It’s birthday time again and it’s nice to know that the folks at Clairol and winfreestuf.com haven’t forgotten me this year.

It’s quite spooky to get faceless birthday emails from corporations – makes me wonder what other info they have on me. What’s next? Will I receive wedding gifts this October from the likes of Johnson & Johnson and Colgate?

This is a classic example of personalization gone wrong.

Now on the other hand… personalization can be done well.

Amazon, for example, knows what I like & what’s on my wish list. I have a long standing interactive relationship with Amazon. The birthday greeting here may have been automated, but at least I got something tangible out of it – a discount for things I want anyway.

Wine.com also shot over a birthday greeting with a $10 coupon, which was great. Again – a long standing customer relationship where greetings and coupons are welcomed.

The lesson to be learned here: it’s okay to reach out to your customers, even in an automated fashion, as long as it’s relevant. It’s never okay to use someone’s birthday as a reason to spam them – it’s empty and shallow and a big waste of your marketing dollars.

Now I’m off for that birthday latte.