Shutterfly's intent in its latest email marketing campaign was sweet, but the response of its customers was, well, sour. The famous photo-printing company on Wednesday sent out a mass congratulatory email to its users for the supposed arrival of their newborn babies, which appeared to be so wrong in so many ways.
Based on various sources, the email or thank-you card shows a young girl kissing a baby with the congratulatory statements on the side for the newest addition in the family. It looks sweet, we know, right? What happened next was not.
First, the email was sent to users whose babies were born many years before the mass email campaign was even conceived, so the message appeared hilarious to them. Second, it was unfortunately sent to users who haven't conceived or are having a hard time conceiving, so consider the pinch -- no, more so the punch -- to them in the midst of infertility issues.
Some users or recipients of the email were terribly offended, taking to Twitter to air their disgust.
"Hey, @Shutterfly - massive email fail. I don't have a new baby and am, in fact, struggling with infertility," also tweeted user @RedHeadStepmoms.
A few made hilarious remarks in reply to Shutterfly's mistaken email.
"I have no recollection of this event. I hope I didn't leave a baby at the hospital," posted Twitter user @inthefade.
A few, though, also understood how technical glitches could spell epic fail, especially in sensitive marketing campaigns such as this.
Shutterfly was quick to reply to all the hilarity and rants, posting an apology over Twitter on May 15 and responding as much as possible to each one of the disappointed customers.
"This morning, an email was sent unintentionally to some customers. We deeply apologize for any offense this may have caused," Shutterfly's tweet stated.
"The intent of the email was to target customers who have recently had a baby and may be interested in using our products to commemorate that life event. Our intention was to target customers who have recently purchased birth announcements with us, and it was sent to a larger distribution in error," Nicole Stier, Shutterfly's spokesperson, told Forbes.
Shutterfly is a company whose primary business is to take digital photos and print these in calendars, photo albums and cards, among others. Research says mistaken email marketing campaigns such as this either hurt customers' feelings or hit the company's sales.
