You need to think about changing it.

I recently received an email from an online photo site. I have diagrammed the email to illustrate how unfriendly it is and why it does not incent me to remain a customer.

1. ‘don’t forget to preserve your Snapfish account’ -really? It probably is a good thing they reminded me because I would have forgotten. But why do I have to preserve my relationship with them? It is not to my benefit. 🙂
2. ‘Just a friendly reminder…..’ telling me the reminder is friendly does not make it friendly. This is essentially a scare tactic.
3. ‘So what are you waiting for….’ Hmmm, maybe I’m waiting for you to offer me something as a customer that I might want. If I haven’t ordered from you in such a long time that you need to send me warnings, maybe you are asking the wrong question.
4. ‘risk losing…’ I’m not losing anything. 😉
5. ‘Lastly, remember….’ Except this isn’t the last message, so the use of the word ‘lastly’ is just plain wrong.
6. And finally after all that, “Thanks for being a customer….” Thanks? If you really wanted to thank me perhaps you would stop sending hostile email and use some form of persuasion to bring me back.

They do provide a benefit to customers, free unlimited online photo storage. However, this benefit is provided at many other places and it is buried deep within the email copy.

I think this is a really good illustration of how marketing materials get created at companies but they are not really created with a customer in mind. We have much to learn about online marketing. This is a good example of what not to do. We need those examples so we can strive to be better.