Yesterday afternoon – completely out of the blue – I got a call from Lands’ End. It’s been awhile since I bought anything from them; I think the last item was a set of sheets I bought last fall.

A very nice lady thanked me for being a Lands’ End customer and offered me free shipping on any order I placed in July. My response, “Gee, I’m really on a tight budget right now so I won’t be making any purchases before the end of the month.”

What was the missed opportunity? If she had been given the authority to make a second offer, I probably would have bought another set of sheets and maybe some towels (my favorite Lands’ End products).

What would have done it? If she had said, “Yes, I know, folks are feeling the pinch right now, would it help if I could give you 15% off one item if you ordered before the end of July?”

I would probably have gone online and placed an order right then.

All it takes is a company that gives its telemarketers the ability to respond to customers’ comments quickly and tailor an offer to fit the situation.

Sorry, Lands’ End. No sale.

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My copy of mine magazine arrived yesterday, pristine in its plastic wrap. I carefully opened the bag, slipped off the “belly band,” and began to fan through the issue to see “my” content.

Wait! What’s this Golf section doing here? I don’t play golf. I don’t like golf. I don’t read Golf.

Once again, the challenge of personalized publishing turns into a “gotcha!’

(Read the article)

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Computing power and printing technology have reached the point where sophisticated personalized publishing is a reality. For the last 40 years, it has been possible to produce documents such as bills and statements that contain a large quantity of personal information.

Promotional mail incorporating simple greetings and messages became more common in the 80s. More sophisticated rules-driven insertion of images and text blocks appeared in the 90s and resulted in direct mail that could speak to “an audience of one.”

National magazines and  newspapers have for decades printed regional issues at geographically dispersed production facilities.

Combine these technologies with news aggregation capabilities similar to those in place on the Internet and you have mine magazine. (Read the article)

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