Email Marketing Gone Wrong

I love Overstock.com. Tons of the furniture items and things throughout my home were ordered from the site. Quality is always good, I get the stuff fast and the prices are perfect. But lately I’m a bit confused by their email campaigns.

‘Limited Time’ Should Mean ‘Limited Time’

The image here in this post is from a recent email but I must’ve received at least 15 of these ‘limited time’ sales emails over the last month. That is nearly every single day I am receiving an email. Guess what is happening? I’m ignoring them because I know the sale is not over forever. The first email I hesitated on hitting the delete key and almost clicked-through to take advantage. But after the 5th email stating that I had just another 24 hours to take advantage, I stopped believing it was true.

I know that there will be more and I don’t need to act now. The entire point of offering a sale for a ‘limited time’ is lost because Overstock.com is not staying true to their word.

Getting It Right

Now there are other brands where I receive emails very sparingly and I know that what they say is actually what is happening. If the free shipping offer is just that day and I dont get to the email until the next day, I’ve missed the offer and I know another email is not coming on it’s tail. When I see this, I typically act. I mean, I have given permission to thse brands to email me and I am interested in their products so it’s not uncommon that I buy something – especially if it’s a good deal.

Overstock.com needs to take a serious look at the volume of their emails. How many people are receiving 15 emails per month? Of those, how many are unsubscribing? Is anyone even taking advantage of these ‘limited time’ sales?

What do your email communications look like? Are they valuable to your audience or are you just filling up their inbox?

Read more:

• When E-mail Marketing Goes Awry
• Best Email Marketing Software – Best Email Marketing Services for your Business