Being Consistent Helps
On every credit card statement I get every month, there's a little message reading: "A paper trail is an identity thief's best friend. Sign up now to pay your bill online at..." The implication being that if I pay my bill via the Internet instead of snail mail, it's less likely to be stolen by someone mischievous.
About five or six times a year, I also get an envelope from my credit card containing five checks inside. By writing in an amount, payee, and signing them, I can automatically borrow against my card's credit limit.
Let me see if I have this write, Mr. Credit Card Company: sending a payment in to you each month is risky because it might be intercepted by an identity thief...gotcha. But isn't it possible, then, that these checks you're sending me every few months might also be intercepted and let someone borrow money from you, in my name, pretty easily?
I realize that these two inconsistencies are probably the spawn of two completely separate marketing departments at my credit card company's headquarters. It's a large enough company that these two departments might have never even gotten together.
Here's the deal: the message you're sending me is the marketing, and marketing is the message. If you're sending mixed messages, that's going to raise some eyebrows. Be consistent in what you're telling us, or else we, as customers, are not going to trust you.
About five or six times a year, I also get an envelope from my credit card containing five checks inside. By writing in an amount, payee, and signing them, I can automatically borrow against my card's credit limit.
Let me see if I have this write, Mr. Credit Card Company: sending a payment in to you each month is risky because it might be intercepted by an identity thief...gotcha. But isn't it possible, then, that these checks you're sending me every few months might also be intercepted and let someone borrow money from you, in my name, pretty easily?
I realize that these two inconsistencies are probably the spawn of two completely separate marketing departments at my credit card company's headquarters. It's a large enough company that these two departments might have never even gotten together.
Here's the deal: the message you're sending me is the marketing, and marketing is the message. If you're sending mixed messages, that's going to raise some eyebrows. Be consistent in what you're telling us, or else we, as customers, are not going to trust you.