Knowing My Name Isn't Personalisation.

A new reminder from my insurance company arrives. They realise they're in a commodity business so they're offering an array of benefits that they've arranged in tandem with wine retailers, travel companies and a cinema chain. Not especially original but it might sway someone.

However, the first offer in the list was the cinema chain discount and there we hit a problem because that chain does not have a multiplex in my neighbourhood. The insurance company knows my zip code and they should know the locations of their partner's cinemas. So, in an age of customisation, would it not be smarter marketing to identify those recipients who don't live within a reasonable catchment area relative to those cinemas and eliminate the offer line from their letters?

That way you avoid a wavering prospect from saying "that offer's worth nothing to me" and, by extension, feeling less inclined to look favourably upon the subsequent offers as deal-clinchers. That would be real customer relationship management.