Dodgy Marketing from JDSports

Crazy Christ · 22-11-2014 4:26am #1

Did anyone else get this sneaky spam from JD Sports.

It's an email with the subject line, 'Thanks for your order, NAME' but then it's spam. The thing is, I don't mind the odd bit of spam, but this one you have to open as you are worried your account has been hacked or something. Effectively, they tricked you into opening it. I've never seen something as brazen as this from a big company.

Here is the body of the email:

They also bizarrely apologise within the spam, saying it has been sent in error. A lot of people were annoyed:

http://i.imgur.com/orw9gNz.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/sKb16c9.jpg

How could it have been a technical error, or am I missing something, when the offending email acknowledges that it itself shouldn't have been sent?

Edit: I hadn't even spotted another apology that arrived afterwards. Hilariously they made sure to cram in all the promotions for a second time. It's like when Homer did his Sorry Dude Apology. I wonder what they are smoking over there.

DoYouEvenLift · 22-11-2014 4:42am

Dickheads

dudara · 22-11-2014 9:00am

@DoYouEvenLift - Helpful posts only please

dudara

Cabaal · 22-11-2014 9:25am

Perhaps something to bring to the attention of data protection commissioner and consumer organisation.

The subject of the email is likely to cause undue distress yet it's evident the wording was intentional. This is seriously dodgy.

I'd consider this misuse of personal data as its misrepresenting itself as a order, but it is Infact marketing only. This might be something data protection might be unhappy about.

delahuntv · 22-11-2014 10:35am

Cabaal wrote: »

Perhaps something to bring to the attention of data protection commissioner and consumer organisation.

The subject of the email is likely to cause undue distress yet it's evident the wording was intentional. This is seriously dodgy.

I'd consider this misuse of personal data as its misrepresenting itself as a order, but it is Infact marketing only. This might be something data protection might be unhappy about.

Undue distress? - Ah jaysus - give people a little bit of credibility!

Great marketing by JD - they mainly target a younger group who will probably jump at the offer, so they won't be too worried about the few that it may "cause undue distress" :rolleyes:

kc90 · 22-11-2014 1:40pm

delahuntv wrote: »

Undue distress? - Ah jaysus - give people a little bit of credibility!

Great marketing by JD - they mainly target a younger group who will probably jump at the offer, so they won't be too worried about the few that it may "cause undue distress" :rolleyes:

Exactly. It's got people talking, and from the brief read of those links, everyone seems to have mentioned the 10% discount (the OP has even posted the full ad), mission accomplished. While I dislike the approach, it seems to have been pretty damn effective.

DoomZ · 22-11-2014 1:44pm

Its not what the data commissioners would think.......
"Data Protection legislation takes the sending of unsolicited direct marketing ("junk mail" or "spam") very seriously and offers protection against this practice. The application of data protection law varies depending on the medium through which the marketing is delivered"

DoomZ · 22-11-2014 1:46pm

delahuntv wrote: »

Undue distress? - Ah jaysus - give people a little bit of credibility!

Great marketing by JD - they mainly target a younger group who will probably jump at the offer, so they won't be too worried about the few that it may "cause undue distress" :rolleyes:

Undue stress...yes it does.
What if a person thinks their cc details have been misused or cloned with an order for goods.

kc90 · 22-11-2014 1:52pm

DoomZ wrote: »

Its not what the data commissioners would think.......
"Data Protection legislation takes the sending of unsolicited direct marketing ("junk mail" or "spam") very seriously and offers protection against this practice. The application of data protection law varies depending on the medium through which the marketing is delivered"

The data protection commissioner may have a say in this, that remains to be seen, but they can't deny that it's been effective, albeit questionable, marketing. I haven't seen anyone mention whether or not these were unsolicited yet. If the recipients were on a mailing list, the issue would be with the misleading wording.

DoomZ wrote: »

What if a person thinks their cc details have been misused or cloned with an order for goods.

Isn't that clarified once they open the email?

DoomZ · 22-11-2014 1:59pm

kc90 wrote: »

The data protection commissioner may have a say in this, that remains to be seen, but they can't deny that it's been effective, albeit questionable, marketing. I haven't seen anyone mention whether or not these were unsolicited yet. If the recipients were on a mailing list, the issue would be with the misleading wording.

Isn't that clarified once they open the email?

Simple, its wrong to send these types of emails, the header is factually incorrect.

Crazy Christ · 22-11-2014 2:45pm

The marketing is only effective if the amount of people who are drawn in to the offer is greater than the amount who will never shop there again. It would be one thing if they were like 'gotcha folks!' but it's the cackhanded way they are trying to deny it afterwards. If it is a cheeky marketing ploy, then have the courage to face down the annoyed people and stand by it. It would win the respect of the type of people who are impressed by that moronic style of marketing. The way it is now, they just made themselves look incompetent and at worst, dishonest.

These marketing campaigns often skirt the line between acceptable and unacceptable but I think that one crosses it.

