Avoiding The Marketing Creep Factor

by Chloe Mahendra-Fuji, Print Diva

I was lurking in #PrintChat this week. The topic was one of my favorite – security. I love talking about security because it brings out the devil in me! Let’s start with the obvious… when you work with personal data you need some security. Even if you aren’t printing financial information, you are the guardian of some data. The simple act of associating a name and address is a secure transaction, let alone the preferences of a person at an address.

It made me wonder how much my design and marketing friends really know about data security and how to design to avoid the “Creep” factor. The creep factor is when you overuse what you know about your customer… and yes, I got one of these just yesterday in my mail. And I hated it.

You could tell the designer was trying hard. They got my first name into the piece nine times and then worked my full name in three times. But something failed somewhere because they kept referring to me a Mr. Fuji. Next point of failure is what was on the outside. “We know you love…. “ followed by a list of things I’ve bought in the last few months. OK.. I know what I like, but most of this was bought as gifts for other people…. So they got it wrong. I don’t love what they think I love. And if they had looked at their data they would have noticed that all of the things they think I love were sent to other addresses. And even the things I do love didn’t need to be on the outside wrapper!

That process of associating my name and address to “stuff” is invasive, and it’s a turn off for a lot of people. Where I live my mail often ends up at my neighbor’s house before it gets to me and I don’t really want to share all of my details!

So, this piece failed on several levels:

It used my name too many times.
It got my gender wrong
It put personally identifiable information on an outer wrapper in full view of anyone.
It indicated that it knew what I love, but it was wrong!

Now think about what shows up in your mailbox from the brands you do business with and those that want your business. Anyone getting it totally right?

What about the things you have responsibility for? Are you getting it right?

What about the people making decisions about what goes out to customers – the marketers, the designers, the analytics folks who provide metrics? Are they getting it right?

Are they over using or under using the data available? Can you do it better? Can you avoid the creep factor?

I know I’m being picky, but I am a Print Diva. More from the Life in Print next time!

Chloe Mahendra-Fuji practices the fine arts of design critique, content creation and editing, and communication consulting. She has decades of experience working in online content delivery, print delivery, and content development.