Actually, that’s putting it lightly. Andy’s screaming that ProFlowers’ email marketing thinks he is gay, and he’s telling everyone! Maybe because it’s Pride month, or perhaps the rainbow reference in their copy, but that’s Andy’s impression.

I’m sure this wasn’t Proflower’s intention. It was, however, a poor job of personalization. What ProFlowers did was take a professional relationship and turn it into personal familiarity. They do a fabulous job of personalizing around birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays–but those are set events on a calendar. This is much tougher in a “just because” email for the simple fact that relationships–like the one between Andy and ProFlowers–doesn’t exist on a calendar.

I hope my friends from ProFlowers go ahead and forward the following couple of posts to the email marketers:

Your Email Marketing Sucks!* Study Says So…

Why “Personalization” of the Web Scares Me

I do want to thank ProFlowers, though, for reminding me that I haven’t touched based with Anne Holland from MarketingSherpa in a while–she’s the last person I sent flowers to from ProFlowers. (Apologies to my lovely wife. It’s not what it seems.)

Be proud, Andy. Spread the word!