Musings about Entrepreneurship, Technology and Software Development

Accidental Technologist

Don’t Treat Your Customers Like Adobe Treats Theirs

Adobe

I received this email from Adobe today. I will not be downloading their trial software.

I trialled Adobe Illustrator a few months ago and Adobe has been chasing me ever since. Trying to get me to sign-up for their SaaS offering. A lot bothers me about with this email, but here are the highlights:

  1. Who ever sent this has my contact details but decided to keep it generic, pretty cold. They could have used my first name to personalize it a bit.
  2. They’ve sent this email to me several times since my trial has run out. It’s assumed I don’t mind the spam because there is no way for me to unsubscribe from their list. Please give people on your list a way to get out and make it easy.
  3. Notice the text circled in red, ”Please do not reply to this email.” What is up with that? They want me as a customer but they’re too busy to take replies from me. I can call them or “Find” them online.   Don’t do this, be grateful to anyone who might be interested in your product or service. Accept any way they might want to reach out to you.

I will likely never buy an Adobe product just based on this email alone. It’s important to value all potential customers.

  • StoneFX

    Per your comment “Please give people on your list a way to get out and make it easy”, isn’t that required by law?

    https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business

    “Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email from you. Your message must include a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting email from you in the future. Craft the notice in a way that’s easy for an ordinary person to recognize, read, and understand. Creative use of type size, color, and location can improve clarity. Give a return email address or another easy Internet-based way to allow people to communicate their choice to you. You may create a menu to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to stop all commercial messages from you. Make sure your spam filter doesn’t block these opt-out requests.”

    Unless I’m missing something, I’m pretty sure that email doesn’t meet these requirements.