The Misguidedly Targeted Flyer

Every now and then a little piece of direct marketing gets lost in my mailbox. This particular time it was a flyer from an online retailer where I had bought some technical accessory for a washing machine a while ago. They offered me a 10 EUR discount code for my next purchase.

On the front page of the flyer: a blonde woman in a winter coat.

The guys in the marketing department there know my name (a common first name for a male in Germany) and they have my one dimensional purchase history. This should give them a good clue of what they need to show me in order to get me to actually use a coupon for their product offering similar to Amazon.

I thought so, too. That is why I opened it, assuming that the interesting offers must be hidden inside.

You guessed right: another winter coat, scarves, a sweater and a jeans – all for women.

The funniest thing was hidden on the back. There I was encouraged with a directed call to action:

“Use your 10 EUR savings code now, Mr. Weigl!”

That made me wonder if

(1) most other men shopping for washing machine equipment at this retailer lead a secret life where they dressed up as women in winter,

(2) these guys were so brilliant that they actually knew I bought this technical item for my girlfriend’s washing machine and they consequently wanted to encourage me to buy her more stuff, or

(3 and obviously least likely) those people don’t care about targeting.

I’m tempted to think it’s 1.


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