Beware of "Best Customer" Marketing

Liz Strauss wrote a post a few weeks ago about a large clothing company that sent her an email with the subject heading, "Only For Our Best Customers." Toward the end of the email, though, were the words, "You received this email because you subscribed to promotional emails from _______" and "If you received this email from a friend and would like to subscribe to our email list, click here." Liz's point was that it wasn't really for that company's best customers, unless "best" meant everyone on its email list and all of their friends. The suject line was obviously intended to get her to read the email. There was nothing exclusive about the offer.

I had a similar experience last time I went to the grocery store. I decided to "check-in" with Foursquare because I had some witty comment to make about shopping in 90 degree weather. As I "checked-in," I realized that my grocery store was offering me the chance to enter into a drawing for a $100 gift card if I checked-in on Foursquare. When I had finished shopping, I went over to Customer Service to enter into the drawing.

At first, the guy had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned "Foursquare." Then, he said, "Oh, maybe you're talking about those boxes over there." I walked over to the boxes on the counter beside Customer Service. There it was, a stack of forms that anyone in the store could fill out to enter into the drawing. It had nothing to do with Foursquare. That grocery store gave me nothing for telling my friends where I was shopping, even though that's kind of what they had promised me.

Anytime you hear the words "best" or "exclusive," your skeptiscim alarm should start ringing! More often than not, it is a ploy. It's playing to your sense of feeling special. Don't buy into it. You're only as special as everyone else who is getting the same offer.

If you a marketer, you may want to stop using hooks like this to draw customers in. One of these days, you are going to be the marketer who cried, "Exclusive!" In an initiative to strengthen client retention, you are really going to want to reward your best customers. But, by that time, no one will believe you.

Besides, you don't have to lie. If you have a good product, you can use the truth to bring people in. Exclusive isn't always the most attractive ad campagin. Sometimes, people want to buy what everyone else is buying. Try, the hottest trend of the season. Just don't tell someone that they are getting something when they aren't getting it. That's a surefire way to not retain your customers.