Dorothy Boyd was still in love with Jerry Maguire when he burst into her women’s support group meeting to try to win her back. After listening to his impassioned plea, she interrupted with the now-famous line, “You had me at hello.”
In everyday life, saying hello may not be enough to win over another person. Research conducted by brain scientists tells us if we really want to grab the attention of another person, we should say their name.
Hearing the sound of your own name causes a chemical reaction that releases feel-good hormones including dopamine and serotonin. Viewed with fMRI technology that measures and maps brain activity, the left hemisphere lights up.
Knowing that “Hello Dorothy” is far more impactful than “Hello” has practical applications. For individuals striving to “win friends and influence people,” psychologist Dale Carnegie memorably advised: “Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”
For marketers whose job is to reach individuals in the target market, the challenge is to use the person’s name in the most engaging way — and do it within the first 8 seconds. Seeing one’s name in text — Hi Dorothy! — is the lowest level of personalization. Hearing one’s name spoken — in a voice-over, for example — takes it up a notch. The highest level of personalization is seeing and hearing a person saying your name.
Our Personalized Videos utilize at least two and often all three forms of personalization. It’s one of several reasons Personalized Video has higher open rates, click-through rates and conversions than other marketing vehicles in higher education and other fields.
Missed the webinar on how to engage student-athletes?
As Official Personalized Video Partner of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, Allied Pixel recently presented a webinar for NAIA members on how to engage prospective student-athletes with data-driven Personalized Videos. If you missed it, or you are not an NAIA member, you can still get all the information by talking with Tom Mikowski. Set up an appointment by emailing him at [email protected].
Meet team member JD Spivey
Creating and editing templates as a member of our Personalized Video team requires a background just like JD’s: a combination of creative and technical skills. He picks up where the video editor leaves off in customizing for each client the data variables and visual presentation. JD spends his free time hanging out with his wife or in his backyard playing with his nine-year-old daughter and their six-month-old puppy.
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