Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff writes about ‘the best email marketing he ever got‘, from a villa rental company. The most interesting part for me:
As Nikki Hooton, who wrote this email, told me, “The interesting thing is that we actually tried a much more “professional” looking format with a very nice visual element… but we discovered that people treated it like a mass mailer you might get from Amazon.com or another huge company. When we just use plain text and a photo or two, people consider it much more personal.”
(Of course, seeing the email pasted into Josh’s blog, you don’t see exactly how it came through in his email inbox – but it’s easy to guess.)
I’m increasingly convinced that we’re moving into a post-marketing world. This was a personal communication from someone who loves the holiday business, and makes an emotional connection with potential clients on that basis. It’s her enthusiasm stirring my enthusiasm. (That’s why a lot of successful blogs are successful: because it’s a raw outlet for people’s genuine passion.)