American Express lets mail sink

This blog post by John Kelly of The Washington Post describes his receipt of a postcard with an offer from the the Costa Concordia -- the ship that sank off the coast of Italy.  It includes the now morbidly humorous message, "Immerse Yourself."

If the postcard was mailed prior to January 13, then I suppose the people at American Express started to freak out.  If the postcard mailed after ship and shore met, then this is a Fail for Timing.  Just as airlines typically pull their ads after a plane crash, a cruise ship marketer should pull its marketing communications immediately after a ship sinks.  There is no benefit to reminding prospective customers of a tragedy that is being covered on the evening news.

According to Mr. Kelly, a representative explained that it takes between six and eight weeks from when a brochure is put into creative to when it reaches mailboxes, making it too late to pull the mailing. It indeed does take 6-8 weeks to prepare mail, but it takes only one day to conduct a final review and release the mail into the mailstream.

I was a marketing manager at a company that spent tens of thousands of dollars preparing a national direct mail campaign only to cancel it at the lettershop because of a tragic travel incident.  It was worth the sunk cost (no pun intended) to cancel the campaign and not send mail that could damage the company's brand reputation.

Lesson: Don't force your direct mail out the door or put campaigns on auto-pilot.  Do a final check before every mailing to ensure that your product and offer is appropriate.  Don't mail an offer for a product that recently killed people. 

Chase Credit Cards: When a fee is not a fee

Outer Envelope

Earlier this year, I wrote how a Presidential Plus credit card offer from Chase was a Fail for Creative and Offer. The letter was confusing and defensive and sent at a time when it was not clear to the consumer — and perhaps to Chase — which cardmember benefits would be available with the card.

Stronger Cover Letter

A more recent version of the solicitation arrived in my mailbox. Rather than cite the merger, the letter ignores it.  Smart move. Instead it leads with a competitive rebuttal to the AmericanExpress Platinum Card, leveraging the fact that people with Chase’s Presidential Plus Card can visit the Presidents Club, while those with a Platinum Card have to wait for their flight with the little people. The letter is smartly signed by someone from Continental Airlines rather than someone from United Airlines. In this respect, the letter is a dramatic improvement.

The package merits a Fail for Creative and Offer for Chase’s communication of the benefit of no foreign transaction fees. Over the past decade, nearly all the major banks have increased their foreign transaction fee from 1% to 3%. In fact, until a few months ago, only Capital One did not charge the fee. For a $5,000 business trip — including lodging, dining, transportation and other expenses — 3% in transaction fees means $150 in costs for engaging in normal purchasing behavior. A savings of 3% in and of itself is more attractive to international business travelers than frequent flyer miles with an implied benefit of ½% to 2% of the purchase amount.

Colorful insert

Back of colorful insert with benefit description

The benefit is cited in a colorful insert but not the cover letter. That is a bit of a miss. The insert references checking the back of the cover letter, which does mention (though in small type) that there are no foreign transaction fees. But the Fail is that the official legal communication of pricing information, the Schumer Box, lists in clear 12-point typeface in the Fees section “Foreign Transactions: 3% of each transaction in U.S. dollars.”

The back of the letter mentions "Foreign Transaction Fee: None" however ...

... the Schumer Box, the legal documentation of account terms, mentions 3% Foreign Transaction fee

The package included a color benefits brochure

Also, why is the response URL continentalpresplus.com? The card being sold is the Presidential Plus Card that reads on the card “Presidential Plus”. So why not use presidentialplus.com, chasepresplus.com, presidentialpluscard.com or even chaseprespluscard.com?

Lessons:

1. Communication of offers and benefits should be consistent throughout your package, especially when legal documents are involved.
2. If your product has a strong benefit, communicate it in your cover letter.
3. When a response method is online, use a URL that properly describes the product or is easy for a consumer to remember.

Know Thy Customer, and Know Thy Customer’s Children

Fail: List 

The use of your customer list and communicating your knowledge of them to them can lead to smart direct mail -- or to a Fail. This self-mailer from a Honda dealership is an example of effective use of a customer list …

… the recipient owns a 2002 Odyssey and needs regular service.  So a mailpiece that references their car will get a high open rate and effective response rate.

A postcard from UnitedHealthOne leverages an insurance company’s knowledge that a family has a student in her fourth year of college to offer post-grad individual insurance:

In this case, the student is planning a fifth year of undergrad studies. UnitedHealthOne could get bonus points if it sends another postcard next year.  Also, the postcard was addressed to the student’s father with a message referencing making the “mother proud.” That could be interpreted as a cultural reference rather than a literal one, so no Fail here.

So, what kind of list use would be a Fail? Referencing children’s age and behavior that are not accurate. This letter from American Express was mailed to a parent with an outer envelope teaser reading “Give a teenager something they can always carry with them.”

However, the recipient’s youngest child is a 35 year old homeowner. The body of the letter talks of teaching financial responsibility more broadly to “your loved ones”, an appropriate message for a middle-aged parent with children 15 – 21. But that was not the case here.

 
 
 

 
 
Here is a full-out Fail.

This personalized solo package from an Acura dealer references the recipient’s “pre-owned 2008 Acura RL”, however the recipient does not have an Acura. In fact, he never even set foot in an Acura dealership.

Learning:   Ensure that data on your customer list is accurate, especially when referencing your information with customers.