when I am designing web form I am leaving out the title field (Mr/Ms). Asking for the title on B2B websites always seems somehow unprofessional. However, I want to have title information to personalize emails (Dear Mr X…).
My idea/approach: there are web services which receive a first name and return if the name is male or female (including probability). When a new contact registers (or for existing contacts in bulk mode) the web service will be called to fill out the title in the Mautic database.
My questions:
Stupid or not?
Does this approach sound clever or am I missing something?
What would be the (rough) steps to implement this?
when I am designing web form I am leaving out the title field (Mr/Ms). Asking for the title on B2B websites always seems somehow unprofessional. However, I want to have title information to personalize emails (Dear Mr X…).
My idea/approach: there are web services which receive a first name and return if the name is male or female (including probability). When a new contact registers (or for existing contacts in bulk mode) the web service will be called to fill out the title in the Mautic database.
My questions:
Stupid or not?
Does this approach sound clever or am I missing something?
What would be the (rough) steps to implement this?
In my opinion, leave that behind don’t use Mr or Ms according to the contact name because in some case you will be wrong!
One person name can be different in another country for sample i received a lot of email from companies and Marketing Automation software and they miss putting Mr. or Ms
Since my name is Joan and in some countries that are a female name in other is NOT
So the email i get look like this
Good morning Ms Joan,
Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla
And believe me this is not cool
Another sample is the Russian name Sasha is a lot of guys have this name.
In resume think about it if this will be good for your marketing activities.
Thanks for your point of view @ninjoan - as always highly appreciated.
I agree with you, any errors will cause user dissatisfaction. But how high is the percentage? Won’t the satisfaction of the user addressed correctly be that high so that the rest will be “collateral damage”?
I am really double-minded here. On the one hand I want to call the recipients with their name. As you won’t use the first name in Germany in most cases when it is about business I will need the title to call them with their last name. So, still planless.
How would you address your contacts? Stick with a simple “Dear Sir or Madam” although you know their names?
IMO it’s an outdated salutation. Unless you are selling to an older or uptight group who are used to be called this way. I’d say just don’t worry about it. It’s such a macro optimization. Better time would be spent focusing on increase of lead flow
@PeterTL,
there are a range of issues with what you are proposing, and unfortunately I don’t speak/write German so I can’t comment on the specific nuances of the language.
Certainly in English you wouldn’t prefix a first name with a salution (i.e. Dear Mr Jo). You’d only do that with a last name (Dear Mr. Pitts).
You can still be professional and yet not that formal. How about ‘Hi Jo,’ or ‘Dear Jo,’ or even just ‘Jo,’. You don’t have to use my surname at all.
I’m with @m0ltar. Focus on getting leads in the funnel, and getting compelling emails to them, and converting them. If your audience is that fussy on how you address them, then they need to be willing to supply the requisite title data.
To clear one thing up: I want to use their first name to determine their gender and then address them with “Dear Mr/Ms LastName”.
To conclude: My approach with the web service may not be exact enough and I will have to ask the lead to provide title information. I think I will do some A/B testing to get information on if it has an effect on the conversion rate.
But: the alternatives are “Dear Ms/Mr LastName” and “Dear Sir or Madam”. Using the first name within the first business contacts is almost impossible in Germany.
