by Andy StroteQuick post. Last week I got an email from magazine publisher Condé Nast. They were having a big sale on subscriptions. I’m a sucker for magazines and I thought, why not, save some money and subscribe.
I hit the link, get to the site, pick a couple of magazines at greatly reduced subscription rates, and hit the check out button. There’s the form, and of course the pull-down list of States. Oh, wait a minute, no provinces. Hmmm. I’m in Canada. Don’t have a state or zip. No link for non-USA residents. Now what? Uh, well, nothing.
Of course the special offer only applies to the USA.
How did Condé Nast forget that the first W in WWW stands for “world”?
First, if they can’t segment their email list by country (Really? I know they have my address.), they could have mentioned in the email that the offer is only good in the lower 48. They had another chance when I got to the site. And finally a third chance when I got to the form. But no.
Net result? Of course I didn’t subscribe there. And didn’t go looking where I could subscribe in Canada. They just lost two subscriptions. And these days, magazines can use all the subscribers they can find.
3 Tips We Can All Use:
- If your offer is limited, try not to send it to those who don’t qualify.
- If you can’t segregate your list, be clear about any limitations on the landing page on the website.
- If you have different prices or shipping rates by country, let visitors know early.
