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Some e-Mails Are Actually Worth Reading

by Lauren

Every time I sign up for another e-mail alert, I hesitate. Do I really want to get more e-mail? Who wants MORE e-mail?

People cringe these days when they're asked for their e-mail addresses by a company, because they assume they will get bombarded with various, uninteresting advertisements. Some firms now offer you the option of only getting spammed by their individual firm...unless you check the hidden box that says you must opt out or write a letter or something archaic like that to get off of their e-mail lists, which they may sell.

A lot of advisors we talk to at kasina basically delete anything they receive from an asset management company, assuming it's something personally irrelevant. There's one advisor we talked to who even has his assistant "cleanse" his e-mail for him, since he assumes 90 percent of the e-mails he receives aren't worth his time.

Yet despite all of this, I signed up for another e-alert just last night, this time from www.maxdelivery.com. I mean, anyone who can deliver whatever goods I want in less than an hour (and last night, in exactly 29 minutes) is likely to have something else good to offer me, right? I admire efficiency, and this is hard to beat, even for New York City. They'll even notify me when products I ordered are on sale; so when my Cheerios actually cost less than $5 a box here, I can stock up (except, I do live in New York, so probably can still only fit a max of two boxes in my kitchen).

Before I go off on a New York tangent, the point is that I am no different than your typical advisor or investor: I'll sign up for and read e-mails that are relevant to me. It's a simple concept, but one that seems rarely utilized in the asset management industry (and many others) today.

If you send people personalized e-mails, they're going to read them, because they actually provide value. If firms used their CRM systems a bit better, the interest in e-mail campaigns may just actually increase.