Don’t be creepy. It is easy to over use personalization but a recent study shows that if you over step your bounds, people turn you off. http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/07/03/personalized-emails-are-creepy-not-effective/ It seems like this ought to be common sense. But then again when have marketers committed to common sense? I wouldn’t call my cousin’s wife “sugar” or “hot stuff” or “fine young thing”. It is simply out of line for the level of our relationship. The same holds true for email. After all, isn’t it about delivering the right message to the right fan at the right time through the right medium? Anything else doesn’t work.