What do you think is the value of email marketing and why should I use it?

99% of email lists I am ever subscribed to by any method I unsubscribe. The one I have tolerated for a while is the Ticketmaster one but just thinking about the fact that I do tolerate it made me unsubscribe from that while I am writing this post. I am now unaware of any email list I subscribe to because I find them more annoying than useful. If I want to know something, I will Google it, search my own notes, or ask a friend. I never get emails that I feel are personal enough to merit my attention.

Due to this heavy personal bias against email marketing, I have been hesitant to use it in my business. I collected my list once of customer emails and I had a list of over 500. I uploaded it to survey monkey and wrote what I had intended as an email filled with helpful information and asking for their advice. Surveymonkey helped me out suspended on my first email before it sent. After two years in the online advertising and internet marketing business, I still have never executed an email marketing campaign. I believe a personal approach is the most important and I only email my customers with information strictly relevant to them with a personal email addressed only to them.

The question I have for you is based on seeing how much value others place on email marketing, what am I missing and is it worth even considering? In other words, what do you think the value of building an email list is and how do you use it in your business?

In expanding my original question based on replies, it seems list building is critical for those in the affiliate market (I guess technically we all are if we find something our customers could use and send them to it). For companies selling well known products and services such as tickets, fashion items, etc. it is clear that having a list is a huge value because it is cost effective. Whether one person like me unsubscribes to all the lists is fairly meaningless next to the millions that do since I was often not interested to begin with.It seems list building is critical for those in the affiliate market (I guess technically we all are if we find something our customers could use and send them to it). For companies selling well known products and services such as tickets, fashion items, etc. it is clear that having a list is a huge value because it is cost effective. Whether one person like me unsubscribes to all the lists is fairly meaningless next to the millions that do since I was often not interested to begin with.

For me personally, there is a key difference. I generally am selling custom solutions to challenging online advertising problems. My customers pay hundreds at a minimum and my best customers are spending hundreds of thousands on online ads. I manage hundreds of personal relationships with them which can literally go wrong with one impersonal or not well thought email. Most of them are very busy and prefer to have me just do what they need without constantly interrupting them. This is not surprising since my customers tend to be a lot like me. For me personally, there is a key difference. I generally am selling custom solutions to challenging online advertising problems. My customers pay hundreds at a minimum and my best customers are spending hundreds of thousands on online ads. I manage hundreds of personal relationships with them which can literally go wrong with one impersonal or not well thought email. Most of them are very busy and prefer to have me just do what they need without constantly interrupting them. This is not surprising since my customers tend to be a lot like me.