“Delivered” email... 🥁 0/10 + 10/10
Cracker jokes, remember those?
Q. When is a customer-centric company not a customer-centric company?
A. When it’s withholding useful information to trick you into spendin’ mo’ money!
Ha ha ha. Right, let’s talk about emails.
The backstory:
It was Christmas. I bought some stuff online. I got an email to confirm when said stuff was delivered. On the surface the email looks like it’s being helpful, but all is not as it seems.
The email is clever. Very clever. But it’s not customer centric.
Why? Read on to find out.
If you enjoy this teardown, please consider flicking it on to someone else who’d get a lot out of it ✌ (and if someone fabulous forwarded it to you, you can subscribe here (it’s free!).
Sender anonymised to Xxxx out of courtesy. Have a hunch? Guess away...
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Subject line: “Delivered: Your Xxxx order #”
“Hi Corissa,
Your package has been delivered!”
I know.
“How was your delivery?
👍 It was great
👎 Not so great”
Surely a delivery is great if it arrives, and not so great if it doesn’t? I smell an ulterior motive behind these buttons.
“Track your package”
So has it or hasn’t it been delivered? Why are you messing with my MIIIIIND!
Okay. Being charitable for a moment. Sometimes a package gets delivered to a neighbour or left in a safe place. In which case, although it has technically been “delivered”, its exact whereabouts remain unknown. So, technically, you do need to track it down.
But... wouldn’t the company be able to pull the tracking information through into the email itself?
*If* they wanted to.
*If* they chose to optimize for making life easier for the customer.
Rather than forcing you to interact with their app or website for the sake of engagement metrics, and the golden opportunity to persuade you to buy something else you probably don’t need while you’re back in the shopping zone.
“Order info
3 items
Order #
Return or replace items in Your Orders.”
Again, useful info has been withheld on purpose. Maybe you could excuse this on grounds of privacy. Or maybe it’s just another attempt to lure customers back into Spendsville.
---------- End ----------
Conclusion:
Email Teardown Club score = 10/10 from a company perspective, 0/10 from a customer perspective.
Lots of companies claim to operate in a way that “we win when the customer wins”. I’ve heard it myself in oodles of town hall meetings. But really, honestly, how often is it true? And anyway, what does “win” even mean? Is buying a twentieth pair of shoes to fill the gaping soul-void left by the nineteenth pair “winning”?
Even when a company is genuinely customer centric (they do exist... I’m not a total cynic I swear), it’s a dance. Sometimes you can put the customer first. Sometimes you have to put the needs of the organisation first. That’s life.
Cheerio,
Corissa
P.S. Need a hand with your emails? Or know anyone who’s looking for help? Hit reply, I’d love to chat!
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These teardowns are my gut reactions as a customer, mashed together with my copywriter background, to investigate how messaging really lands outside the sender's ivory tower. I’m only a sample size of one. Agree or disagree with my take? Reply and tell me! I love exploring other perspectives.