Dell's Unsubscribe Procedure = MAJOR FAIL

A year or so ago I ordered a product that was on sell at through the Dell Business website. Ever since, as one you would expect, I've been on their e-mail and paper mailing lists. In my efforts to clean up my inbox, I decided to opt out upon receiving their latest e-mail. What I thought would take a few seconds ended up taking so much longer. There are at least 5 steps and several minutes involved in this process. I'm completely baffled that a large company like Dell doesn't have a better and faster system in place to unsubscribe people.

Here's the 5 (Yes, really FIVE steps) that led me to be "unsubscribed":

First you have to enter your e-mail address...

Once you've entered your e-mail address, then you can choose your options to unsubscribe: e-mail, paper mail, phone.

Seriously, I just entered my e-mail address, why do I have to enter it again?!

Surely my e-mail address and my account is linked to my mailing address, why the hell do I have to re-enter my info?

Geez, I hope their system was smart enough to e-mail the correct address so I am actually removed from their mailing list...

Well, it's been about a week after I went through this way-too-complicated unsubscribe and I now receive more Dell emails than ever. So long to you Dell, you're now a SPAMMER in my book. Good luck on getting more of my business.

Mail Fail...Local is Relative

I just received this cute little bit of direct marking in the mail this week:

As you can see, it's addressed to "Our Neighbor". How nice! But the return address is in San Antonio, Texas. Hmm...a quick Google maps search shows that San Antonio is about 1200 miles from Dayton. Wow, that's some neighborhood!

I know that the larger companies have centralized mail services/print vendors/what have you, but really, "Our Neighbor" just really isn't cutting it on this one.

Mail Fail x3

What's a Mail Fail? When a direct mail mail fails to: target the proper audience and/or other fun errors such as typos.

The other day I literally received three Mail Fails in one day! I was thrilled and entertained by these off-the-mark and mailers:

1) Toyota Wants Your Car! I received this official looking letter from a local Toyota dealer. According to the letter, they NEED my 04 Corolla on their used car lot and because of my status as their customer, they will reward me with a great deal on a new Toyota. That's funny, I bought my Toyota at another dealer in town...so I guess not being a customer has its rewards in this case!

2) Pretend AD to Pretend Designer: "Why save money on postage in these tough economic times? Let's put the postcard inside a clear envelope so we can pay full postage on the mailing and how In-Housers how we can save them money!"

3) Dear Nick, Rick, Whatever: I've saved the best for last. This gem starts off on a good note... they have my name on the front...

Wait a minute, what the heck is that in the upper left? It looks like a bee fighting a spider! Are these the "customers" I'm supposed to attract? Not sure I want to attract bugs, especially not ones that sting/bite. You're starting to lose me here...

And now, you've completely lost me...

Rick?! Seriously? If you're going to use variable data, please don't drink and work with databases!

While targeted marketing and variable data can go wrong, done properly, it can be a great tool to help reach your target audience. Don't let these poor examples scare ya away, just keep them in mind and don't do what they did so your mailpiece rocks!