Miss Terry Shopper
Miss Terry Shopper Jumps Off JumpOnIt
- 8th December
- Miss Terry Shopper 28
Christmas shopping online is so easy, particularly when you can ditch the wrapping and send presents via email! But without instigating an awkward conversation and taking the surprise away, how can you be sure the email – and the gift – has been received?
Being the avid online shopper that I am, you can bet your bottom dollar that I’m signed up to every daily deal site you can think of. Every morning, I grab my iPhone and study all the fabulous offers at my fingertips that have come in overnight by email, from the likes of LivingSocial, CatchoftheDay, Groupon, Daily Deals, All the Deals, Deal or No Deal…hang on, I’m confusing myself now….oh yes and JumpOnIt.
A recent offer on JumpOnIt caught my attention: a 12-month magazine subscription to Reader’s Digest. Normally valued at $71, this was now available for $24 and would make the perfect Christmas present for one of my friends. The sale information told me this deal would be saving me a whopping 66 percent, which, when I did the math, meant I had $47 left over to treat myself with! Incredible how these sites work, isn’t it?
The ordering was relatively easy. There was even a box to check if the purchase was to be a gift – perfect. Payment details were collected, as was the recipient’s email address, and I was given a chance to write a brief Christmas message to my friend, *Ben (not his real name).
“Too easy,” I thought to myself. ”Now I just need to fill out the delivery date details.” I hunted around, did some more clicking, and before I knew it, the order process was completed without ever offering any delivery date options.
Other than the invoice, I received nothing from JumpOnIt once the transaction was finished, not even a notification email that the ‘gift’ had been sent to Ben.
Last night, I had the opportunity to find out from Ben if his Christmas present had been received nearly three weeks early, or if JumpOnIt was somehow able to read my mind and hold off sending it until Christmas Day. And so began an awkward conversation.
“So, received any early Christmas presents?” I asked.
“Huh?” came the reply.
“Oh to hell with it,” I continued. “I bought you a magazine subscription through JumpOnIt, but I have no idea if the site has already sent you the email containing the gift information or not. Did you receive anything about a magazine subscription?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ben answered.
We logged onto his laptop email, and started scrolling through his inbox for anything resembling a magazine subscription or from JumpOnIt.
“Maybe you deleted it,” I said, after an inbox search was unsuccessful.
So we started searching the trash folder.
“The only thing in here is some junk mail telling me I’ve got 66 percent off something.”
Bingo! I looked at the computer screen and couldn’t believe what I saw. No wonder he had deleted it. This is all that was visible in his iPhone inbox: Great News! You have scored 66% off…
This is what was visible on his laptop inbox:
JumpOnIt's spam-like email presentation led my friend to delete his gift.
There was nothing at all to indicate that this email was anything else but spam – it certainly didn’t offer anything to even remotely suggest it might be a gift. It simply read like one of those tacky internet promotions that say “You have won!! Click here for your chance to win a chance to win a chance to win!!”
Ben also said there is no way he would have thought that this email contained a Christmas gift. Absolutely nothing in the subject line or what was visible in his inbox folder indicated it was, nor was there was any incentive to open it anyway.
“It’s the type of email you delete immediately without giving it a second glance, because it looks like another spammer trying to reel you in by making you think you’ve already won, or are ahead of the game,” he explained.
Once the email was opened, it went on to say that Miss Terry Shopper had sent Ben a a 12-month magazine subscription as a gift, and included the personalised Christmas message I’d composed. That was spot on. However, the email also detailed much the magazine subscription was worth, and with the big “66% off” in the subject line, it wasn’t hard for Ben to figure out how much the subscription actually cost.
A case of too much information from JumpOnIt?
I was speechless. I’ve ordered gifts for others from sites like Red Balloon before and the recipient email never states how much it’s worth or how much the buyer has saved on it. Who gives gifts with the price tag still attached?!
JumpOnIt, this is a real rookie mistake. There is enough information circling out there to know that getting the copy contained in both an email subject line and its body is of utmost importance. And why run the risk of being classified as spam because of something as basic as this? Also, do something about the information listed in the email that contains details of the purchased product - since the buyer is sent an invoice with via email anyway, is it really necessary to include the item’s original worth and the percentage saved in the deal?
Delivery of an online order needs to be hassle free, regardless of whether it’s going to a front door or inbox. And at Christmas, when people shop online as a time saver and for convenience, this is even more imperative. A site like JumpOnIt would have an automated email system, so there’s no excuse for having substandard delivery of purchased goods – i.e. what is viewed by the customer as the most significant part of the purchase cycle.
Sorry JumpOnIt, you lost me at the subject line.
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clearly the staff at jumponit don’t value their own business enough to use it so they would see what a customer sees. says a lot for this business to me.
Well, I have to nail my colours to the mast and say I work at RedBalloon, but I wanted to comment on my own Jump On It (JOI) experience. I too received a JOI gift from a family member for Xmas – and I have to say it doesn’t make you feel that special when the voucher tells you how they saved to buy your gift. Fast forward to the gift itself (a facial, mani and pedi) and it was a disappointing experience because the supplier couldn’t keep up with the deal customers, had realised she was losing money and, well, I got the impression she resented having to fulfill her part of the agreement. As we like to say at RedBalloon – it’s all about the customer experience from the very start!