5 ms·

CD Baby’s Shipment Confirmation Email

82 points by pchristensen 17y ago

brianlash 17y ago
Seth Godin wrote about this in 2002. I guess they've been doing this for a while: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2002/06/a_big_smile_fro.html http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2002/06/a_big_smile_...
sivers 17y ago
Heheh... it's amazing that little confirmation email I wrote in 1999 is still in use today. When I started CD Baby, I just wrote the typical "Your order has been shipped to the following address..." type email, but after 6 months thought, "I can do better than that. There are enough boring notices in the world," and wrote that one instead. It was no big strategy. Just having fun. But it's been so blogged and forwarded it's amazing how tiny details can make the difference that make someone tell their friends about your company. On a similar note, at the end of every order, we asked the customer if they had any special requests. People would often say things like, "I'd sure love a Snickers bar about now." So we'd always go down to the store and include whatever they asked within reason. One day we got a totally unreasonable request, but let the customer tell that tale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCIXkbfgR6g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCIXkbfgR6g :-)
sachinag 17y ago
I know it's cute, but goddamn, someday I hope puffery is declared illegal.
- spicyj 17y ago
  Why?
  - sachinag 17y ago
    I really don't like commercial language that makes it harder to compare products and services. There's no reason for First Amendment protection for puffery; it's not unpopular political speech. I'm not saying you can't have fun and be whimsical, but there's no consumer benefit to just outright lying (no matter how implausible).
    - ugh 17y ago
      This is the shipping confirmation. There is no use of such copy before and during ordering.
    - anamax 17y ago
      Get over it. Almost everything that humans do inolves puffery. Makeup - puffery. That shine on your car - puffery. Nice clothes - puffery. Which reminds me - political speech is not protected by the 1st amendment these days. That's the whole point of campaign finance laws. It's also not protected on many college campuses - that's the whole point of campus speech codes. Guess what the point of "hate speech" laws is?
      - jrockway 17y ago
        Last time I checked, the Constitution covered the government, not college campuses. Also, campaign finance reform is not about suppressing ideas; it's about ensuring that each candidate can be equally loud. (If you could buy as many TV ads as you wanted, the richest candidate would always win. That is not particularly beneficial for anyone, so the government tries to prevent this.) Not sure what you mean by "hate speech" laws. Other than slander/libel and inciting "imminent lawless action", you can say or write pretty much anything you want. (Unless it's about your sexual fantasies involving underage children... this is America after all, and we don't take kindly to talking about sex.)
        anamax 17y ago
        > Last time I checked, the Constitution covered the government, not college campuses. Many college campuses are arms of govt. The welfare department isn't allowed to tell you what you can and can't say to get aid, same for colleges and education. > Also, campaign finance reform is not about suppressing ideas; I was going to write "Never confuse intent with effect." but then I remembered that both the intent and effect of campaign finance laws is that I can't make political speech without obeying certain restrictions. Note that those restrictions don't apply to some other entities, so it's discriminatory as well. Feel free to explain why my political speech should be disadvantaged. > Not sure what you mean by "hate speech" laws. Other than slander/libel and inciting "imminent lawless action", you can say or write pretty much anything you want. Not even close. It's my understanding that http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/03-04/bill/sen/sb_1201-1250/sb_1234_cfa_20040524_182709_sen_floor.html http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/03-04/bill/sen/sb_1201-1250/sb_12... passed. There are others in other states and an effort to get comparable federal legislation.
- earl 17y ago
  It was a joke, worth at least a smile. I bet you're fun at parties, too.
  - sachinag 17y ago
    Only when I'm a drunken mess.
- jjs 17y ago
  All right, I hereby declare it illegal. (Did it work?)
reg4c 17y ago
At the bottom of cdbaby's contact page there are instructions on how to contact them via a homing pigeon. Cute.
gcheong 17y ago
Well that was nice. Now this is an e-mail that initially made my heart race a bit, which perhaps was the intended effect as it was written by a heart rate monitor company, but I'm still not sure if that's a good thing: This message is in regard to Repair ID 7U8SGP2182. We have some good news and some bad news! Good news is your monitor has been serviced and has been shipped back to you today. Bad news is that you no longer have an excuse for not exercising! =) (snip)
raheemm 17y ago
CDBaby homepage from Dec. 1998 - http://web.archive.org/web/19981205052232/http://www.cdbaby.com/ http://web.archive.org/web/19981205052232/http://www.cdbaby....
patio11 17y ago
My CD shipment mail is a lot more boring, but includes the following, which I think is a little more useful: You have also purchased a CD. We will attempt to ship this within the next business day. After that, it generally takes 2-4 days to arrive depending on where you live, if you are in the continental United States. If you are not, send an email to ... and we can give you a better estimate as to when it will arrive.
RevRal 17y ago
A truly great confirmation. I wish I could use something similar for myself.
parse_tree 17y ago
It's good writing I guess, but honestly they're trying too hard. It just sounds fake to be that over the top.
- jrockway 17y ago
  They don't actually ship the CDs in gold boxes, you know.

