Tax Day Fail for Turbo Tax & Wells Fargo

Postmarked 4/8/13, arrives on Tax Day

My monthly Wells Fargo statement included an advertisement for TurboTax. The offer is mentioned only on the outer envelope, not in any inserts. The fine print mentions that the offer is valid only through April 15, 2013. The Fail is that the envelope was mailed on April 8 and arrived in my mailbox only today. Having a response window of only one day is a Fail for Timing.

The copy on the back of the envelope could also use a few touch-ups:

• The phone number shown includes both a vanity number and the actual digits.  Communicating a vanity phone number can be useful in mass media or social media -- where the customer is expected to memorize it before dialing -- but on a static medium such as paper or email it is not necessary. Listing both the vanity and non-vanity number is a distraction.
• This phone number is oddly capitalized. ‘WFB’ is in all-caps but ‘Open’ is not. This makes it a bit more difficult to read.
• The use of periods at the end of statements is inconsistent. The headline does not include a period. The first statement in the call to action includes a period at the end of the URL. However, the last sentence on the second line is missing a period after the date.

 Lessons:

1. Give customers an adequate amount of time to respond to your offer.
2. When communicating an offer by mail or email, provide the actual phone number rather than some vanity number.
3. Proofread even the small print.