We were about to turn on the email marketing engine for a client. 

Just then, their CMO asked why we were sending emails in the CEO’s name.

“Which other name should we use?” I asked.

“Use a do-not-reply email address. Doesn’t that save us the bother of having to reply…?”

The marketer in me blanked out before she finished uttering marketing heresy.

She wanted to send a cold email to her list without any context. She then wanted them to open the email, read the message, click the CTA button, and sign up.

But she didn’t want to hear from these people – whether it was a question about signing up, the offering, or customer service – who would do exactly what she wanted.