metrics Report” (July 2010)

Next time you do a promotion, try a little name-dropping.  See what happens.