Back home in North Carolina, bowling alleys are pretty low key and playing isn’t very expensive, but both items couldn’t be further from the truth in New York City.
Bowling alleys are more like clubs (Ok, not quite that far, but darn close) in the city and it will cost you around $50 – $60 for two people to rent shoes and play two games. If you order food you might as well bump that up to $100.
It’s not something I do all that often, but it can be quite fun, especially when it’s cold outside.
I was recently looking at the website for 300 New York, the bowling alley at Chelsea Piers, and while browsing their site I noticed a section that said “Sign Up and Save.” I clicked the link and saw what you see below.
Given my frugal nature and how expensive bowling can be, saving $20 sounded great, so I had no problem signing up for their email list.
Take note that the fine print mentions the $20 coupon, but NO other exclusions.
After filling out their email form, I received the email above from 300 New York. It confirmed that I was receiving a $20 off coupon to go bowling.
Again, no further exclusions mentioned in the fine print.
Once I clicked “Click here” to print the coupon, here is what I saw.
Notice anything new? Take note of this exclusion,”$20 off for groups of 4 or more.”
Personally, I feel like this is a pretty bad tactic on their part. There were two previous touch-points where the offer was mentioned, yet there was no mention of this exclusion.
If you are making an email marketing offer, you should be extremely clear as to what the customer will receive and list any exclusions at the onset.
Not doing so made me feel like I had just been tricked, and also made me wonder what other kind of crap stuff they would be sending me in the future. Simply put, it didn’t feel straight up.
Getting someone’s email address might seem like a simple thing, but it’s becoming more and more of a big deal. Not to mention it’s an extremely cost effective form of marketing.
Having a solid distribution list is a great way to drive business and website traffic, but you have to respect every aspect of the list building process, including the signup process.
300 New York has provided a great example of a simple email marketing fail that has resulted in a negative first impression, and more importantly, it made me not exactly trust their marketing efforts.
