We're Friendly... Well, Sort of

Wrigley’s website Candystand.com  Is full of fun games and I must admit to spending too much of my free time there playing Candy Drop.  The emails that compliment the site are to the point, easy to read and have a specific call to action.

The email I received last week included a link to a coupon for buy one get one free gum and a link to enter to win a new car.

It seems that Wrigley is on the right track with a request to whitelist, but could take it a step further by actually including the email address in the sentence.  It currently reads "This e-mail was sent to you from Candystand.com. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk, junk, or spam folders), please add us to your address book."

From  a literal standpoint, do I add "us" to my address book and then assume the messages will make it to my inbox?  Of course I know to add the uber-friendly from address, noreply@candystand.com.  Wrigley runs the risk of the majority of their subscribers not adding the address and ups the chances of ending up in the bulk or junk folder.

The footer of the message contains the same "friendly" tone with the following statement "Note: Please DO NOT REPLY to this email. Wrigley welcomes your comments and questions, please click here to view our Frequently Asked Questions or to contact us."

When you send your email message to from and reply to email addresses should be monitored.  And the address should never,ever be noreply@…  Some subscribers may never take the extra step to click to contact.  And it really makes it look like you’d rather not hear what your subscribers have to say.

Make it easy for your subscribers to reach you by using a friendly reply-to email address and by making it easier for your messages to land in the inbox.  When things are more difficult than they need to be, your subscribers will either, opt-out, stop reading or report you as SPAM.

Comments

[Jeff.Wang]

I think it would be better if we present it like this: please add "a specific email address" to your contact list.

And noreply is definitely not a good practice, when you ask your reader don't reply, you shut down a door for communication.

Jeff

[Maddy]

Hi DJ!

If the message wasn't from the Wrigley family, I might think it was spam too. But I specifically remember opting-in to their email program.

I just don't think No Reply sends a good message to subscribers/clients/potential brand evangelists.

-Maddy

[DJ Waldow]

Tamara -

"Please DO NOT REPLY to this email..."? That smells an awful lot like spam to me.

dj at Bronto

p.s. watching this page with co.mments