Who is to say they won't be in hot water over this.

As for undue distress, clearly it caused some people a great amount of stress, some people are livid.

As for myself, I can't say it caused severe distress, but for about three seconds I seriously thought someone had been using my credit card, and the feeling when I found I had been tricked was annoyance. Spam promotions always go to my Promotions Tab and that suits me fine. This made it into my Primary inbox, which never happens usually unless it is a legitimate order. I don't like that they did this either by incompetence or badly managed marketing. The thing is, places to buy generic brandwear are ten a penny and I won't be ordering from there again, not because I think it was all some horrific injustice, but just that I don't approve of marketing like that and think it crosses a line. I would rather support companies who take a different approach. You mean to tell me, with social media, television, print, etc. they can't publicise what is a pretty modest discount in a more effective way than having to trick people into opening an email? That is not a good sign.

DoomZ · 22-11-2014 2:50pm

Deserving of a fine? Yes I hope so.
People don't need this kind of sales pitch.
I've sent info to the Data Protection Commissioner.

Kensington · 22-11-2014 3:03pm

I can see it causing a lot of annoyance, and potentially backfiring, if a lot of people mark it as Spam then it could see all of their future e-mails being blacklisted and instantly trashed in people's mailboxes.

It's a bizarre marketing move, although if you've seen their Christmas ad, it's just as bizarre (and incredibly irritating as well).

delahuntv · 22-11-2014 11:45pm

DoomZ wrote: »

Deserving of a fine? Yes I hope so.
People don't need this kind of sales pitch.
I've sent info to the Data Protection Commissioner.

Good boy, well done. Clap on the back for you.

Now, please explain where there is ANY breach of data protection.?

slimjimmc · 23-11-2014 1:10am

delahuntv wrote: »

Good boy, well done. Clap on the back for you.

Now, please explain where there is ANY breach of data protection.?

@delahuntv be civil please. You can debate without the patronising tone.

sconhome · 25-11-2014 2:56pm

How did they get your email address?

Have you ordered from them before and opted into their newsletter or special offers emails? If you have opted in it is not spam. Yes it is a spammy email and more than likely will end up with a lot of people unsubscribing from their mailing lists. But it is not much other than a bait and click type headline from any of the online journals and they're likely to get a few orders anyway.

From the company point of view this may be a good thing as it cleans out the email database of people who are not interested in what they are selling but also serve as a reminder that they want orders and it will drive traffic to their website.

If you did not opt in at any point then there is a breach of data protection and it should be checked as to how they have your email address & name.

Crazy Christ · 25-11-2014 6:23pm

AKW wrote: »

How did they get your email address?

Have you ordered from them before and opted into their newsletter or special offers emails? If you have opted in it is not spam. Yes it is a spammy email and more than likely will end up with a lot of people unsubscribing from their mailing lists. But it is not much other than a bait and click type headline from any of the online journals and they're likely to get a few orders anyway.

From the company point of view this may be a good thing as it cleans out the email database of people who are not interested in what they are selling but also serve as a reminder that they want orders and it will drive traffic to their website.

If you did not opt in at any point then there is a breach of data protection and it should be checked as to how they have your email address & name.

I didn't think it was a breach of Data Protection, I just thought it was slimy marketing and enough for me to have nothing to do with them anymore. I have never had a retail company send an update email in this way (disguising it). I get their regular emails as I am subscribed, and they are flagged as Promotions.

The manner in which they tried to pretend that it wasn't a marketing trick, but that it was a mistake, is the unsettling part for me. I don't want to order from a company if there is any kind of a lack of trust. That's just me though, I started the thread to get other people's thoughts on whether they think it's acceptable.

seagull · 02-12-2014 5:50pm

I'd say it's a decidedly dodgy way of doing business, but probably just inside data protection if it goes to a subscription list. I certainly would not be happy receiving something like this, and it would lower my perception of the company, and probably see me abandon them in the future.

I wonder if it breaches the advertising standards. ASA might be interested in it.

goldenhoarde · 03-12-2014 4:50pm

maybe just maybe a batch of emails was sent incorrectly and this was their way of apologising plus some free marketing

Crazy Christ · 03-12-2014 6:40pm

goldenhoarde wrote: »

maybe just maybe a batch of emails was sent incorrectly and this was their way of apologising plus some free marketing

I don't think so, the actual email was titled "Thanks for your order, <Insert your name>" and then inside it apologised for itself, it doesn't make sense as a mistake, unless I'm missing something.

dav32cs · 04-12-2014 12:36am

Good marketing from the perspective of getting people talking even though the method is very questionable, I'm sure whatever blowback they get over it will be well offset by the revenue they take in from it.

seagull · 05-12-2014 4:23pm

I can't understand this "Any publicity is good publicity" mindset. People saying you are horrendous to deal with and they will not use your store is not good publicity.

Dodgy Marketing from JDSports

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