Wednesday, April 28, 2004
E-Mail, That Newfangled Business Tool
E-Mail went all awry as a marketing tool when the first spammer hit the electronwaves and gave it a bad name. Yet that doesn’t mean it can’t be used as a business tool, or even have marketing implications in the process. Heck, the problem with “unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail” is primarily the unsolicited and secondarily the bulk.
That said, this is intended to point up one cool way I have seen a company use e-mail, and to express a wish for another business use of e-mail.
I ordered business checks last week, finally, from a fine company called Checks In The Mail. I wonder if my wife knows they have a line of SpongeBob items...
Lo and behold, a few days later I receive an e-mail that says, in part:
Thank you for your recent order!
You are always #1 at Checks In The Mail!This automated e-mail message confirms that the
following item has been processed and is about
to be produced.ITEM: 600 Antique Duplicate Business Register Checks
STATUS: IN PRODUCTIONYou will receive a daily status email until this
product is shipped.After this item is produced, you will receive another
email notification advising you that we are about to
ship your product. If you ordered multiple items,
then you will receive an e-mail notification for
each item, including multiple boxes of checks that
were ordered.Our goal is to provide 100% customer satisfaction!
Our Online Support team is available to assist you.
I was all excited at what a nice touch it was; a system to keep you informed when your checks were produced and shipped. It’s a marketing tool without being spam. Not a sales tool per se, but a marketing tool that enhances the image of the company and encourages repeat or referral business.
What a neat idea.
Well, if imperfectly executed. That one was mailed 4/25 at 0707. An identical e-mail was sent by them at 1000 on 4/27, and another, still unchanged, on 4/28 at 0728. They all say “in production.”
I would have expected it to be going to production, production complete, now shipping; or something along those lines. Even though it only promises to tell you they are still working it through the pipeline and have yet to ship. Still, good idea, well-intentioned, with a definite future. It’s a step beyond good prices, designs and service, which they had over fifteen years ago when I first ordered personal checks there. I like it.
We recently talked about how nice it would be to e-mail the doctor questions. Or to have them e-mail results or instructions.
I know there must be doctors doing this, if only answering e-mailed questions for a fee. And I’d be happy to get answers to real questions for a fee, alongside the use of e-mail as a communication tool between the doctor’s office and patient. I’d love to be able to e-mail “when was that next appointment again?” or “my Lisinopril prescription has expired, could you call it into CVS please?” That second one they have an automated voicemail system for, but still.
I’d love to have been able to e-mail about the sleep test results and the abortive efforts to sell me a CPAP and so forth.
I suppose they might consider e-mail to be too insecure to be HIPAA compliant. Mostly I think it’s a failure of imagination, and slowness to adopt to new ways of doing business in a profession everyone needs, where marketing and differentiating yourself isn’t a big need.
How would you use, or like to see used, e-mail as a business tool?