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3 of My Marketing Pet Peeves I Hope You Don’t Do

Every once in a while, I notice things that companies, organizations, and individuals do online that can erode their brands. These boo-boos are easily corrected, so I thought I’d share three of them with you in the hopes that you’ll avoid them.

1. Using Comic Sans Font

I went to a speaker’s bureau’s site for information, only to find that the site was written in Comic Sans font! Unless you work for a circus or a kids’ organization, or you’re a comedian, lose this font! It’s hard to take you seriously when you use this font style.

2. Asking for too much information for free white papers, research reports, and on registration forms

I know I can’t be the only one who doesn’t want to take the time to include my entire life’s bio. I realize it’s important to marketers to capture leads, but this is a grey area when it comes to e-mail marketing legislation.

I may sign up to receive one thing, and before I know it, I’m receiving regular marketing emails from these organizations. I know how ubiquitous this is, but it isn’t a positive brand experience for me.

Now, if these companies proved their worth with whatever it is I signed up for, and ASKED me if I want to subscribe to their newsletters or emails, maybe I would consider it. Otherwise, it’s simply SPAM.

3. Asking for too much information when rating products, services, etc.

Walgreen’s sent me a survey to rate a product I purchased online. It had the following sections and questions:

Product Ratings: Overall Rating (out of five stars); Quality (five bars); Value (five bars); I would recommend this product to a friend (yes or no); Your Nickname (This will be the nickname shown on all your future reviews. Please do not use your real name.)

Write a Detailed Review: Review title (Summarize your review in one line. Keep content relevant and appropriate. Don’t include personally identifiable information.); Review text box; Pros text box; Cons text box; Order ID ((will not appear on our site).

Post your own product recommendations: What products would you recommend to others? Add them to your review.

Tell Other Customers About Yourself and Connect: Location text box; Email text box (We will ONLY use your email to notify you in regards to your submission.); How old are you? drop-down menu; What is your gender? drop-down menu; How often do you shop at Walgreens drop-down menu; Do you use our online pharmacy and online photo sections of walgreens.com? text box; Are you a Fan of Walgreens on Facebook? drop-down menu; What is your preferred method of learning of a promotion? drop-down menu.

Please Tell Us What You Think About Walgreens: Would you recommend Walgreens to a friend? radio buttons 1-10; Please tell us why text box.

I have read the Terms and Conditions and agree to them (check-off box); Preview and Submit button.

I took one look at the length of the survey and quickly closed it. Come on, Walgreen’s. I’m brand loyal, but please make it simple!

Have you experienced these three things? Do they bother you, too?

This article was originally published by Elaine Fogel

Published: September 18, 2013
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Elaine Fogel

Elaine Fogel is a marketing, branding, and customer experience evangelist, professional speaker, and author of Beyond Your Logo: 7 Brand Ideas That Matter Most For Small Business Success. People in 100+ countries regularly read her blog, Totally Uncorked on Marketing and her articles have appeared in many publications.