AvantGo gets it right

I’ve griped before about companies who send marketing email to addresses they’ve had in their database for years but never before used. What they forget is that just because I’ve given them my email address sometime in the past doesn’t mean that I’d be interested in hearing from them now, out of the blue.

AvantGo sent me an email last night that gets things right.

Dear AvantGo user,

We at AvantGo are updating our marketing database and would like to verify if and how you would like us to communicate with you.

If you haven’t heard from us in a while, you may be surprised to see how much has changed at AvantGo. With our recent acquisition by iAnywhere Solutions, a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc., AvantGo now offers a wider range of award-winning enterprise mobility solutions for Web applications and corporate data than any other vendor.

Please take a moment and click here to indicate your preferences, and we’ll get back to you with some valuable information.

If you would prefer not to receive further communications from AvantGo, please unsubscribe using our communication preferences.

However, should you choose to hear from us again, we hope to have the opportunity to help make your enterprise mobility goals a reality.

Thank you,
Brian Vink
VP Marketing
IAnywhere Solutions Inc.

First they let me know where they got my address (I’m an AvantGo user). Then they let me know why they are refreshing permission (they’ve been bought and plan on beginning a marketing campaign). They give me a little information about the company and why I might want to get their marketing emails, and finally I’m given an easy way to indicate what my email preferences are. It’s even signed by a real person instead of a faceless "AvantGo Customer Service" signature.