Seems our latest FieldNotes email took some readers by surprise.

To make a point about the creepiness of targeted marketing that knows too much about you, our email began in spam-like fashion, with over-the-top use of personalization and a (joking) comment about collecting data on customers. While most appreciated the humor and irony, it was a little too much for some in our audience.

Just goes to show how sensitive a topic this is!

In the end, we’d say we proved our point in a couple of ways. Intentionally, with a well-reasoned essay on creepy marketing that resonated with most readers. And unintentionally, by actually creeping out a few readers! Not sure if that’s a win-win exactly, but we suspect more people will think twice now about how they’re using customer data or how their own data is being used. And that’s definitely a good thing.