Laughter:The Way to your users hearts

Smart Marketing, at least the way I like to describe it is something that makes you look or listen or watch twice (at least). Something that you want to share. Something that juxtaposes the expected messaging about a product or service with a visual or a message that is completely unexpected.

Recently a friend forwarded me an email that they received after they had signed up for Hollrr, a web rating service that I had recommended to them.  Like so many other users of all these services, they signed up, played around for a little while then moved on to the next thing. We all do it. Twitter received a lot of criticism over the number of accounts that were abandoned within three months of being opened. But that is fairly normal behavior for a lot of users.

Hollrr recognizes this but is taking a proactive approach to try and stem the flow of users who sign up and then forget them.  The email is below, now as Groucho Marx said, Comedy is like a frog, if you dissect it, it dies. So while I’m going to point out the things that I think are relevant I’m not going to pull the message apart too much, enjoy it.

XXXX, are you playing hard to get?

It’s been nearly two weeks since we first met and I’m starting to get
the feeling that you’re ignoring me. I mean, all signs were pointing
to yes when you gave me your name and email and didn’t tell me to NOT
contact you.

Not only is this opening funny but it reminds the recipient that they opted-in to receive emails. Basically saying hey we aren’t spamming you. Sometimes it’s important to remind the reader that they did ask for emails to be sent.

When you ticked my terms of service box, I thought you told me you
loved me. How could you not?!? Look at all the great things other
people are saying about me. Am I just another notch on your belt like
the Foursquare and Aardvark floozies you play around with?

Keep yourself relevant and current. By comparing themselves to Foursquare Hollrr reminds the reader of what type of service they are, and perhaps why the user signed up in the first place. They also make the assumption that the user is an early adopter and they play on that.
My friends tell me that you’re ‘just not that into me’, but I really
thought we had something together. Don’t you know what you mean to me?
Don’t ever leave me….because if you do….I’d find you.

Ok so the last paragraph might come across as a little creepy, but of course that’s the humor, after all it’s meant to be from that rather strange person that you met at a mixer/happy hour/tweetup that is just a little socially inept.

Yours for eternity,

Hollrr

Overall I’d say a great job by Hollrr of sending out a reminder about their service without making it boring, using some Smart Marketing to re-engage a user and generally spread the word about their site.

How would you respond to this email?