… received an email with an odd greeting.

It came from a one-person company and opened with: “Hello Katz.”

Granted, “Katz” is in fact one of the words in my full name. That said, and with the possible exception of my high school basketball coach (who frequently used the phrase, “Katz, you’re a disgrace to that uniform!”), nobody calls me that.

Clearly, this a case of automated personalization gone awry.

It’s unfortunate when it happens and, I suppose, if you’re a huge company, that’s your only option in making a “personal” connection.

For solos and small firms, however, I recommend staying away from this kind of thing entirely.

Write as many one-off, truly personal emails as you can manage and for the rest, just leave it at “Hello.” We all know this stuff is automated and there’s more to lose than gain in trying to fake it.

Thanks for reading, [FIRST NAME].