Double Trouble

If I called you to tell you a secret, then five minutes later, called you again to tell you the same secret only with colorful adjectives and different action verbs, you would think I was crazy, right?

So Gap and Groupon teamed up to send an email. Maybe they didn't discuss all the logistics or maybe it was a true and honest mistake, but I got the same email twice. There are few things in this world I despise more. Gap, I heard you the first time. Groupon, where are your manners?

Worst part is that this could have been avoided. Two companies want to partner together to send a message to each of their subscriber base, right? No big deal, this is frequently practiced in many marketing departments. Here's the key though: Identify the crossover group. Sift out the people that are subscribed to both companies and send these people only one message.

Anyway, I'm boycotting the offer out of principle.

Monday Morning Mystery

If you take the time to build a new website, please take the time to QA it properly. Hey, M Theory, your email sign up form doesn't work, your home page logo isn't linked on any of your pages, and some of your pictures are broken. I wonder how many emails you've lost, how much $$ you could have made, and how long will it remain in this poorly functioning state. Perhaps I'll alert you if your Contact Us page works.

M Theory
915 W. Washington Street
San Diego, CA 92103

Here's what happens when you try to subscribe:

If you guessed "ridiculous" ...

In my previous post, I asked if you could pinpoint the wrongdoings of a particularly heinous email. If you were thinking that it was too long, too wide, poorly thought out, badly designed, or just plain "ridiculous" then you guessed correctly. Hey, Half Price, the year 2000 called. They want their untargeted batch-and-blast email strategy back. Subscribers from 2010 expect greatness. We want personalized offers just for us. Collect my city or zip while I sign up and then only send me offers that pertain to me. In the case of AlwaysHalfPrice.com, they sent me an email with every city they work in plus three offers for each of these cities. Total time wasted: about 3 minutes I'll never get back for reading all the offers being doled out in Texas. 3 minutes in online terms is a lifetime. (Remember dial-up internet?) Who cares about the urban pet resort in Austin when I live in San Diego? An unsubscribe is surely in the near future, but I'm going to give AHP one more chance to redeem themselves, if they can get their act together and actually send an email. It's been two weeks and no sign of a weekly email from them. I better check my spam folder.