Every now and then I receive junk mail from HSBC. They may call it promotional offers but to me it looks more like spam mail waiting to fill my mailbox. I get to receive these mails, perfectly concealed in a "Private and Confidential" white envelope under a disguise that it could be my monthly bill or account statement. No sir, it's not. It is a loan offer granting me super low rates that sound so irresistible. I read the message impressed as the bank pre-fills my credit card number and the only thing I need to do is to sign it and return the mail. I don't even have to spend a penny on postage as HSBC also paid for it.
Too bad HSBC, I didn't ask for a loan. It was unwise for you to send direct mails to a broad as opposed to a targeted audience. Heck, when I open that junk mail, you didn't bother to skip printing the Chinese version knowing that I don't read Chinese characters. Even when my bill arrives, it comes with promotional sheets that's three times the weight of the bill statement itself. These promotional offers are useless to me and I rarely read them.
Sorry, HSBC I already did mention these useless HSBC promotions in the past. But I have to repeat it because HSBC pretending to care for environment through green credit card, and other initiatives seem irrelevant if the bank continues to bombard its clients with mostly useless special offers at the expense of trees (no matter how many times paper you used is recycled).
Photo credit: flippy whale
3 comments:
Couldn't agree more.
Here's what I do...
Cram their junk back into the prepaid envelope and return it. It costs them money every time you do it, as it's postage prepaid. Enclose the occasional bitchy note.
I have no issue with Direct Marketing - it can be a valuable part of a marketing strategy, but I agree with your post.
HSBC (and banks in general) have huge amounts of data about their customers yet are incapable of using it in a way that is relevant, timely and useful.
This is also reflected in their awful email marketing. You have to be suspicious when the ratio of legal disclaimer to marketing text is 3:1. Clueless! (Although I see they finally added an unsubscribe option which they will very graciously do "at no charge")
I agree with Tom. Although I don't generally send back the junk that the company sent to me. Usually all other companies junk mail goes into that envelope and gets mailed back.
Suprisingly, the amount of these types of offers has decreased in the past months.
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