Eli Baskin

“The big problem is that the messages, while they can be and sometimes are personalized, are seldom filled with dynamic content based on what we know about each customer. We have these rich databases, but we do not use the rich data that they hold. To use it requires many creative staff members who dream up the dynamic content. The thought is, “Subscribers who are over 65 have certain interests, while other subscribers are college students who have different interests. We will vary our messages based on this knowledge, and also do that for about a half-dozen other subscriber segments to make our relationships richer for them and more profitable for us.” This makes a lot of sense, but few marketers today are doing anything like that. They are blasting identical content to every subscriber or customer whose e-mail or address they can get their hands on.”
― Arthur Hughes, Strategic Database Marketing 4e: The Masterplan for Starting and Managing a Profitable, Customer-Based Marketing Program