When trying to touch base with a customer and maintain some level of brand loyalty, it is important to take note of detail. If you are sending a personalized message, proper care should be taken to ensure the right name goes on it, and if there is code involved, that it is properly tested. The image below is a case in point.
I received this message from Microsoft regarding my XBox 360 Live membership. The last time I checked, however, my name was not “Failed to convert to string from variant type 1″. Now this isn’t an email from some random guy on the internet, this is Microsoft. A company that prides itself in hiring elite programmers and other intellects. Everything else about the 360’s service has been top notch, so it seems strange to see such a blatant oversight occur in this email. Having worked with mass emailing before, I can understand oversights…during the testing phase, not with the letter that is launched. Considering this email gets sent to people across the U.S. everyday, I wonder how many others experienced this, and what their reactions were?
Bottom line, if you plan on making good customer contact, test thoroughly and always proof read. It only takes a few minutes of your time and you could prevent inserting your foot into your mouth.
April 24th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Ohh, thanks for the ammo! My older sister is a programmer at Microsoft (no, not that department), so I razz her anytime I find out about one of their mistakes.
April 25th, 2007 at 9:37 am
Nice. It just goes to show that no one is perfect. This shows how human anything can be, even a giant like Microsoft makes mistakes like this.