Think Customers: The 1to1 Blog

Although the envelope was addressed to me, the "personal" letter inside from co-CEO Daniel Hassan was addressed "Dear Sir or Madam."

Are you kidding me?! A company the size of BackChannelMedia pays $2.36 in postage to send out three slickly produced (i.e., expensive!) pieces of marketing collateral--one about differentiation--designed to turn prospects into buyers to "Dear Sir or Madam"?? Unbelievable.

There are so many low-cost options for printing letters with the simple customization of adding the recipient's name in the Dear X field that I was shocked to receive this letter. I wonder how many marketers would actually take the next step to contact BackChannelMedia for help differentiating their firms when the company can't even make the effort to use the recipient's name on the letter.

BackChannelMedia isn't alone. This morning I received an email from supposed masters of personalization Amazon.com. It was addressed "Dear Amazon.com Customer" and led off with "As one of our best customers in Books." Like the missive from BackChannelMedia, the email was a sales pitch; in this case for me to buy books as holidays gifts.

Amazon has my email address and my name (I'm a registered user), knows I'm a high-value customer in a specific category, and has a recommendation engine so effective it set the bar for other websites, yet it doesn't have, or doesn't care to use, the technology to address email messages to its "best customers" using their names?!

I just don't get it.

There's an adage that says the sweetest sound to a person's ears (and, in direct marketing, view for their eyes) is their name. Using a customer's name is the simplest and most basic way to make or build a connection. And with the ease today of dropping a recipient's name into a communication, why would these big companies choose not to? What do you think?