When Direct Marketing Undermines the Customer Experience

A couple of recent posts have focused on the customer experience: bringing back the human touch, and a refreshing-yet-rare example of great customer service and follow-up.

We’ve all experienced disappointing service, but bad direct marketing is equally aggravating. Two recent examples come to mind.

Several months ago, I took advantage of a direct mail offer to upgrade to a faster home DSL connection at no additional charge. It was a no-brainer: a better Internet connection at my current monthly rate. (The customer service was less-than-stellar when I called to accept the offer, but the effort was worthwhile and the faster connection has been nice.)

In the months since the upgrade, I have received at least three more letters about my service. The offer? “Upgrade your connection at no additional cost!” The letters had the identical message, price and terms as the offer I had already accepted. Obviously the provider’s customer service “silo” hasn’t aligned with the sales and marketing “silo.”

The other example – which occurred just this week – may be more troubling. This direct mail letter concerned satellite television service. The message went like this: “We’ve missed you! Come back now and get four months of premium programming!”

The only problem? I never left. I’ve been a faithful, bill-paying subscriber for nearly 10 years. In fact, a couple months ago they sent a letter to thank me for being a longtime subscriber – and reward me with free pay-per-view movies or sports programming. Somehow, I went from “loyal customer” to “lost customer” in a matter of weeks.

Maybe it’s bad customer list management. Inept marketing programs. Simple human error. Organizations that are simply too big to connect the dots. But even one flawed direct marketing effort can undermine all of the loyalty and goodwill built through great customer service.