#FridayFails - Lying at Scale

A couple of weeks ago, I received the following e-mail. My commentary embedded and the story will continue after the e-mail.

=== Begin E-mail

Subject: Printing & Direct Mail <<I already know this is going to be a poorly targeted message>>

Hi Hank,

Following up on my phone call from the other day <<I never received a call or voicemail>, I wanted to see how your internal decision-making process is going with planning your next mail-campaign. <<Another sin, focusing the message on what the sender wants.>>

More importantly, since we are looking at Q1 and Q2 of 2018, my manager has authorized each rep on my team two (2) 10% discounts on the cost of your mailing (not including postage), for those who are able to pull the trigger by the end of next week. Not only would this lower the price of your mailings, but you would be grandfathered into this special pricing for the next 6 months. <<Wow, 10% discounts that is an incredible offer>>

One of my coupons is already spoken for, but I’d like to offer the other one to you. <<A promise of exclusivity>>

If this interests you, please let me know as soon as possible! Thank you!

Take care,

[contact info]

=== End E-mail

When I first received this, I was going to just trash it. It repeats many of the common mistakes I've covered here, so not much new value.

But then something happened. A colleague of mine sent me the exact same message that they had received since they thought it was a #FridayFails candidate. Then I got another. And another. There is no telling how many people at Gartner received this exact same message. Multiple lies at scale;

• None of us were called
• The idea of an exclusive discount, with one gone already (Act Now!), available just for me.
• The idea that this was authorized and really special (again 10%) vs. something they would do for any deal

This is a horrible tactic. People talk. People share. This approach to try to trick people into responding fosters distrust. If you have to resort to lying to try to drive engagement, maybe it's time to get in a different line of work or join a different company that has more ethical practices and more valuable stories to tell.