Automation is a wonderful thing, and depending on the time and place, can be a lifesaver. But there’s often times where it feels too robotic, and not at all personal. If anything, it could feel like an insult.

For example, let’s look at LinkedIn. If your LinkedIn is anything like mine, you get notifications for birthdays, new jobs, anniversaries, etc.. And let’s say you would like to wish someone congratulations on the new life changing event. LinkedIn so kindly sends a message to your connection saying, “Congratulations on the new job!”

Now, in theory that’s lovely. It is a nice way to save time and send a little message to a connection. But think about being on the other end of that message. If I received it, I would know that someone just clicked the button. Do they really care? Did they even realize they sent a message?

All it takes is 30 seconds. In an additional 30 seconds, you could add a heart felt message that gives the impression, “I care about you. You mean something to me. You are important, on my mind, and I want to wish you well.” As the recipient of message with that intention, you’ll feel the love. You’ll feel the human behind the message and have a much bigger impact.

I’m in no way knocking automation, without it I certainly would not remember to pay my house bills or remember to reset my clock for daylight savings (if it weren’t for my iPhone changing the time, I’d be a mess). But it’s important to embrace automation and remember to infuse it with a little human touch.

Before you go forward with your digital marketing campaign, think about the person on the receiving end of that message. What would they want to hear? How do they want you to speak to them? It’s easy to think, “this is my message I want to give the audience,” but it might not be what they want to hear or in a format that is easy for them to digest. So before executing that campaign and letting it run free, think about what outcomes you want to have and how to make it human. Because after all, no one likes a robot.*

*That’s not true, robots can be super cool and awesome and I would totally be okay having a robot at home to do my chores. But when it comes to marketing, what your customer wants is to know they have a real person on their side. Save the robots for building your Ikea furniture.