I realize companies want to know how they’re doing and want feedback to improve their services. But I’m getting a little tired of the many post-interaction requests for feedback. I’m sure they’d “love” to hear from me. But after I analyze the content, language, appearance, and context of the message (As a service designer, I’m compelled. I assume normal people don’t do this.), I hit delete.
In this case, before I sent the easy-cheap-business-channel-of-choice message to the ether, a few things caught my attention.
“Dear Jamin,”
Do people still use “dear” in email? **
“Thanks for considering Lending Club.”
I’m not considering Lending Club. I’m a customer.
“To improve our product and service, we would love to hear feedback on your experience.”
Funny enough, people pay me money for this. Not sure I understand the value prop for me, but since you asked, it was fine. Maybe even unmemorable, as I can’t remember what action I may have taken to trigger this email. Don’t take this to mean I want it to be memorable. Fine is fine.
“Please share your thoughts by completing this brief survey – it should only take a few minutes:”
What’s that hyphen doing in the middle of these two sentences? Why isn’t it an em dash. I’d settle for an en dash because sometimes em dashes look too damn long. But the whole thing could be moot if we just made these two regular sentences.
Then there’s the colon, which should be a period, right? Because below…
“Survey link:”
Hey! Another colon! Obviously, the first colon is unnecessary, and dare I say a little awkward. Arguably, the survey link needs no introduction. But redundancy can be good for communication, so I’ll let it slide.
“Sincerely,”
Again, this is an email. “Sincerely” tells me we are not friends and do not have an established relationship. Though I’ve been a customer for more than a year. Two years? Clearly, both of us forget when we first met.
“Scott Sanborn
Chief Operating Officer
Lending Club”
Scott, hello! Have we met or emailed previously? How do you have the time to write to me? Shouldn’t you be running the business?
* (asterisk)
Since there is no other asterisk elsewhere, I’m not sure what this info is a caveat to specifically. So I’ll assume it’s the entire message, in which case we can lose the asterisk.
“Lending Club contracted CustomerSat, an independent marketing research firm, to conduct this survey.”
I’m not sure why this matters. I might actually prefer if Lending Club was asking me directly. Maybe a personal email from Scott.
** While I may be picking on Lending Club in this instance, many companies have similar practices, even my own. This doesn’t make it any less questionable.
And in case you’re asking, why don’t I just opt out? Well, because hitting delete is easier.
Sincerely,
Jamin Hegeman
Design Director