Data, Bulk Emails and, Well, Data

I just received an email with the following request: “if you service the following states, NY, NJ, PA, OH, MD, VT, MI, ME, CT and NH…”. I immediately closed and deleted the email, for I’m in Washington. But then I started thinking, “why did the sender blast this out to the entire country?” Today, right now, with pretty much every CRM tool, you can refine your targets. With a few minutes of work, the sender of this email could’ve culled a few words from their message as well as targeted her message. Too many irrelevant emails and you find yourself in the spam box.

This ability to customize your message makes it significantly more relevant to your customers, to your audience. It makes you look more professional, and more knowledgeable. Powerful traits if you’re trying to build an audience, or come across as an influencer. Or, if you simply don’t want to waste your customer’s time. Which is good thing to desire.

So, the data is (or should be) there. Use it! Make yourself look smart, talented, professional and engaged. Unless you’re hoping to create more spam fodder.