Hi First name / friend,

 

 

Okay, I know I used your first name above 👆 (or, if you have not supplied me with that information, the trusty fallback, “friend”).

 

But you know I'm not really writing this email exclusively to you, right?

 

Email is, arguably, the most personal form of marketing.

 

Think about it. The only way to do it (legally) is to get people to willingly subscribe to your list, then choose to open your message, then take the time to read it — all in a place that's extremely private and protected.

 

That's part of why I appreciate you so much, BTW. I know you don't let just anyone into your inbox. I'm grateful to be here!

 

 

Imagine, First name / friend, if I pretended to know you better than I do. If I made assumptions about your worldview. If I cared more about how you fit into a specific segment in my list (like “male photographers who live in Indianapolis and drive a pink car”) than about sending you, First name / friend, the right message.

 

Imagine if I peppered every email with several mentions of your name just to grab your attention. You'd hate that, wouldn't you, First name / friend?

I used to work for an agency that specialized in digital marketing for auto dealerships. 

 

We used powerful CRM platforms like HubSpot and SharpSpring to capture precise details about people, then create workflows that automatically sent them “personalized” emails based on what vehicles they owned, which website pages they viewed, and when they last visited the site.

 

It's as complex as it sounds.

 

We did good work and cared about our clients. But I often wondered if — to use a business cliché — we were missing the forest for the trees.* 

 

As marketers, we can get so wrapped up in the “strategy” that we forget there's an actual human on the other side.

 

It's easy to get excited about the tactics and tech. It's tempting to over-personalize our emails.

 

But First name / friend, try not to overdo it, or you'll seem disingenuous. First name / Friend.

 

 

With a wink,

Sarah 😘

 

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