Lying hurts your reputation

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend* in direct sales e-mails, which is to  purport that I’ve previously expressed interest in a product or service.  Because then they have my permission to follow up, right?

I have another name for it: lying. I don’t think many people would disagree that it’s a bad marketing tactic, particularly in an age of transparency, so why do it? Goodbye, trust!

Offender #1

I received a message that began like this:

From: person@vendor.com
To: Turpin, Glen
Subject: New [Deleted: Product] Features

Dear Glen,

Some time ago, you had inquired about our [Deleted: description of product] signage solutions for... [Deleted]

Note: I’ve deleted sections of the message that might identify the offending party. As always, I’m more interested in highlighting a problem than pointing an accusing finger.

Here’s the problem. I’ve never inquired about signage. It’s outside the scope of what I do. It’s outside the scope of anything I’ve ever done. I don’t do signage of any sort. So this “some time ago, you had inquired” line is bullshit.

UPDATE April 29, 2009: Though I thought I was sanitizing this enough that it would make a point without calling out a specific individual or company, I apparently left enough keywords that Offender #1 was able to find this post. He wrote a very polite letter of apology, noting that prior to his joining the company, they previously purchased leads from a data source. He apologized for the poor choice of words in the letter and put me on the opt-out list.

This validates Aaron’s point below in the comments. List management is an ongoing challenge, particularly when you have ranting jerks like me on your mailing list. I was too hasty with my accusation and harsh words, and next time I should take the time to think through alternate scenarios. Sorry, Offender #1.

Offender #2

This one came from someone I met at an industry event last year.

From: newslettername@vendor.com on behalf of [Deleted: Name] (info@deletedaddress.com)
To: Turpin, Glen
Subject: Please confirm your subscription to [Deleted: Newsletter name]

Hi,

How are you? Thanks so much for your interest! [Deleted: Pitch for an e-mail newsletter]

Your subscription request for our newsletter [Deleted: Newsletter name], hosted by [Deleted: Vendor] service, has been received. To confirm your subscription, please click the following link:

EASY 1-CLICK CONFIRMATION: [Deleted: URL]

Once confirmed, you will be instantly subscribed to our newsletter. You will be able to unsubscribe or change your details at any time.

If you have received this email in error and do not intend to become our subscriber, no further action is required on your part. You won't receive further information and you won't be subscribed to any list until you confirm your request above.

Thanks again for your interest! Take care!

[Deleted: Signature block]
Email address: "Glen Turpin" <my.address@work.com>
Type of request: import
Timestamp: 2009-04-13 18:34:05

My subscription request for your newsletter? Um… no. I don’t subscribe to e-mail lists. I moved all my subscriptions into my feed reader years ago. I hate cluttering up my inbox with e-mail newsletters.

Also, I only use my work e-mail address for things that are directly associated with my job. The newsletter doesn’t meet that criterion.

Finally, that “Type of request: import” line at the bottom of the message makes it pretty clear that my data was imported from another source.

The bottom line

I make no secret of the fact that I dislike off-target sales pitches. Who doesn’t? But there’s a difference between off-target and deceptive. Are sales so bad that we have to prey on people suffering from information overload?

Seems like a sketchy tactic.

Photo credit: KB35

1. * Okay, not exactly a trend.

I’m receiving a lot more sales spam to my inbox at work these days, which is odd, because I don’t use that e-mail address to subscribe to anything. They’re legitimate sales pitches, but what’s astonishing to me is how bad some of them are.

I received one message inviting me to license reprints of an article.

Your organization was mentioned in the latest issue of The [Redacted] Report, and we’ve attached a complimentary copy in pdf format for you to review.

Kindly note that this issue is sent to you personally, not to your company. It is a violation of copyright law to reproduce it (print it out), forward it to another email address, post it on your company’s intranet, or post it on any other server at your company.

[Deleted: Sales pitch for reprints]

I respect copyright. I really do. Copyright law is broken and needs to be re-written to reflect the 21st century, but content creators should have the right to be compensated for their work. But I’m thinking that threatening prospective customers probably isn’t working out so well for [Redacted] Report.

Moreover, [Redacted] Report hadn’t qualified me as a lead before they made the pitch. They don’t know if I’m the right person to buy the reprints. If I’m not, then they’ve guaranteed  that they’re not going to make the sale, because there’s no way for me to get approval to spend the money.

• Can’t print it out and show it to my boss.
• Can’t forward the e-mail for approval.
• Can’t post in on the intranet where somebody might see it and want to pay for reprints.
• Can’t even save the e-mail, because that’s on another server.

Delete!

Stating the obvious: Don’t threaten your customers.

Photo credit: Jon Rawlinson