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As a lawyer, I frequently receive various unsolicited marketing pitches in my email inbox. Most of them are not worthy of a second’s attention. Then there’s this one:

Hey Wilson, 

I’m reaching out to you because Thumbtack is getting a lot of job leads for mediators, and I’m looking for another mediator who is interested in taking on more clients.

After checking out your website I think you are a great fit for Thumbtack and I’d love to start sending you job leads. Please fill out a few details about your skills and rates, and I’ll start forwarding you potential new clients.

If you have any questions about what Thumbtack can provide, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Thanks,
Heather 
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1001 Page St, Suite #45, San Francisco, CA
This message is an advertisement.

Just for fun, let’s take this apart and analyze it.

First, am I the only one who thinks that “hey” is too informal? How about something like “Hello”?

Second, if Heather really has checked my web site, she’d probably know that Wilson is my last name.

Third, why not tell me what Thumbtack is? Even though I’ve already been turned off by Heather’s lack of effort and informality, if she had a compelling message I might look past it. Instead, I’m left to wonder how credible this business is and why I should even bother to click on the links.

In the interest of full investigation, I did click on the links (both of which brought up the “fill in your details” page). I had to go find the information about their business. They appear to be a competitor of Yelp. Even so, I’m alienated enough by the laziness on their part that I have no interest in looking into them further. Maybe this is the Next Big Thing, but it sure doesn’t act like it.

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