Something occurred to me about opt-in relevance, when I received a few Thanksgiving emails from the USA, this week. Many of my email subscriptions, which I am signed up for, are with US organizations; however, my email address and my opt-in information is based in Canada.
It throws me off to receive a Thanksgiving greeting, because the Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October, as our harvest festival; whereas, the American Thanksgiving celebrates the deliverance of the English settlers by Native American peoples after the brutal winter at Plymouth, Massachusetts, at the end of November.
Don’t misunderstand me, I appreciate the warm and gracious holiday greetings, from the USA. It’s a time for celebration in the USA of the harvest and triumph of the pioneer’s human spirit; however, from an email relevance perspective, if I opt-in as a Canadian, shouldn’t I receive a Thanksgiving email in October?
Very good point. I had a conversation the other day with a client in England, and I ended the call with “Have a happy Thanksgiving!” and she paused and then said, “We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving.” Needless to say, it sometimes means taking a step back and thinking about your audience. The US has long had what I’ll call for lack of a better word, selfish view of the world, and along that same line, so do American businesses. I think paying attention to your contacts’ preferences, as you said, makes a huge difference especially around the holidays.
-Kelly Lorenz
I’ve thought about that as well for my users. I have trouble enough remembering my own holidays though, so to get them all right for everyone else.. =P
Tim, that might be true but irrelevance is the new spam. Remember Google Calendar is your friend – it remembers for you.
US Holidays: http://tinyurl.com/6lpftr
Canadian Holidays: http://tinyurl.com/59bevl
Matt
@emailkarma