Personalized URL’s, Can they work?

Back in November, I posted information regarding Cross Media Campaigns and the use of personalized touches and PURL’s within the Campaign.  

Today I came across a post by  Heidi Tolliver on The Digital Nirvana site called Guaranteeing the Success of Personalized URLs http://thedigitalnirvana.com/2009/02/guaranteeing-the-success-of-personalized-urls/comment-page-1#comment-723.  I thought the post was interesting and worth a follow up.  The article has good information as does the comments posted.

I’ve been involved in quite a few Cross Media Campaigns which included PURL’s as a phase during the touch campaign.  Some have been successful. The biggest challenge is the content that is delivered with the PURL.  The content has to be inviting and make the user want to go the extra step and click on the PURL. Offering someone a chance to win something just isn’t going to cut it most of the time.  Sure, it might get people to click on the URL and enter, but in most cases, this isn’t your goal.

Your goal is for people to show interest in your product or service.  You want to start a relationship with these people, start building your connections and contacts, build your business.  Having someone click the URL and only enter the giveaway isn’t a way to do this.  Your message with the PURL has to attract them to the site because they want to learn more about you and your company. 

Make sure your message is targeted to the contact. Make sure that you state your message clearly and the advantages if they contact and use you over other people. Give them something to make them think and look forward to hearing/learning about after they click on the PURL and contact you.  How can they save more money by contacting you, what are the benefits of your service over other similar services, etc.

PURL’s can work as a marketing tool and work well.  The success can be measured by the success of the content.