The Appreciate Yourself Sale
E-Commerce today is the single largest business, encompassing people from all walks of life, from seller to buyers to marketers to analysts to funders & founders. And in this e-age, where people are talking about targeting the right product for right customer, the e-mail I received on the morning of 3rd June came as a little bit of surprise. That it came from one of the bigger brands in the Indian e-commerce industry was even more annoying, rather than surprising.
The subject line said “We’d like to say we’re sorry”. Now what is your first reaction to something like this in your inbox? Confusion? Spam? Probably. And then you start to wonder who would want to apologize with a formal e-mail in today’s day and age, where people prefer to write “SRY” when they want to say sorry. And irrespective of what happens on the internet in 1 seconds, at least a zillion thoughts cross my mind in that one second.
The mail then goes on to detail about how the “Appreciate Yourself Sale” on the 30th & 31st May was a much anticipated event and they received an overwhelming response from me, but they failed to live up to my expectations. More confusion. More wonderment. And amazement. Someone takes the pain of writing an apology for some inconvenience caused to me due to some technical glitches at their end. Phewww! But I still haven’t understood the “INCONVENIENCE” that was caused to me.
And no, my “SHOPPING EXPERIENCE” had no impact at all, leave alone affecting the so-called “Awesome Shopping Experience”. Simply because of the following 2 reasons:
- I did not shop on the app (Coz they have decided to stop selling on your site on the 15th of May) on 30th & 31st May (Or on any other date for that matter)
- I could not have shopped on the app as I don’t even have the app on my phone or tab (That’s right)
The point is that marketers trying to target customers need to get their analytics right, and target the “right customer” for the desired communication. Mass mailing is a thing of the past. Trying to sell shirts to a consumer who browsed your site for kitchenware will not help, even if you have scheduled that burst for the weekend and are spending a bomb on doing it, and you have “TARGETED” that consumer basis his ASL, Income, Background, spending and other purchases made in the past. What’s worse, you might end up losing a few probable customers, like me, who will not come back on your app (they have shut down their site, remember?). And if there is an apology due, it is for shutting down the website, which they did not send, coz whenever I shopped on Myntra, was on their website, may it RIP.
I don’t need a sale to appreciate myself, and I might end up appreciating them a little more if they send me more relevant communication, and not mass spams.