Hello $FirstName: Profiting from Personalization. How putting people's first name in emails is only the first step towards customer centricity

The title of this book Hello $FirstName is a reference to what could very well be the most common example of Personalization in the world. The personalized salutation often used in an email or a LinkedIn connection request. However, as this book will show, there is much more to personalization than putting people’s first name into a subject line.

The book is aimed at all marketers working with personalization, to help them get a clear understanding of the concept and share this with their team to ultimately create better results with the resources at hand. The first and second parts of the book focus on understanding the concept in detail and will be helpful for marketing practitioners of all levels. The last two parts focus on the prerequisites as well as the organizational foundation of personalization and will be particularly helpful to marketing leaders and CEOs wishing to guide their organization towards creating the best possible customer experience.

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“Hello $FirstName is one of the best books on personalization I've read. Rasmus Houlind and his co-authors provide an excellent blueprint for implementing real-world personalization capabilities and developing the organizational capital to apply them effectively.”

- SCOTT BRINKER, EDITOR, CHIEFMARTEC.COM

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“It's continually important that we talk about personalization from a unified perspective and understanding. This book helps us achieve that common ground.”

- FIONA SPOONER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, CONSUMER REVENUE, FINANCIAL TIMES

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“Incredibly insightful views on personalization – the largest and most rapid ROI projects that our clients are implementing. Hello $FirstName is a must-read for B2C commerce in 2023.”

- DOUG WEICH, CEO, SOPHELLE

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“Personalization within marketing is extremely challenging but if done correctly, will become the key to your success. Hello $FirstName is by far one of the best books to help you navigate this complex universe and map out the crucial strategy needed. A must-have for every modern marketer!”

- FREDRIK SALZEDO, DIRECTOR, GLOBAL MARTECH AND AUTOMATIONS, HBO MAX AND DISCOVERY+

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“Personalization might be all the rage right now but it's an amorphous beast that means different things to different brands. There is a real risk of derailing the movement towards more personalized customer experiences if we fail to define what it is, what it isn't, and what the common standards should be. I'd urge any customer-focused marketer to order Hello$FirstName today!”

- DAN BRAIN, CO-FOUNDER AND CONTENT DIRECTOR, MAD//FEST

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“In the pursuit of a seamless customer experience and with today's digital possibilities, personalization has rightly become one of the most hyped marketing terms. This compact, coherent, and practice-oriented book not only offers novices a very good introduction to the topic, but certainly also inspires experts and helps organizations with common goal setting and efficient implementation through a comprehensible, uniform language. A definite reading recommendation.”

- JESPER REISMANN, FORMER SVP OMNICHANNEL, HUGO BOSS

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“A long-awaited, essential guide for marketers aiming to crack the code on profitable personalization of customer journeys. Maximizing return on investments in marketing automation, personalization technology, AI and data is not only about doing things right, but also about doing the right things. This book is inspirational in both areas.”

- JANNEKE TRANÅS MARINO, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT CONSUMER MARKET AND CX, GJENSIDIGE

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“Hello $FirstName gave me this weird feeling of reading about our daily work struggles at HBO Max but with a unique solution oriented approach to help us improve. The book is truly a valuable deep dive into the world of personalization.”

- PIER LUIGI SPAGNA, VP OF EMEA RETENTION AND ENGAGEMENT, WARNER BROS.

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Rasmus Houlind is a well-known writer, speaker, and consultant in the Nordics. After ten years of consulting within digital marketing and marketing automation, in 2015 he published his first marketing book (in Danish), Hvis det handler om mig, så køber jeg! (If It's About Me, I'll Buy!). In 2019 he followed up with the omnichannel marketing bestseller Make It All About Me from LID Publishing. Since then, he has evangelized omnichannel marketing and marketing automation from his position as Chief Experience Officer with the Nordic martech company Agillic. He has worked with organizations such as Red Cross, PureGym DK, Tivoli, Matas, Bolia, SPORTMASTER, Imerco, Varner-Gruppen, Andel Energi, and Telge Energi.