Have you been to the mall lately? Is your inbox getting overloaded with holiday specials? Are you overwhelmed by it all? If your response is yes-yes-yes, then you may be interested in my letter to Santa about what I really want for Christmas.
1. Less email
Retailers, is it really necessary to send me 3-to-4 emails with the same offer, all on the same day? No. Please stop. You are filling my already overflowing email inbox with unnecessary and unwanted offers. My shopping list is already complete. In fact, it would be okay not to send me any more emails between now and Christmas. Save that delivery option until the day after Christmas when I have either received something I already have, or received a gift card to your store. Give me the rest of the month off. It’s not you, it’s me.
2. Responsible packaging
On an occasion, I will receive an extremely oversized box for a small product ordered online. I always wonder what your thought process was choosing such large packaging for such a small piece. Seems wasteful and expensive. Something I would prefer not to pay for. I understand your concern to protect your product from the crazy delivery journey; however, sometimes your packaging is excessive. Oftentimes, the purchase does not warrant a big box with bubble wrap. Put it in a strong padded envelope – something that could fit it into my mailbox. It will be cheaper and easier, and we’ll both be happy.
3. Free shipping
It’s crazy out there. The real-life game of driving around a parking lot for an hour trying to get a space is not appealing to me, hence my attraction to shopping online. Surprisingly, I am not drawn to the special in-store deals, nor the opportunity to see and touch the actual items, it’s the convenience of not having to park that drives me to purchase online. Offering free shipping makes the incentive of mall avoidance simply too good to pass up.
4. Good tracking systems
I do appreciate the email that notifies me that my product has shipped. Particularly those emails that include a tracking number. And special kudos to you, you know who you are, the ones who allow me to click on the tracking number, directly take me to the shipper’s website to learn the status of delivery. You guys rock!
5. Less personalized ads
Please, please, please, stop the Facebook ads that pop up in my news stream of items I have recently viewed on your website. I am trying to surprise a few special people with thoughtful gifts. Those personalized ads are invasive and a bit creepy. I really don’t need my web surfing for gift giving to be so public to whoever is looking over my shoulder. It is data you are obtaining and will likely never review, so let’s pretend data collection about my window-shopping journey doesn’t exist.
Yes, I could simply unsubscribe to your email list and only visit a website when I’m certain about what I intend to buy. However, that would require me to drive to a brick-and-mortar store and park in order to shop. And as you know by now, that doesn’t really work for me (see #3 above). So let’s take a little break, we’ll get together again soon after the holidays. I hope we can still be friends.