"Chic dresses for the garden party season" - so reads the header on the email I received from Nordstrom, inviting me to click over to its summer sale extravaganza. The day prior I received another email from Nordstrom for men's shoes. It occurs to me that I'll no doubt be the talk of the party wearing my new summer dress and wingtip shoes.
This never ceases to amaze me. Since I've been shopping at Nordstrom for several years I know they have data on my past purchases and product preferences (never have I bought a dress there), but they obviously don't want to spend the time or money to dig for that insight in order to deliver communications that are personally relevant - it's cheaper 
to just blast out to everyone. And so they continue to pound me with emails on a near-daily basis with offers that are not of interest, and in fact annoying.
It may be cost-efficient, but the collateral damage is significant as my perception of this storied brand, which has been built on a highly customer-centric service model and in-store experience, is being compromised with every mass-blast email solicitation they send.
By contrast, when I made my last purchase at one of their stores, the sales associate who helped me sent a quick email the next day to thank me and asking me to please contact him if I have problems or am not satisfied with my purchase. This kind of personal experience transcends the medium, creating a lasting affinity and loyalty to the brand.
My friend Joel Book, veteran database marketing pro now working with ExactTarget as director of e-marketing education, points out that communicating with customers via email (and all other digital media) is direct marketing, and the same rules of strategy apply. Effective email is driven by insight, allowing highly targeted delivery to narrowly defined audience subsets, with the right timing, frequency, content and offers.
Maybe it's time we go back and revisit a few of the lessons learned from direct marketing past, when economics forced companies to stop mass mailing and start targeting. If email cost the same as direct mail, we wouldn't be getting all this spam.
