Anticipatory Marketing

A very smart e-mail just arrived from FreshDirect, New York City’s online grocer.

A building worker strike is threatened in the city this coming Friday. “We anticipate a strike could bring delivery complications for your FreshDirect order,” reads the message, “Since we may need to make additional arrangements during your delivery, please use the Your Account section of our website to make sure your phone number and contact information are accurate and up-to-date.”

That’s using your head. It’s a great call-to-action for keeping customer records up to date. It’s also going to stop a lot of customers from becoming disgruntled before the fact.

See? E-mail doesn’t have to be sell, sell, sell. Often, it’s better when it isn’t.