Customer Relationships: Making human connections with email marketing

TRANSCRIPT:

Flint McGlaughlin: Prior to walking in here, my team and I scanned my inbox. From that inbox, we want to share with you a group of messages. This is just a selection of the kinds of messages I'm receiving from people hoping to build a relationship with me and/or stimulate a buying response.

You'll notice the first one is from a lovely hotel in our area. My organization, our research lab, has put many guests up here, and I personally have probably stayed in this hotel more than 50 times. That's important because I want you to look at the email and ask yourself number one, does it even look like an email? Number two, is it an email or really a landing page sending an email? Number three, is there any sort of relationship or relational dimension? Why do I say that? Because it feels like an advertisement shoved in my face.

Now, these are good people. I like the hotel, and I don't know anyone in the marketing group. But what perplexes me is this: If I have stayed in this hotel more than 50 times, if they have all of my personal information including my credit card on file — and they do — if my organization, the organization of which I'm the CEO, has put up guests here, then why is it they send me the same email they're sending everyone else? Why is it that this communication is a one-way communication that doesn't acknowledge me or my relationship with them in any way?