January 17th, 2010 
Marc Welcome to the third official blog post of the new-look blog!! I wouldn’t normally work on a Sunday evening BUT something has really wound me up and I had to write this post.
You see, unfortunately I’m writing today with a rant! (Dramatic roll of thunder, please!). That’s right, I’m going to jump up onto my soapbox and complain about something which seems to be happening more and more often in this industry. It’s really cringeworthy… and I’m quite passionate about it.
So what am I talking about? Well, we all know that “the money is in the list” but that assumes that “the list” is being used correctly.
You see, just a couple of days ago I received an e-mail which began thus:
“Hi {firstname},”
**MAJOR CRINGING**
That’s right.. instead of the e-mail including my name it simply included an (incorrect) personalisation code. Now don’t get me wrong, if the personalisation had worked, I wouldn’t be under ANY illusion that this e-mail was intended directly to me. As I use the same e-mail software that this marketer was using myself (Aweber), I understand that I was simply a a tiny cog in a huge list of other subscribers.. but I cringe as I think of them receiving this same e-mail.
In truth, I closed the e-mail and didn’t bother to read it. I suspect other people could be doing the same thing. Making this mistake could be damaging your marketing dramatically! It’s especially disturbing when you realise that all this marketer had done was to miss out the ! from the code.
BUT it gets worse…
Another e-mail that I received recently was seemingly part of an ad-swap so the e-mail copy was probably standard to the marketer who was being promoted. Now I am all for ad swaps and I think they are a fantastic way to expand your list and your customer/fan base BUT you have to be careful. You see this second e-mail finished with the words:
“Kind regards,
YOUR NAME HERE”
**MAJOR CRINGING**
It’s just simple carelessness. Just by making TWO minor changes to your e-mails, you can DRAMATICALLY increase your chances of success with your list.
So how can you fix this and make sure it never happens (again)?
Here’s my three-step personalisation plan:
1. Revise your personalisation codes for your specific autoresponder software (Aweber, GetResponse, 1ShoppingCart, etc) and make a note of them somewhere handy.
2. Use the “test” feature of the autoresponder. Send at least 1 test e-mail to yourself and make sure that the personalisation works!
3. Make sure to read through each and every e-mail that you send out before you send it.
There are many “schools of thought” which think that personalisation probably isn’t that necessary anyway. Some marketers say that most intelligent people realise that they are being “broadcast to” rather than being sent an e-mail personally. However, I still think it’s a nice idea. I get e-mails pretty regularly where people have “replied” to one of my autoresponder e-mails to say “Thanks”. Some people really appreciate the personalisation.. as long as its done correctly.
I know, I know, it probably is a fairly easy mistake to make BUT it’s also SO easy to fix.
That’s bringing me to the end of this rant so I’ll jump back down of my soapbox.
But PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE… if you’re going to personalise your e-mails, do it correctly.
Posted in 
Tags: 
Hi Marc
I have also had similar emails with the short code instead of the name and also in the body of the email I have had some where it was meant to insert my name but just put the code.
As you said on your blog is is annoying but another possible reason for it happening is that the optin form in some cases only has a space for your email and does not even ask for your name, so if the email is set to be personalised with a name and no name exists then this could cause some of the problem.
Adding your own details to the mailing list ensures that you get a copy of the outgoing email and can easily check that everything is ok with the broadcast message, even if the test message was ok.
Richard
P.S. I had difficulty in finding out where to leave this comment as the post did not have any indication with it. I found the space for comments by clicking the Uncategorised bar at the top of the page.
Richard
Good point, Marc. If I can add to it, running spell check is also a must!
Definitely agree. However being two months new to aweber I know that it’s hard to check everything and still continue to do all that you’re learning in a short time.
If their old hands, there’s no excuse. Newbies? I can easily see it happening til they get a set routine of a checklist down.
Have a great 2010
Hey Marc
Firstly, I did not know we are both 22, real cool!
In regards to your post, I completely agree that seeing such mistakes put me off as well.
It tells me that the person is not interested in relationships and is just looking to make a quick buck.
Your post also has made me realize I better go check my Aweber stuff again – I know I checked like 10 times and sent a few test emails to myself but I better have another look yet again haha.
Thanks man!
Shaleniie Devi
Hi Richard,
Thanks for that
I had noticed that the commenting function seemed quite well “hidden” and I’m unsure why! I’ll try to make it a little easier for average users. Back to topic, however, some autoresponders can make the “name” field required, to prevent this from happening.
Thanks,
Marc
Absolutely Brian – I’m a complete (and slightly geeky) stickler for spelling and grammar so this is a must for me!
Of course, William, I can’t possible assume that everyone is an autoresponder expert… but hopefully my post will prove as a helpful checklist for Aweber users to run through as they learn their way.
Hey Marc,
Nice Blog….
I get fed up to with the same mistakes…
But hey we all have to start somewhere, expect to
see loads more of them this year as unemployment
Soars…
I fully agree with all the comments above. It does cheapen the idea of auto responders because when the above happens it becomes so obvious that it is indeed an auto responder and that the user is a newbie.
Personally when I signed up to Aweber I couldn’t find how to automate the responses so I just put “Hi. I Noticed you signed up for my….etc etc.and signed it with my name.
At least I think it was more acceptable than Hi {firstname},”
Cheers Sean
Major Cringe… Yes, that about sums up my attitude to these misadventures. I’m with Sean – hardly know how to make the autoresponder do those fancy things, and I hope mine will behave itself when I do.
It does leave the wroing taste. Andsome of the auto messages are so well done, otherwise… they MIGHT have been personal emails but for that.
{Onward!}
Anthony