Yes, she’s 87 – and as far from a Gen C* member as one can get. But my friend and neighbor Maggie knows what she wants, and that extends to customized content.

Check it out.

In honor of a Dana family milestone, Maggie made a lovely contribution in our name to the MSPCA. A thank you note from this terrific organization (it seems that most of our good friends are animal lovers, surprise surprise) arrived in the mail (still the best method if you ask me).

When I thanked Maggie in person during our regular Saturday-at-Starbucks date, she asked if the note specified the fund to which she’d contributed. Maggie has a special connection to the fund for senior pets. “Check the note when you get home. Call me if it doesn’t name this fund,” she said as I dropped her off.

Sure enough, the note was a preprinted thank you note, announcing that Maggie made a gift in our name. There were lines preprinted on the card, onto which her contact info was typed, as well as the occasion of her gift, but no mention of her fund anywhere.

I saw nothing wrong with it, but she felt very strongly that it should have identified the fund she’d earmarked. Guess what? I don’t blame her. When she made the donation, she specified where the gift had to go.

What struck me is this: we read about Gen Y and Gen C members exhibiting this penchant for personalization. They want content (and products and services) their way. And here’s an 87-year-old demanding the same. A generic card wasn’t personal enough.

Now, the MSPCA need not preprint a boatload of different versions of their thank you card. All they need to do is add another line on the existing card and program the imprinting of each card to include more specific information when appropriate.

So think about opportunities to personalize communications to your customers. If I were a printer, that could mean my customers (or even prospects) get personalized equipment lists, based on his or her typical or likely print products. The list would highlight certain equipment or technology that’s a perfect fit for a specific customer. What else could you personalize in such a way that you’d endear yourselves to your customers?

File this under observations about Customers’ Content Preferences, or better yet, Personalized Products in Demand…no matter what generation the customer belongs to.

*Gen C generally describes those people born after 1990.

© 2012 Margie Dana. All rights reserved.