Sonic.net

Hi folks...

I got a "Greetings from Sonic" postcard ad in my home mailbox (snail mail) today, asking me to become a customer.

Can someone from Sonic tell me why you don't cross-reference your marketing with your customer list?

Also, I'm disappointed with Sonic - I would have thought direct mail would be something they would never stoop to. This is the kind of nonsense I absolutely cannot stand, and go to great lengths to never have to deal with - I don't want email spam, I don't want unsolicited junk mail in my real-world mailbox. I take every possible action to derail it (DMA block list, calling/writing to direct marketers, calling/emailing spammers' ISPs when possible, etc.). Which makes me wonder - doesn't Sonic subscribe to DMA guidelines and not send stuff to people on the block list?

Why did you start doing direct mailings? I'm all for Sonic getting more business, but not this way.

Very very disappointing.

- Tim

Hi, Tim! We have two ways that mail normally goes out. One does take into account block lists and cross checks with current users. Sometimes however, we canvas a specific area and that does not always end up going through block lists. If you want to send me a private message with your address, I can make sure that you don't get any more mail in the future!

Irony: I got one of these too. And I'm the CEO! =)

The reason: if you prequalify an address, but then do not sign up during that session, we send you a postcard a few days later, as we're hopeful you'll remember us, re-consider, and sign up. We do not wash these addresses against current customers today, mostly because matching addresses in a consistent way is not a simple task.

FYI, in any case!

We do try to scrub our customers from these mailings but address normalization and matching is an inexact science.

I very much appreciate the succinct replies from People Who Know Things (long-time support people and company directors), and that is one of the reasons that - despite my occasional whining here - I love Sonic.

Thank you for explaining it. I guess if it's good enough for the CEO, it's good enough for me, or something like that?

I guess if you folks subscribed to some standard algorithm for scrubbing mailing addresses (of the sort used by background checking agencies that say things like "DID YOU MEAN XXX 12th Street, Blah, CA, 90000-0000?" when you supply an address, it could be made a little easier. But, of course, those things cost quite a bit of cash, I'm sure.

Anyway, again, thanks for explaining. I thought perhaps you folks had descended into the world of wide spectrum direct marketing.

- Tim