I want to chime in with my $0.02 on the White House email debacle that has popped up over the past few days. If you haven’t heard about it and you’re in email marketing, I hope you’ve been completely disconnected on vacation, because WOW if you haven’t.
For those of you who don’t know what’s going on, @djwaldow and @ChrisAWheeler (Twitter names) have great opinions on what has happened:
DJ: The Email Zoo: “The White House Sent Me Spam”
Chris: Bronto Blog: “White House Email Acquisition Controversy”
Legality and ethical issues aside, this email message needs help. Here’s a look:
First impressions? Sterile design. A headline and from line that don’t tell me anything.
“Dear Friend” instead of personalized greeting? Come on, I would expect the White House to have the capability to throw in a first name–even if the list was acquired through less-than-legitimate means.
Also, what’s worth forwarding when the crux of the message–this Reality Check website–is buried in P.S. of the message? The P.S.? Really? Wow, that’s a big blown opportunity. There are no buttons to guide behavior. This is a message purely built on the hopes that someone will open and read a message from David Axelrod–David Who? My point exactly.
And besides, the Reality Check website is a great idea, provided it’s actually a Reality Check. I’ve written about this before, but the healthcare debate REQUIRES honesty. And the White House is missing a great opportunity to use their email list (again, regardless of how ill-gotten it may be) to tell the truth–not the spin.
Here are some things they can do with this opportunity:
- Get a better URL for the Reality Check website. How about www.realitycheckhealthcare.com? According to GoDaddy.com, it’s available.
- Make the reality check a third-party site, like www.factcheck.org. Carries more weight and credibility. Be honest with the American people.
- Create an email drip campaign that actually smaller chunks of information that can legitimately be forwarded to others (and provide an easier method to do so!)
- Use the Obama brand on the email campaign. His campaign website was so dynamic–this White House email is, as I said, so sterile.
- Use the Obama brand on the Sender name–not the White House, the Obama brand
Those are my two cents. What are yours?
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