Just when I think great strides are being made to personalize marketing messages, I get a slap in the face to remind me that we still have a long way to go. It especially hurts this time because the slap came from the company that put the "e" in e-commerce. Yes, Amazon. Today, I received an email offer from them to buy the new Kindle.
The message said "As
a current Kindle owner, we'd like to offer you a special opportunity to
be among the first to experience Kindle 2. Even though we've increased
our manufacturing capacity, we want to be sure our original Kindle
owners are first in line. Order Kindle 2 by midnight PST on February
10th and you will be given priority."
One the surface, the message seems, kind and thoughtful, but what they should have recognized that I invested in 2 Kindle v1's less that 60 days ago!! So instead of thinking that this is a good offer, I'm disappointed that they didn't tell me about he new version as I was investing $700 in the now outdated version. Now, of course I know they wouldn't (nor should they) do that, but my point is that I should be the last one to get this message, not the first.
Sure, I don't live under a rock so I am aware of the exciting new, shiny Kindle 2, but Amazon doesn't need to rub it in - by saying, "hey dummy that just bought version 1, how 'bout re-up-in' " A classic example, of how some marketing manager just sent a generic marketing email to a segment of their database that was clearly too broad.
The good news is that if Amazon can't get it right, there is room for opportunity.
Nice post Rob. That is quite the slap in the face... They absolutely should have used the purchased date when looking through the list of folks to send this to.
Posted by: Eric Olson | February 09, 2009 at 01:55 PM