That was my reaction when I recieved a Thanksgiving greeting via e-mail from a local business owner. It's not that I don't appreciate being wished well, its that the e-card stated how thankful the sender was to have me as a clinet -- but I wasn't. Now this may seem like a small thing, but in my opinion it is as off putting as the old "dear occupant" and about as likely to make me feel like this buisness new me or really cared.

Of course, I know that this was a mass mailing, not a perosnal greeting, but the statement that was lound and clear, though unspoken, was that the sender didn't feel it necessary to take the time to segment their list and make a version of the message for two groups. In this day and age, appropriate personalization easy to do and not doing it in an era of one-to-one marketing will make you stand out in your audiences's mind-- but not in the way you want!