I’ve been getting such a non-stop barrage of emails from Brooks Brothers that I finally have to comment.
I signed up for a corporate account with them years ago when I worked at Pfizer. I got maybe a 20% discount through the program. I did buy a few things, not much. But I haven’t purchased anything from them in years.
For the past 6 months or so they’ve really just been pounding me with the email and I haven’t responded in any way.
Guys: Why don’t you try something new? Banging your head on a wall over and over again is just dumb. Instead, change the game. Offer me a free shirt if I come into a store. When I do come in (and I would), make it an awesome experience. Show me around. Explain what you’ve got. Don’t sell, just make a connection. I might just buy something else when I was in. But if you made it an awesome experience you can be sure I would be back.
Or, just stop sending the emails. Don’t you think I might get pissed off at some point?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
just a free shirt? maybe they should have a stack of cash waiting for you too. oh and a new bicycle, a pony and an ice cream sundae. it’s fairly common to receive regular if not daily emails from retailers. if you don’t want their emails then just unsubscribe.
Alex:
I think I might detect just a hint of sarcasm in your reply. OK, I’ll play.
The graveyard of history is replete with practices that once were “fairly common” but which were also stupid. And the practice of sending out email blasts without regard to their effect on the audience or sales, is stupid.
First of all, it does cost money to send emails. The marginal cost of sending another email is basically zero but the retailer is paying someone to create these emails. Paying someone to create and manage a program that yields no effect is stupid. More importantly, sending out an email blast can be counterproductive as it can anger the very people it is intended to woo – your impassioned well-reasoned and eloquent missive notwithstanding.
I was somewhat open to Brooks Brothers insofar as I have purchased from them in the past. Pestering me with the same thing over and over again just wasn’t working. Doing the same thing over and over again with no result is stupid. But I left the channel open to them because I thought maybe one day there might be something interesting from them that I’d want. But nothing like that ever came. Just the same annoying emails telling me that NOW was the time to buy because X, Y or Z. When the stupid approach you’re taking doesn’t work, you’ve got to either stop, or try something new. Offering a free shirt (or whatever) would have been brilliant. I’d probably only have to buy one or two things for them to get their money back. Getting me into the store is a big win for them and it would have given them an opportunity to convert me into a buying customer or, at least, an advocate.
But now I have unsubscribed. And their channel to me has been cut off completely. They cannot reach me now. So now they’ve taken someone who wears clothing like theirs, likes their brand and their product and can afford to buy from them and pissed him off so thoroughly that they’ve lost a potential customer.
And your sarcastic poorly thought-out note will not help them.
I just did the exact same thing! After getting emails literally every day for months, I unsubscribed and closed by bb charge card.