I had to share this because it makes me giggle everyday. There is a great hot dog joint in Herndon, VA, called The Wiener’s Circle. It’s a tiny little place in a strip mall on Spring St. with no seating but incredibly tasty hot dogs. The staff is sweet as pie. My husband works in Herndon and has been taunting me with tales of The Wiener’s Circle for months. So when I found myself in Herndon a few weeks ago, I stopped in.
As reported, the food was great and customer service was perfect. I had a foot long beef dog with ketchup (I know it’s un-American) and onions and fries. My lunch was divine. But here’s the funny thing. I ate my hot dog, signed up for their email list and headed out. Now, almost everyday like clockwork, I get an email from The Wiener’s Circle.
The emails usually tell me about the daily specials like “Crab & Go” Sandwich – Our house made 3 3/4 oz panko crusted crab cake with tartar sauce, lettuce & tomato on a roll $5.95.” I receive them the night before and, if I was in Herndon, I would probably eat there every day.
I am really not a fan of the “too frequent” promotional email and, in reality, I should be annoyed by these daily notices. But because they are so concise and pleasant, I don’t mind receiving them. In fact, they are a daily reminder that I need to get back for a hot dog.
I recently had a client tell me that he didn’t like to receive promotional emails – at all. He considers them all spam including e-newsletters. We talked about generational differences, personal preferences and that while he found these emails annoying, other folks appreciated the value of the content – when they weren’t overly spammy.
How do you feel about e-newsletters and promotional emails? How much is too much?
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It depends. For a while, I signed up for the usual big box stores to get access to coupons that they might only send to email list subscribers. But in reality, they are noise in my “dirty river” of emails. I’m torn. I want the coupons, but I don’t want to read every advertisement.
I like news letters that have dynamic content. That is, they might have multiple authors, or a monthly update that is crafted by one person might be something that catches my eye.
I would agree that a daily email for ANY restaurant might be too much, but then again, I might filter them to a different email folder so I can check the daily special if I wanted to.
Just wait until the Wiener Circle is on Google Wave, then you’ll be in trouble!
Thanks, Jeff! I’m also a big fan of the delete key and unsubscribe. If I don’t want to read it – *poof* it’s gone. I also take time now and then to “spring clean” my newsletters – actually pay attention and unsubscribe to junk that I don’t want anymore. It does annoy me when I unsubscribe yet I still keep getting the emails. I have a few of those. But, in the long run, I think that everyone’s preferences are different and that if you put it out there your readers will let you know what they want.
As for Google Wave, eek, God help us all. =)
I’m not a fan of newsletters but only because I get so many unsolicited ones at work on our “news” catch-all e-mail account. We get lots of unsolicited e-mails from Warner Brothers, people selling stuff, the federal government, and publicists of bands that are playing an hour away. Seeing as we don’t really cover any of that stuff we ignore most of it and even if we unsubscribe the e-mails keep coming. I don’t know how to make them stop. Anyway, found your post on The Wiener’s Circle in my Google alerts and have been wanting to go there. Glad to have another (local!) person tell me it’s good!
Hey Leslie – Definitely check them out. If you like hot dogs, you’ll love this place. They are open from 11:30AM-2PM, FYI. I almost missed them on my maiden voyage. Newsletters are tough because I want the value of the info without the spam of the salesiness. But I think that the two go hand-in-hand. I agree that unsolicited emails is annoying. I have one NPO org that I have begged to remove me from the list and I still get email from them. At any rate, enjoy the Wiener’s Circle!