The Image Lab

You need to think about changing it.

I recently received an email from an online photo site. I have diagrammed the email to illustrate how unfriendly it is and why it does not incent me to remain a customer.

1. ‘don’t forget to preserve your Snapfish account’ -really? It probably is a good thing they reminded me because I would have forgotten. But why do I have to preserve my relationship with them? It is not to my benefit.
2. ‘Just a friendly reminder…..’ telling me the reminder is friendly does not make it friendly. This is essentially a scare tactic.
3. ‘So what are you waiting for….’ Hmmm, maybe I’m waiting for you to offer me something as a customer that I might want. If I haven’t ordered from you in such a long time that you need to send me warnings, maybe you are asking the wrong question.
4. ‘risk losing…’ I’m not losing anything.
5. ‘Lastly, remember….’ Except this isn’t the last message, so the use of the word ‘lastly’ is just plain wrong.
6. And finally after all that, “Thanks for being a customer….” Thanks? If you really wanted to thank me perhaps you would stop sending hostile email and use some form of persuasion to bring me back.

They do provide a benefit to customers, free unlimited online photo storage. However, this benefit is provided at many other places and it is buried deep within the email copy.

I think this is a really good illustration of how marketing materials get created at companies but they are not really created with a customer in mind. We have much to learn about online marketing. This is a good example of what not to do. We need those examples so we can strive to be better.