IN COMEDY — AND LIFE IN general — timing is everything. Miss a beat, and a joke is ruined. Miss a bus, and you might never meet the love of your life.
We all know, of course, that the same rule applies to direct marketing. You have to hit the right prospect, with the right offer, at the right time.
Some companies instinctively know when to hit their mark. Others, eh…not so much.
I was reminded of this last month, when I visited Vanity Fair's Web site to read about their coup in getting the first pictures of the elusive Suri Cruise. I was immediately greeted with a pop-up ad offering a discounted subscription. And the sub was guaranteed to start with the October issue featuring the TomKat baby debut.
This was savvy, smart marketing. All the hoopla surrounding the photos was sure to drive new traffic to its Web site, and Vanity Fair realized these new visitors might well be good candidates for a subscription offer.
In this instance, Vanity Fair danced divinely. But that same week, at least in my household, Federated Department Stores missed its cue.
As everyone probably knows, Federated has spent the last year phasing out many of the brands it acquired through the May Department Stores acquisition, and either shutting down stores or converting them to Macy's.
As part of the process, Federated understandably wants to retain credit card customers of those shuttered stores. This explains why in early September I received a shiny new red Macy's credit card, to replace my Marshall Field's card.
How nice, I thought. I'll put it in my wallet next to the shiny new red Macy's card I received a week earlier to replace my Filene's credit card. And better still, both cards will be conveniently in reach of the Macy's card I've had for more than a decade.
Do I need three separate Macy's accounts? I don't think so.
It dawned on me that someone in Federated's marketing department should attend an National Center for Database Marketing conference. I hear NCDM has all this nifty new technology that lets you merge databases and see who already has an account with your store before you issue them one (or two) new accounts. Cool, huh? I dunno…maybe Macy's doesn't want to get bogged down with all that computer razzmatazz.
I called Macy's customer service to cancel two of the accounts because I'm a simple girl. After wading through a very lengthy menu, I finally was given the option of asking for an agent. I explained to her that I now had three separate accounts for the same store.
“Let me look into that,” she said. “Yes, you have three Macy's accounts. What can I do for you?”
Um, cancel two of them, please?
She made me pick which one I wanted to keep — at that point, I wasn't sure I wanted any of them — and put me on hold for about five minutes. She returned and said I'd receive two separate letters informing me of the cancellations.
I asked why I got the new cards in the first place.
“We're closing the Marshall Field's and Filene's stores and…”
Yes, I know. But wouldn't it have made more sense to compare the databases so you wouldn't issue multiple cards to a slew of customers? I'm guessing there are now thousands of people in the same boat as I am.
“Yes, I guess you're right.”
C'mon, don't you think that's silly?
The rep was silent for what seemed like a very long time.
“Would you like to share you e-mail address to receive information about specials and sales?”
I burst out laughing. No, not today, thanks.
Macy's, this is amateur-hour behavior. If you want to build bonds with customers in the areas where you're closing down much-loved venerable shopping institutions, there's a better way to do it.
Why not send a note of appreciation to customers, recognizing them for their years of patronage, instead of burdening them with duplicate credit accounts they don't need or want? And give them something a little more meaningful than the same coupons that appear in the newspaper every other day, which aren't valid on half the items in the store anyway.
Sure, the cards were shiny in my wallet. And now they're shiny in my trash can, cut to pieces.
Have you seen any great examples of good — or bad — marketing timing recently? E-mail them to me at beth.negus@penton.com and I'll share them in a future issue.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see if Vanity Fair wants to have Annie Leibovitz photograph my kids. I may be biased, but I think they've got a lot of star power, even if their dad hasn't jumped on Oprah's couch.
