When you should and shouldn’t personalise your communication
In every textbook or training course, we’re told that best-practice communication means you personalise your communication to your audience.
Which is true … until it becomes a risk to do so!
Sometimes personalising communication - particularly when there are large audience groups involved - increases the risk of you getting something wrong.
And when you have inaccurate or incorrect information in your communication, it damages your credibility.
For example, when communicating about a complex topic, that might have many different scenarios depending on each individual’s context (eg, “you are eligible for this, unless you have this…”), you could try and personalise it for each individual, but there’s a huge risk you’ll say the wrong thing to the wrong person.
Similarly, when inputting specific numbers into communication (for example, new fees or charges, or changes to a person’s remuneration), if the data is inaccurate, you risk sharing the wrong information with the wrong people, and potentially breaching privacy laws.
The third reason you should consider steering away from personalisation, is if you risk confusing people by including too much information. For example, if you have to include a number of reasons why something is changing or why they’re receiving the communication, you could be providing too much information, or information that contradicts other messages.
If you’re absolutely sure you have the information and data correct, and can tailor and personalise communication to individuals at low risk, then you should personalise. Having that level of detail can build credibility and confidence (if it’s right).
But if there’s a chance you could get it wrong, or there’s so many different potential scenarios and outcomes that the communication has become confusing, then you could damage your credibility.
Instead, stop and think about how you could simplify, such as:
Use a diagram or infographic, instead of multiple lines of written information and explanations.
Keep the communication high-level and mostly generic, tailoring simple things like the person’s name; then point to another source of truth for the detail, such as a webpage or intranet site that you can update if you need.
Have a conversation! Open the floor for people to ask questions and figure out what the information means to them personally.
If it’s a written communication, apart from pointing people to more information online, provide an option for a phone call or webchat where more specific information can be shared.
Want more communication tips?
Check out the Less Chatter, More Matter podcast! Bite-sized, weekly episodes packed full of practical, actionable communication tips. Available on your podcast app of choice, or check it out here.
