“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
What’s in a name? Everything, actually. Whether you’re an established business with a healthy customer database or a neophyte nonprofit still establishing your client list, getting a person’s name right is crucial to your success.
Dale Carnegie, author of How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), specialized in interpersonal skills – and while the tome that made him famous is almost eight decades old, it’s still a trusted resource. He knew how to curry favor with potential clients –beginning with the most influential words that he could use. He stated: “A person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”
Your name forms the core of your identity: if it’s misspelled, you’re apt to dissociate yourself from it; it’s not “you.” But if someone uses it correctly and appropriately, we’re inclined to feel validated and exhibit positive behaviors toward the person or business that used our name.
Using a person’s correct name adds credibility to your email blast, email, or mailing – and it’s key to building and maintaining a positive customer relationship. Many people disregard correspondence using incorrect information because it indicates that it’s coming from a source that doesn’t actually “know” them – how many times have you thrown away a piece of mail or deleted an email that misspelled your name? Would you feel compelled to open correspondence that’s clearly without merit?
In his book The Next Step in Database Marketing (1966), author Dick Shaver noted, “…what hurts your response and possibly your future relationship with anyone the most is spelling their name wrong!” (p. 263). In almost four decades since this printing, a person’s name continues to be the most important component of a customer database. According to Biz Report, misspelling someone’s name breeds resentment. In a UK survey of 2,001 consumers conducted by Emailvision and YouGov, 40% of the participants provided their gender and 37% stated their age, but only 28% provided their name.
So what’s a business to do? Having an incomplete or inaccurate database handicaps your marketing efforts and hurts your bottom line. Accurate data appending is vital to ensure that have you have all of your potential client’s information – beginning with their all-important name. And it’s vital that you spell it correctly. You need your customer or potential customer to engage with you on that first contact and with every correspondence afterward. Quality data appends support the tracking and reporting that your business needs to keep your marketing campaigns relevant and fresh – and to keep your customers coming back. Accurate Append knows how important it is to get a customer’s name right and that’s why we always match customer databases by both name and address, never on one or the other.
Every business needs complete, accurate, up-to-date data – starting with someone’s name. Monitoring and updating your data to ensure currency and accuracy cultivates positive relationships with your customers – because a person’s name is the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
You can maximize your business potential with an accurate, thorough data appending service. Your customers – and your employees – will thank you. A rose by any other name might be as sweet, but what’s sweeter still is continued success.