Four Frazzled Flourishes!

Yes, all of the Flourishes are frazzled – frightfully frazzled!!!! What started out with all good intentions to offer our registered customers and Newsletter subscribers with a 10% off coupon code, has turned into the most frustrating experience the Flourishes have faced. Although many, many, many FLLC customers have taken advantage of their coupon code this week, it seems an equal number have not, and we have heard from countless dozens upon dozens of customers feeling frustrated because they were not provided with the coupon code. Jan Marie has talked with customers on the phone until she can talk no more, and letters of explanation have been sent, until fingers can no longer type; hence, this Blog post to explain to all what has occurred. And we’ll be very honest with you and tell you the whole story – LOL!!! Are you ready to read this novel????

The purpose of this email campaign was to see how effective our emails are. Do people really open and read the emails sent? Well, we found our answer – and that is exactly what backfired in our faces, resulting in four frightfully frazzled Flourishes!!! LOL!!! The emails with the coupon codes were sent ONLY to customers who were BOTH 1) registered as customers (you do this at checkout by agreeing to set up an account; essentially this gives us permission by Federal law to contact you via email with promotions); and 2) subscribers to the Flourishes Newsletter. If you have completed only one of these steps, you did not get an email. If you completed both of these steps you did get the email.

OK, so that determined who did and did not get the emails for this campaign. The emails were sent out early on the morning of May 14. The title of the email was Flourishes Announces and it announced the addition of Sharon Johnson as a partner, it then linked her No Time To Stamp? Blog, announced the 10% off, and THEN below that, it gave the coupon code and advised that there is free shipping on purchases over $45.00. OK, simple enough – well – one would think – LOL!!! Or so we did –

As stated above, after Jan Marie’s dozens of phone conversations with customers, it became VERY clear where the problem was. She waited on the phone as customers searched their emails for the May 14 notice – oh yes, here it is!!!! Some had opened the emails previously, some had not. OK, for those who had opened their emails, what had they remembered reading from it? Well, that Sharon was a new partner – well, what then – well, “then I clicked onto her Blog”. End of story. And therein lies the problem. Customers were NOT reading to the end of the email to find that they were provided with a coupon code. Then upon hearing a code had been issued and they “weren’t given one” the phones started ringing and the emails started flying in – and here we are, 3 days later, Four Frazzled Flourishes!!!

What can we say???? We’re so terribly, terribly sorry – because we are.

And what can we do differently next time??? Well, not much – other than try to impress upon everyone that if you want to take advantage of special offers, you MUST read your emails.

And what did we learn??? We learned that a good portion of people truly do not read their emails, and I guess in that sense you could consider this email campaign successful as we DID learn that, and that was, after all, one of the original intents.

Did we expect this reaction from customers??? No, absolutely not – it was the farthest thing from our minds – we thought we were doing a good thing (and it WAS good for all those who actually read the email – LOL!!!)

So, another day in the life of a Flourish – or Four Flourishes. Our sincerest apologies to all who felt slighted. No ill-will was ever intended towards anyone, and we are hoping all will read this Blog Post and come to a better realization of what happened. We look forward to continued relationships with all of you, trying our best to provide you with quality products, superior service and unparalleled customer support.

Photopolymer hugs to all –

Jan Marie, Nancy, Sharon D and Sharon J