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Happy Birthday, what's your name? 3 rules for email relevance

On a recent birthday I had the good fortune to receive a number of well wishes and shout outs. Through mail, email, phone calls and facebook, I was a minor celebrity in my own mind for a day with a fleeting 2 point bump in Klout Score and equally brief sense of self importance.  And then, just as the friendly flurry had frenzied, it was over and the next day was just another day.    
Sifting through some of the less personal emails and direct mails, I noticed a few services and businesses had taken the opportunity to leverage personal information they had about me to congratulate me on my annual day.  These varied and random notes highlight some basic rules marketers should consider when running personal campaigns in the customer engagement journey. 


1. Do I know You?
Sure, you know me.  A lot of companies do.  But why now?  Is this the single lonely communication of the year, a sort of minimum level for which you expect me to keep opted in to your mailing list?  No seriously, are you the type of acquaintance that sends me a once a year card and then nothing for the other 11 months? 
Building an ongoing relationship requires developing a narrative that understands what the customer is interested in and why they are willing to connect with you.  Have we done business in the past? Have some good advice?              

2. Do I Care?
OK, Thanks for the birthday wishes and the reminder you know my personal details.  Its really nice of your trigger based email campaign database to think of me.  But why specifically do we need to communicate?  Do you have a present for me?  Can I get free pancakes or a shot of something I’ll never order again?

One of the emails I got was from a visa department after having booked
a tourist visa for a recent vacation.  Again, thanks for remembering, but am I really going to visit Cambodia again soon just because you sent me a birthday email?  At least include some images of the location to take me back to why I went in the first place or introduce me to some places I have yet to go. 
Perhaps even more difficult is a birthday card from the medical imaging service... cant really send me a picture of me from their files.


3. What Now? 
The call to action on a personal note like a birthday is tricky.  Any non-compelling or irrelevant offers should be secondary and less intrusive.  
Other personal holidays are perhaps a better opportunity for cross sales.  Anniversary’s for example, are a great opportunity to check in and determine if an opportunity exists to right size the relationship.  Some holidays, like the December Gift-A-Pallooza season can provide a relevant backdrop for a product based message.


So the next time you consider clogging up your customer’s inbox with an irrelevant and no non-sequator note, think again.  Make sure you are building a relevant and value add dialogue rather then a one-off attempt for a once a year chance to stay out of the spam folder. 

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