Imagine you’re sifting through your email inbox one morning and drinking a cup of coffee. Most of the subject lines blend together, but one stands out: “Congratulations on your new arrival."
You open the email out of curiosity and discovery that you’re being targeted to purchase thank you cards for the plethora of gifts you received for your new baby. The only problem is you’re not a new parent. Heck, you may not be a parent at all! You may be confused, or even angry…
That’s how many people felt after receiving the same email from Shutterfly last week. Although the company has released a statement, apologizing for the missteps, many are wondering if the brand could possibly recover.
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The Retail TouchPoints editorial team shared their thoughts on how Shutterfly can bounce back from segmentation slip-up. Their thoughts are below:
Debbie Hauss, Editor-In-Chief: On some levels I think it’s Customer Service 101. To flippantly apologize just makes people angrier. To really make up for the error Shutterfly should be offering a special promotion code to the consumers who mistakenly received the email. We all know how much we like free stuff, even if it’s just a flashlight pen from a trade show. It doesn’t take much to make people happy by giving them something. Of course, lesson learned by some retailers following the east coast hurricane – some offers can be perceived as distasteful. So I hope Shutterfly doesn’t offer a discount for first birthday photos.
Alicia Fiorletta, Senior Editor: I think Shutterfly did the right thing in that the company reacted swiftly to coverage of its segmentation snafu. After all, they couldn’t do anything to rectify the situation, but they had to own up to it and address the situation. But personally, I feel like the company’s statement was very cookie-cutter in approach and very heavy-handed in the PR speak. I think there was a missed opportunity to show a more personal side, and even some humor. Even starting an email with a sentence like: "Okay, so you did not just give birth after all…” is an indirect way of saying, “whoops, our bad.” Owning up to mistakes, and giving affected customers a unique offer or special item, can go a long way. Humility and humor also can be key as Shutterfly responds to customers on social media, especially the snarky ones.
Kim Zimmermann, Managing Editor: This this is not the first, nor will it be the last time, something like this happens, it is critical to have a strategy in place to respond when the inevitable campaign goes awry. I think whatever the response – humor, humility, offers or free stuff – should remain authentic to the brand. Don’t take too long to respond and don’t get defensive.
Glenn Taylor, Associate Editor: I think one of the best ways to repair a botched campaign, especially if it was a first offense, is to take it on the chin and see the humor in it. Sure, a statement clarifying the mistake does help, but the majority of apologies feel as impersonal as the original message that got Shutterfly in trouble in the first place. If anything, I think the Shutterfly social media and marketing teams could foster a connection with those they offended by poking fun at themselves in future emails and promotions, if only to show that they are human too and can be prone to mistakes.
Brian Anderson, Associate Editor: When it comes to the whole Shutterfly debacle, there isn’t really much you can do to rebound from an error that has made an impact on an unknown majority of your consumer-base. It’s not like you can try to make up for it by sending personalized “I’m sorry we thought you were pregnant” cards since they have no idea how many people they wrongly sent that email to. I believe they handled it the best way that they could; they made a public apology to those who were offended, and explained it was a mistake. Incentives are always nice too, but it’s hard to believe a coupon from a photo-printing website can alleviate such an error.
Do you think Shutterfly took the right steps to address the marketing misstep? What else could the company have done to win customers’ forgiveness?
