Before Christmas, a marketing email from Scentmatchers caught my eye. I posted about it in “Going Out of Business Sale: Email Marketing Edition.”
In an attempt to inspire FOMO (fear of missing out) in customers, the email includes lines like, “Keep in mind, after we close, you will NOT BE ABLE TO ORDER FROM US AGAIN,” and “Again these are full priced orders, but I don’t feel too bad about that, had we been making loads of money we wouldn’t be going out of business (haha).”
My speculation that this was the classic Going Out of Business Sale ploy proved correct! As Valentine’s Day nears, check out the email I received yesterday.
Co-Founder Adam Shultz claims that the intense loyalty of customers inspired the company to give it another go. Color me skeptical.
From a marketing perspective, it’s tempting to consider this sneaky campaign clever. But in the end, cleverness in pursuit of deception will never pay off with customers. Use your creativity honestly!
