"Nobody cares about your new Web design" - Ragan

Your customers couldn’t care less about your new design or whether your dog just had kittens.

So leads off the reality check from Ragan Communications, a long-time corporate communications consultancy. Columnist Gerry McGovern takes issue with an automated personalized e-mail that he received from Air New Zealand, touting in part the newly re-designed format of the newsletter. Here's an excerpt:

"Back to the Air New Zealand marketing e-mail that I don't remember signing up for. (I've had pretty good experiences flying with Air New Zealand by the way.)
"'Welcome to the second edition of our new look monthly e-mail.'" There are two fatal mistakes in the first sentence. Welcome? Hello? What's with the welcome? I don't want your welcome. If I want anything from you it's your deals, and hot deals at that. When you think of your customer, imagine Tony Soprano. Nothing personal, just business. Cut the crap. Get straight to the point."

What exactly was McGovern's point? In sum, this is a content age. If you're going to take the time (and the risk) to intrude into someone's personal space -- whether in person or in digital format -- make sure what you're intruding has potential value and relevancy.