Reminds me of how, as children, we were scolded when we shouted out “eyyy” at someone.
Not sure if it is worse than the Hello firstname in parenthesis, in spite of signing up with a bunch of details. Some people are great at getting you to sign up with a lot of info – and you end up thinking, okay, so these guys are serious about their market research. They also put you through the captcha challenge and just when you are about to give up, they stop playing with you and do the deed. Then they go and send you an email that they didn’t bother to customize. I mean, it is better to say Dear/Hi Reader, right? It is just a matter of a coding setting and letting it do the rest. Sigh.
I am a big fan of email subscriptions because I like to see it in my mailbox rather than visit Google Reader to read stuff. I mean, I have nothing against RSS and if a site does not offer email subscriptions, I am cool with that. Another easy “catching up” method is to “follow” the blog – but that is possible only if it is on blogger – or if the site has that networked blogs widget – which means I can see the updates on my Facebook homepage. Still – that too is dicey because it means I must go somewhere (Facebook) to read it. Unless I scroll from the top to eternity, and spend a few hours reading the stuff….you get what I mean.
So – to sum it up, email marketing rocks.
Here are some great links that talk about email marketing best practices:
Design and Build Email Newsletters Without Losing Your Mind (and Soul) – Smashing Magazine
A Guide to Creating Email Newsletters | Webdesigner Depot
Writing Email Newsletters: Best Practices — Groundwire
Email Newsletter Best Practices 2011 | Email Newsletter Resource Center Blog
Okay – any more links and that’s an information overload.
Enjoy.
Cheers!
Vidya
5 comments
—Vidya,
nothing like making one feel un-recognized & de-valued.
It’s sort of like recieving a birthday card and the sender signs it with just with their stupid name scibbled across the bottom. Why bother?
xxX
I know, Kim. Yet people do it all the time. And then there are those that don’t even care to reply!
This is in response to your profile.. lovely introduction there. Will wait for those three books personally sent to me with your autograph … 😉
Insurance companies send email and SMS premium payment reminders that start with ‘Dear Mr./Ms./Mrs.’ As you said, if they can’t personalise it completely, it’s better not to personalise it at all.
Proactive Indian recently posted…Witty, or obnoxious, elitist and arrogant?
🙂 Hey Pro! It seriously cheeses me off – especially after they make you fill out their forms.
How did you catch this old post? 😀
Cheers!
Vidya Sury recently posted…Raw Banana Roast Recipe