From: HP Home & Home Office Store
Subject Line: Your HP Home & Home Office Store Deals - Week of January 4, 2010
Date: Monday, January 4, 2010

From: HP Home & Home Office Store
Date: Monday, January 4, 2010

While I know a few senders already have begun to take advantage of the power of using their email lists to build their mobile contact lists, I still get excited when I see an example in the wild. Like most consumers, I'm not eager to get text messages for promotions on my iPhone. I don't mind receiving timely and relevant alerts for specific reasons, but for this message from HP, my excitement quickly turned to skepticism when I tried to provide my details.

I clicked on the image based form on the landing page to enter my mobile number, however, that was the only requested data point. The fine print reads "As a member of the HP Club you'll receive a maximum of 4 messages a month", which doesn't sound very customized or alert based to me. Without any chance to provide other details to HP like my name, email address (both could be populated from the email click saving time and ensuring data synchronization) printer type and typical usage, how can they possibly send me a relevant and timely alert when my ink is low?

As we continue to build cross channel programs and lists throughout 2010, we need to keep in mind one of the key lessons learned from the email channel -- consumers want meaningful choices and control of where and how they receive messaging from marketers. Respecting these choices builds stronger performing programs with more engaged recipients.