Geez, as a marketer I can put my cynical hat on and say this is way over the top. As a shopper, I love it. Thanks for sharing Ann.

Fantastic! I'd love to see more companies inserting an "authentic" voice into their communications vs. the standard shipping confirmation or thank you.

It would also be nice to see if companies like CD Baby could refresh the content in their thank you's / shipping confirmation email content - and maybe personalize it based on the shopper's purchase history. Just another way to keep the shopper engaged in the dialogue.

Hi Ann, I think it works for smaller, independent shops, or maybe even those companies with a qwirky culture, but if Amazon sent me something like this, I'd take it as pretty sarcastic considering their sales volumes...

You might be right, Paul. This style of humor would definitely come off as sarcastic coming from the likes of Amazon. But like AnnaMaria suggests, I wonder if Amazon or other large retailers could find a way to make their standard communications a little more interesting, albeit in a voice more authentic to their brand. Or maybe that effort would simply be superfluous/gratuitous?

Ann, this raises an excellent topic. What is "authentic?" I think a lot in the business world have whitewashed and sanitized communication for its correctness and message. It's bland. If brands have brand personalities, that should come through.

Here's another example, albeit in a smaller company. It's an online survey company, and you'll see humor as you get into the process.
http://wufoo.com/

The messaging has to match the perceived culture of the brand/company. There has to be a fit, otherwise customers will quickly notice the disparity. In other words, there has to be consistency to the image/story being conveyed.

If a company wants to take a humorous approach to messaging, it's probably best to ease it in over time with phases across multiple mediums (that way there's greater internal buy-in), like customer service emails, b-cards, voicemail, way of answering the phone, collateral, ads, etc.

I ordered a CD from CDBaby and actually looked forward to getting subsequent emails from them! They were hilarious. Most importantly, my CD arrived in a very timely manner. Even though they seem sarcastic, they do a good job of setting themselves apart through the use of that type of humor. I had a great experience with them.

I'm with AnnaMaria: I think I'd find it entertaining the first time - but that it would rapidly get stale as I made multiple purchases.

I'd hope for a revised email for second and subsequent purchases - but I wouldn't mind if they were written in the same style. In fact, it would make the emails something to look forward to, rather than simply move straight to file ...

Ah yes, a confirmation email with some personality. Outstanding idea on their part.

Yuk. It's too much. I didn't even read it all. It shows me they have too much time on their hands.

If a company wanted to do this, I would make it short and succinct and truly funny.

And it would have to be the same as their website verbiage, or it would come off as phony to me.

Personally, I love it. I'd rather have a little sunshine in my inbox, along with pertinent information, and it would make me want to shop there again.

That, like a flash intro, is neato, kewl, wowzah the first two or three times... after that.. feh.

I like the way this online company carries their theme to every corner of their existence, but it's not cloying as the CD Baby email confirmation:

http://www.despair.com

Even their packing slip and information on returns... you just have to order something to see what I mean!

I am so excited to see someone else blog about CD Baby's shipping notice. I blogged about it myself after shopping from them ("Thank You for Your Business: Boring or Brilliant?") at my WordHappy blog on Wordpress (toddiedowns.wordpress.com). I think they deserve lots of business for their creativity and imagination on such humdrum applications as shipping notices.

It's brilliant - and only works because it's authentic and works with the personality of the sender.

If only companies would put this much thought into the little touchpoints - they add to to big (and once in a while wonderful) experiences that the customer remembers. To this day I remember fondly a cataloger who first lined the box with pink tissue paper before the packing material and then put a personal (hand signed) thank you note on top of the paper that had been wrapped around the purchase. Every single time I ordered from them, I FELT like I was getting a gift, even though I had placed the order myself.

When will more people figure out that a little "romance" makes the customer feel special? It requires little effort - but lots of thought.

www.customercaregoddess.com

I love this! As a Marketer and as a consumer.

Agreed that it only works for certain companies and the tone of the email must match the brand of the sender.

It would be interesting to see subsequent emails from CD Baby to the same customer to see how they differ from one another.

I think it is fabulous when an email from a company, large or small, sounds like a real person wrote it!

To that end, I give a nod to MarketingProfs as the emails that come to my inbox always sound like a real person has put thought into them and if you wanted, you could even talk to them!

Hmmm I really liked it the first time I read it - 4 years ago when I ordered a product from a New Zealand Sporting Software firm.

So now its seems its just another marketing gimmick!

Thanks for the comments, all. I've heard from other that CD Baby doesn't really alter their schtick much... but I don't care. I still think it's great.

And Jessica -- the emails from MarketingProfs are most oftened penned by Shelley Ryan... she IS a real person, and that's her real personality coming through!

Thanks, all.

While I enjoy this "spark of creativity" I wish they updated it - I got that email 5 years ago or so when I made my first CDBaby purchase. It wouldn't take too much to update it on a quarterly basis.