Page 76 - 100 Great Copywriting Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

Hmm. Something of a pattern emerging here. When we write
letters and emails to our friends and family, i.e., the people we have
relationships with, we use our name at the end. So why do so many
organizations think the way to conclude a “customer service” or
“relationship building” email (don’t make me laugh) is with some
half-hearted “The Watkins Widgets Team”?
Teams are impersonal. Teams can’t form meaningful relationships
with customers. Teams are anonymous, unaccountable, and just
plain wrong. Letters and emails signed by teams say one thing loud
and clear: “We don’t care about you.” Because if they did, they’d
have the wit, or the insight, to realize that people like to receive
communications from other people. Individual people.
If you want to ensure your letter carries the same sort of emotional
freight as those birthday cards, love letters, and party emails we all
love receiving, go through the text and weed out any references to
the reader second-person plural (e.g., some of you), the reader third-
person plural (e.g., our customers), or the writer first-person plural
(e.g., we).

In practice

• Put the name of the team leader at the foot of the email or letter.

Or better still, put the name of someone really important in
your company.

• Get them to sign the letter. By that I mean scan in their signature.

Do not, ever, use one of those cheapo script typefaces.

100 GREAT COPYWRITING IDEAS • 67