From: MobileMe
Subject Line: MobileMe account notice: update your credit card
Date: Monday, February 8, 2010

Technology is not my friend today. It all started at 6:30 a.m. with this email from Apple MobileMe. Apparently, my credit card on file had expired, so they needed me to update it on my account. Okay, no problem. But, um, how about a link to my Mobile Me log-in page? No? Too much to ask? Just a button? An underlined word? Heck, I'd even settle for a clickable logo. I found some small links at the bottom, but none of them specifically said 'GO HERE TO UPDATE ACCOUNT'. Making your subscribers do the work is not the way to get them to spend more money with you. Especially with a service-oriented feature like Mobile Me, which is supposed to make my life on the go easier. Sorry, Apple. This one was a major miss for me. On a positive note, I love the headline and the body copy. It's short, sweet and friendly.

Follow-Up Note: Stefan Pollard, our resident strategy genius, offered some interesting insight that I think is important to share. (See below) One thing that's interesting is that AT & T includes a button in their "your bill is ready" emails, so I guess it really is about the individual company and what they're comfortable with.

"Some financial institutions will provide links to "sign in", others are afraid to do so. What often makes the difference is the brand and the likeliness of being attached by phishing and fraud. The bigger the brand, the more likely they become a target and many FI's will include language that says they will never ask you for information or to log in directly, but rather simply remind you to visit their home page. This works well if you provide a URL that isn't tracked by your provider so it is fully branded. Consumers have learned to mouse over images and links to make sure the destination matches the target for protection."