As someone who works online I am used to ordering things via the internet.
Sometimes I order physical products and sometimes I order things which just exist on my hard drive (or on someone else’s hard drive or server.)
So it is common to get an email which has a subject line like this:
“Download Confirmation #: GFA5640943 – Please Retain for your records…”
But when I have never done business with you and have therefore not ordered anything which requires a digital download then such a subject line is nothing short of dishonest.
The main body of the email was just as dishonest and utterly dire:
“Good morning,
“I have tried to send this to you at address of
However it caused an error, the reason for return – unknown.
“I wanted to give it one last attempt for you to access your
account.
“Below is your one time access link [link removed]
“Enjoy,
“Winter”
Thanks Winter for such a dismal effort at email marketing.
Let’s be honest here for a moment shall we?
You started your email with the words “Good Morning” because you have no idea who I am.
You have not tried to send me anything at all and that stuff about errors being caused is just nonsense.
You really want me to access my account? What account? I have never done business with you.
Email marketing at its worst.
Yes, I get those as well and they all immediately get fed to the spam checker so that anything from that sender will get dumped in the future. This type of dishonest marketing just paints us all with an evil broad brush.
Twitter: chattopatrick
June 12, 2012 at 3:24 am
I agree and I hate being painted with evil brushes.
P.
I agree with William when will these lazy marketers ever get the clue that they are only hurting themselves and painting the entire industry with an image that we neither want or need, if you can’t generate your own leads get out off this industry quit buying leads your wasting your time and ours.
Twitter: chattopatrick
June 12, 2012 at 3:23 am
Quite right – a little more original thought would go a long way indeed.
I agree with all of you – Patrick, William and Diana! I get those emails, as well.
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Twitter: chattopatrick
June 12, 2012 at 3:21 am
I wonder if anybody will actually say “Well actually I love being tricked like this by marketers”? Somehow I doubt it.
P.
Twitter: andrewstark
This is the classic trick taught by the people who peddle bad email marketing courses.
Trying to trick people into opening an email in a panic about some order they haven’t placed is some of the worst advice you can ever have the misfortune of being given.
Honesty and relationship will last far longer than smoke and mirrors.
Andrew
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Twitter: chattopatrick
June 12, 2012 at 3:19 am
Yes indeed. If someone has tricked me then I will not suddenly think “Oh well now that I am here I better check out your sales page and buy your awesome product.”
P.
Patrick,
Well actually I love being tricked by marketers like this……..
To find the unsubscribe button or the spam one if the unsubscribe is missing.
I almost said it but couldn’t make myself do it.
Twitter: ITSergioFelix
Hey Patrick,
Well I don’t know if Winter sent me a book recently but I’m so happy it finally came over here.
It is a book about marketing (you’ll know the name when I publish the video so I don’t spam in here) but the important bit is that it was a book I bought on Amazon.
It took a while to get here (almost two months) but it made it. Knowing this, means I can order your books there safely but still, amazon is using the regular Mexican snail mail and that’s the last thing to trust in here.
I’m still looking for a solution for this, either I move to the USA or Canada or maybe to the UK.
Sergio
PS. Please don’t ever accept anything from Winter.
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Twitter: chattopatrick
June 14, 2012 at 4:12 pm
Hi Sergio.
I just watched the video you made about your book arriving from Amazon.
It is amazing that it took two months to arrive but at least it got there.
Don’t worry about spamming this blog – I know you would never do that – so feel free to post whatever links you see fit.
P.
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You mean this tactic does not work!! OMG I thought everyone liked this…
I don’t even give my time to look for 1 simple reason. It is probably a virus or phishing trick! For those that use a PC it is a real big issue. Scamming and scheme you to click that button. Now the ones that aggravate me the most are the ones that look real legit. Like one with all the right logos and all the right content in the letter but the e-mail address is Support[at]pay.pal.com (other variations). The worst of the schemers and scammers!
Thank you,
Paul
Twitter: chattopatrick
June 16, 2012 at 5:24 pm
You are quite right Paul.
Working out what is genuine and what is fake is getting increasingly harder.
P.
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