As an Internet marketing transaction, it started off perfectly.
I just so happened to be in the market for a new pair of inexpensive reading glasses. I could have picked up a pair of those bargain-bin readers at the corner pharmacy, but being the fashion victim that I am, I pined for some hip designer frames.
Almost like reading my mind, on a Facebook page appeared an ad for ClearlyContacts.ca, pushing $38 glasses.
I clicked, managed to find a smashing wood/metal pair that I liked at a pretty amazing price (a little more than $38, mind you); so amazing a price that I splurged on a second pair of different yet equally stand-out designer frames.
Within seconds, I had a confirmation email, complete with tracking numbers to follow my glasses on their journey from factory to me. Within five days, two neat little boxes showed up, each filled not just with my new glasses (fully prescriptioned as well), but with a hard case, a mini-screwdriver, microfiber cleaning cloth and cleaning solution.
The ideal Internet transaction?
Indeed.
Yet, it was the after-effects I found strange.
For almost as immediately as I received my confirmation email, I became stalked by ClearlyContacts.ca. Like Mary’s Little Lamb, everywhere that Andy went, ClearlyContacts.ca was sure to go. They followed me to (and believe me, this is just a partial list):
- Canoe.ca
- The Drudge Report
- CNN
- Fast Company
- DListed
- Yahoo Sports
- CTV News
- The Huffington Post
- Even here at my own blog (see above)!
Now as the former head of a digital company, and currently a guy trying to inject the Internet into everything we do at Just For Laughs, I get the concept of cookies, those little bits of code that help advertisers track your site visits and follow you on your Net travels.
Cookies don’t bug me; they help drive a part of the Internet economy, one that needs to burgeon and progress.
Here, though IS what bugged me:
Just about EVERY one
of these ClearlyContacts.ca
ads featured—read “pushed”—
the exact two pairs of glasses
that I had just bought!
Now, as a businessman, I understand upsell. I also understand recommendation marketing (“If you liked that, you’ll love this” or “People who have bought this also bought that”).
So what bugs me so much about the ClearlyContacts.ca situation is the missed opportunity. They had a clearly satisfied customer, and they tried to feed me something I OBVIOUSLY didn’t need (I am indeed obsessive in my fashion habits, but two pairs of exactly the same glasses is where I draw the line). It’s like the old joke about the oblivious McDonald’s worker robotically asking “Would you like fries with that?” to a customer who has just ordered a large order of fries.
The ClearlyContacts.ca problem is a lot more bothersome for them than it is for me, really. I can always look away from any ad, no matter how many times it shows up wherever. But the company failed to fully capitalize on a customer who was clearly satisfied; way more than merely satisfied, actually.
I was happy,
guard was down and I was
vulnerable to any great offer.
The one I got was irrelevant, and ultimately ignored. Bad for biz.
All this to say is that while I do believe that the Internet is the driving force behind the world’s economic engine, it does have a long way to go. As long as customers are seen as algorithms rather than people, these kind of missed opportunities will propagate. And these missed opportunities are worth billions of dollars in revenue.
Things will indeed change. The Internet will get more “human” as algorithms get smarter, and in the thinking of Ray Kurzweil, the “Singularity” will bring upon us an era where machines will know us better than we do ourselves.
Maybe then, we’ll be rid of quaint, minor irritants like being sold the same thing twice.
Franky, by then, there will be some ubiquitous minor procedure that will improve our vision forever, and eliminate the need for glasses completely.
Except, perhaps, as a stylish accessory to fashion victims like me.