82 points by pchristensen 17y ago

Seth Godin wrote about this in 2002. I guess they've been doing this for a while: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2002/06/a_big_smile_fro.html http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2002/06/a_big_smile_...

sivers 17y ago

Heheh... it's amazing that little confirmation email I wrote in 1999 is still in use today. When I started CD Baby, I just wrote the typical "Your order has been shipped to the following address..." type email, but after 6 months thought, "I can do better than that. There are enough boring notices in the world," and wrote that one instead. It was no big strategy. Just having fun. But it's been so blogged and forwarded it's amazing how tiny details can make the difference that make someone tell their friends about your company. On a similar note, at the end of every order, we asked the customer if they had any special requests. People would often say things like, "I'd sure love a Snickers bar about now." So we'd always go down to the store and include whatever they asked within reason. One day we got a totally unreasonable request, but let the customer tell that tale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCIXkbfgR6g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCIXkbfgR6g :-)

sachinag 17y ago

I know it's cute, but goddamn, someday I hope puffery is declared illegal.

spicyj 17y ago
Why?
- sachinag 17y ago
  I really don't like commercial language that makes it harder to compare products and services. There's no reason for First Amendment protection for puffery; it's not unpopular political speech. I'm not saying you can't have fun and be whimsical, but there's no consumer benefit to just outright lying (no matter how implausible).
  - ugh 17y ago
    This is the shipping confirmation. There is no use of such copy before and during ordering.
  - anamax 17y ago
    Get over it. Almost everything that humans do inolves puffery. Makeup - puffery. That shine on your car - puffery. Nice clothes - puffery. Which reminds me - political speech is not protected by the 1st amendment these days. That's the whole point of campaign finance laws. It's also not protected on many college campuses - that's the whole point of campus speech codes. Guess what the point of "hate speech" laws is?
    - jrockway 17y ago
      Last time I checked, the Constitution covered the government, not college campuses. Also, campaign finance reform is not about suppressing ideas; it's about ensuring that each candidate can be equally loud. (If you could buy as many TV ads as you wanted, the richest candidate would always win. That is not particularly beneficial for anyone, so the government tries to prevent this.) Not sure what you mean by "hate speech" laws. Other than slander/libel and inciting "imminent lawless action", you can say or write pretty much anything you want. (Unless it's about your sexual fantasies involving underage children... this is America after all, and we don't take kindly to talking about sex.)
      - anamax 17y ago
        > Last time I checked, the Constitution covered the government, not college campuses. Many college campuses are arms of govt. The welfare department isn't allowed to tell you what you can and can't say to get aid, same for colleges and education. > Also, campaign finance reform is not about suppressing ideas; I was going to write "Never confuse intent with effect." but then I remembered that both the intent and effect of campaign finance laws is that I can't make political speech without obeying certain restrictions. Note that those restrictions don't apply to some other entities, so it's discriminatory as well. Feel free to explain why my political speech should be disadvantaged. > Not sure what you mean by "hate speech" laws. Other than slander/libel and inciting "imminent lawless action", you can say or write pretty much anything you want. Not even close. It's my understanding that http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/03-04/bill/sen/sb_1201-1250/sb_1234_cfa_20040524_182709_sen_floor.html http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/03-04/bill/sen/sb_1201-1250/sb_12... passed. There are others in other states and an effort to get comparable federal legislation.
earl 17y ago
It was a joke, worth at least a smile. I bet you're fun at parties, too.
- sachinag 17y ago
  Only when I'm a drunken mess.
jjs 17y ago
All right, I hereby declare it illegal. (Did it work?)

reg4c 17y ago

At the bottom of cdbaby's contact page there are instructions on how to contact them via a homing pigeon. Cute.

gcheong 17y ago

Well that was nice. Now this is an e-mail that initially made my heart race a bit, which perhaps was the intended effect as it was written by a heart rate monitor company, but I'm still not sure if that's a good thing: This message is in regard to Repair ID 7U8SGP2182. We have some good news and some bad news! Good news is your monitor has been serviced and has been shipped back to you today. Bad news is that you no longer have an excuse for not exercising! =) (snip)

raheemm 17y ago

CDBaby homepage from Dec. 1998 - http://web.archive.org/web/19981205052232/http://www.cdbaby.com/ http://web.archive.org/web/19981205052232/http://www.cdbaby....

patio11 17y ago

My CD shipment mail is a lot more boring, but includes the following, which I think is a little more useful: You have also purchased a CD. We will attempt to ship this within the next business day. After that, it generally takes 2-4 days to arrive depending on where you live, if you are in the continental United States. If you are not, send an email to ... and we can give you a better estimate as to when it will arrive.

RevRal 17y ago

A truly great confirmation. I wish I could use something similar for myself.

parse_tree 17y ago

It's good writing I guess, but honestly they're trying too hard. It just sounds fake to be that over the top.

jrockway 17y ago
They don't actually ship the CDs in gold boxes, you know.