Here is a snapshot of a portion of my office email inbox from this morning (I've redacted the names of the senders):
And my 'home' email inbox:
And when I checked my junk mail folder, yet another message:
Each email contained the same text:
Dear Allison,
Groundhog Day is around the corner! No matter what the Groundhog sees, I am sending you wishes for a sunny spring and a wonderful year. Happy Groundhog Day!
Here is your Groundhog Day card. (the bold text was a link in the original email)
All of these messages came from financial planners. Each works for a different company, and yet each sent exactly the same canned email. Groundhog Day is an unusual 'holiday' for which to send an email, and Groundhog Day won't even arrive for two more days. While sending a Groundhog Day email might make you stand out in other circumstances, this only serves to highlight the fact that these emails are not only automated messages (which is fine for some messages, especially if they are actually composed by the sender themselves) , but are apparently canned emails that someone in the industry thought was a good idea and now everyone is doing it.
Since these same individuals always send me the same messages on the same days, I don't usually even bother to read the emails, let alone click to the links presented. I did so today only because I wanted to write this post.
Not only were the emails identical, but the cards all begin the same way, with an 'envelope' that says "Special Delivery" and "Just for You!" (obviously not the case). Next, an animation of a groundhog appears (at least the animations were slightly different). At the end of the animation, a request to click to open the 'card' appears. The wording of the 'card' was the same in all cases:
Dear Allison,
Turn your face toward the sun, keep your attitude bright, and put the winter behind you!
Best wishes for an early spring and a Happy Groundhog Day!
Not only was the email canned, but it was a complete waste of my time, with all of the clicking, waiting and useless animation. If it was meant to make me feel 'special' or remembered, it had the opposite effect because it was so obviously canned and directed indiscriminately to the senders' entire mailing list. And it provided nothing whatsoever of value.
Although there may not be many people who have managed to get themselves on the email lists of as many financial planners as I apparently have, I question wisdom of sending out this kind of canned content as a general rule - particularly when you are sending it to every single person on your contact list. I am the client of only one of these financial planners. The others are individuals whom I have met professionally, networked with, or somehow just made it to their email list. Most professionals know other professionals - often multiple professionals in the same industry. It may not be so far-fetched to think that your clients, potential clients or referral sources may receive contacts from other lawyers - even other lawyers within your practice area.
Letting clients, potential clients, referral sources and strategic alliances know you are thinking about them and reaching out in a genuine way or providing information of value are good business development strategies. But this one misses the mark.
Do you think this kind of email is likely to make me want to work with any of the individuals with whom I am not already working? Do you think it reflects well on the one for whom I am already a client? Do you think I am likely to open emails from them in the future?
Most of us get too many email messages to keep up with on a daily basis as it is. Is this really the kind of message you want to send?
That's so true. All those messages were basically saying "You are just another name on our mailing list".
At least they could have come up with a Groundhog Day special offer, or even better, a freebie.
We don't have Groundhog Day in Australia, but I have seen the Groundhog Day movie. :)
So, a relevant freebie to give away would be about not repeating your past mistakes over and over again, right? (In the case of financial planners, it would be 'financial mistakes' but it applies to any industry.)
Posted by: Trisha Cupra | February 01, 2011 at 03:16 AM