MindComet

The Most Disappointing Email I’ve Ever Received

One thing I hate the most is getting emails from partners on behalf of companies that I’m actually interested in getting emails from.  Being an email marketer, I sign up for every email newsletter / mailing list as possible. I think it’s the best way to stay relevant and keep up with what everyone else is doing, as to not fall behind or become complacent.  So sometimes, I have to put up with garbage emails flooding my inbox.  It comes with the territory, I suppose.

I judge every email I receive by the same criteria.  Is the design and message cohesive with the party its coming from? Is it drawing me in at all with any strong calls to action? Is the email breaking / untested?  I’m also judging it on CAN-SPAM compliances, such as the listing of a physical address and an opt-out link.

It’s beyond me that in 2009 LEGIT email is being sent out to god-knows-how-many-people sans an opt-out link. No physical address? Sure, I can see how that could be overlooked (yet still illegal)... but no opt-out link?  Are you kidding me?


The email above is a cross promotion for T-Mobile & the Orlando Magic pushing their “Shot of a Lifetime” online game. Although they could’ve included supporting HTML text, they didn’t.  It’s just one image. It seems as if they took a screenshot of a screenshot and threw it in arbitrarily between table tags.  It’s not even image-mapped with the separate “Official Rules” links going to their respective pages. And it’s oddly linking to a ticketmaster.com-tracked link (see below).

I’m so confused… and frustrated… and ultimately disappointed. There’s a whole mix of emotions going on here.

It begs the question: Why can’t companies—especially huge corporate entities—get their act together when it comes to email?

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Posted by MindComet on Mar. 05, 2009