Yesterday I analyzed the idiocy of a restaurant’s alienating its “P1” guests with a happy hour promotion.
And I asked, “Do your radio station’s promotions actively alienate some of your audience?”
What about your email marketing?
I just cancelled my Best Buy rewards club membership; they emailed me far too often for my preference.
That, in itself, is not a bad thing. If their goal is to get offers in front of their most avid customers, then having some people unsubscribe because they don’t want so many offers is just part of the marketing system.
Or, it should be.
But Best Buy is the only “reputable” company I’ve encountered that doesn’t include an “unsubscribe” option in their emails.
How To Get Off Best Buy’s Email List
Want to get off their list? Here’s what you do.
1. Search their emails repeatedly for the unsubscribe link that you know must be there.
2. When you realize there’s no unsubscribe option in the email, shake your head in bewilderment.
3. Go their website and log into your account to unsubscribe.
4. Shake your head in bewilderment when you discover there is no unsubscribe option in your account.
5. Search their website for “how to unsubscribe.”
6. Shake your head in bewilderment when you can find no explanatory reference.
7. Go back to your profile to cancel your account entirely.
8. Shake your head in bewilderment when you discover there is no “cancel my account” option.
9. Keep searching until you find the “My Best Buy Terms” page.
10. Notice how thrilled you are to discover 2,852 words, published in 4-point type. (In other words, they’d rather you not read the “terms.”)
11. After magnifying the page, make your way to, “#7 Membership Cancellation.”
Notice that they give you two methods to cancel:
a) Via email.
a1) Notice that they don’t give you an email address to use to cancel.
b) Via telephone.
b1) Notice that they list only their vanity phone number. It’s your job to translate it into a numeric phone number.
b2) Reel in shock as you realize, “In order to stop getting their emails, I have to call their general Customer Service line.”
12. Reflect, for a moment, on how low “calling a large retailer’s Customer Service line” is on your list of “Things I Enjoy Doing.”
13. Shake your head in amazement at the statement by Best Buy’s Chief Executive Officer, Hubert Joly, that the company is “working on personalized marketing messages to better compete with the likes of Amazon.”
14. Ask yourself, “When’s the last time Amazon.com made me regret sharing my contact information with them?”
15. Try not to act surprised when you learn that Best Buy’s stock price is about half of where it was just three months ago.
Then…
Examine every encounter your radio station has with its listeners and its advertisers or supporters.
And make sure you’re not providing your customers with a “Best Buy Moment.”
