I'm not at all sure I agree with some of these points.<p>Personalising by first/last name is a well-known screw-up if you're working with international markets. Numerous cultures put their surname first, assuming they even recognise the distinction at all. Also, being "chummy" by addressing mails to someone on a first-name basis will annoy a significant number of people, particularly those from older generations or, again, from various cultures other than English-speaking Western ones.<p>HTML e-mail is commonly accepted these days, but you need to know what you're doing. If you send something that looks cute in your mail client, that is no guarantee at all that it will render even sensibly, never mind identically, in other popular mail clients. Also, various things related to HTML e-mails are common markers for spam, and if it's the first time you're writing to a customer you're already the wrong side of average on a lot of popular mail systems these days.<p>Finally, the upsell-in-conclusion idea sounds dangerous to me. If I've trusted a company with my e-mail address and the first thing I get back is something trying to sell me more stuff rather than support whatever it was I signed up for, then my opinion of that company will instantly drop.