
CD Baby’s Shipment Confirmation Email - pchristensen
http://sharealike.org/index.php/2009/10/07/cd-babys-shipment-confirmation-email/
======
sivers
Heheh... it's amazing that little confirmation email I wrote in 1999 is still
in use today.

When I started CD Baby, I just wrote the typical "Your order has been shipped
to the following address..." type email, but after 6 months thought, "I can do
better than that. There are enough boring notices in the world," and wrote
that one instead.

It was no big strategy. Just having fun. But it's been so blogged and
forwarded it's amazing how tiny details can make the difference that make
someone tell their friends about your company.

On a similar note, at the end of every order, we asked the customer if they
had any special requests. People would often say things like, "I'd sure love a
Snickers bar about now." So we'd always go down to the store and include
whatever they asked within reason.

One day we got a totally unreasonable request, but let the customer tell that
tale: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCIXkbfgR6g>

:-)

------
gcheong
Well that was nice. Now this is an e-mail that initially made my heart race a
bit, which perhaps was the intended effect as it was written by a heart rate
monitor company, but I'm still not sure if that's a good thing:

This message is in regard to Repair ID 7U8SGP2182.

We have some good news and some bad news! Good news is your monitor has been
serviced and has been shipped back to you today. Bad news is that you no
longer have an excuse for not exercising! =) (snip)

------
raheemm
CDBaby homepage from Dec. 1998 -
[http://web.archive.org/web/19981205052232/http://www.cdbaby....](http://web.archive.org/web/19981205052232/http://www.cdbaby.com/)

------
patio11
My CD shipment mail is a lot more boring, but includes the following, which I
think is a little more useful:

 _You have also purchased a CD. We will attempt to ship this within the next
business day. After that, it generally takes 2-4 days to arrive depending on
where you live, if you are in the continental United States. If you are not,
send an email to ... and we can give you a better estimate as to when it will
arrive._

------
brianlash
Seth Godin wrote about this in 2002. I guess they've been doing this for a
while:
[http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2002/06/a_big_smile_...](http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2002/06/a_big_smile_fro.html)

------
reg4c
At the bottom of cdbaby's contact page there are instructions on how to
contact them via a homing pigeon. Cute.

------
RevRal
A truly great confirmation. I wish I could use something similar for myself.

------
parse_tree
It's good writing I guess, but honestly they're trying too hard. It just
sounds fake to be that over the top.

~~~
jrockway
They don't actually ship the CDs in gold boxes, you know.

------
sachinag
I know it's cute, but goddamn, someday I hope puffery is declared illegal.

~~~
spicyj
Why?

~~~
sachinag
I really don't like commercial language that makes it harder to compare
products and services. There's no reason for First Amendment protection for
puffery; it's not unpopular political speech. I'm not saying you can't have
fun and be whimsical, but there's no consumer benefit to just outright lying
(no matter how implausible).

~~~
anamax
Get over it.

Almost everything that humans do inolves puffery. Makeup - puffery. That shine
on your car - puffery. Nice clothes - puffery.

Which reminds me - political speech is not protected by the 1st amendment
these days. That's the whole point of campaign finance laws.

It's also not protected on many college campuses - that's the whole point of
campus speech codes.

Guess what the point of "hate speech" laws is?

~~~
jrockway
Last time I checked, the Constitution covered the government, not college
campuses.

Also, campaign finance reform is not about suppressing ideas; it's about
ensuring that each candidate can be equally loud. (If you could buy as many TV
ads as you wanted, the richest candidate would always win. That is not
particularly beneficial for anyone, so the government tries to prevent this.)

Not sure what you mean by "hate speech" laws. Other than slander/libel and
inciting "imminent lawless action", you can say or write pretty much anything
you want. (Unless it's about your sexual fantasies involving underage
children... this is America after all, and we don't take kindly to talking
about sex.)

~~~
anamax
> Last time I checked, the Constitution covered the government, not college
> campuses.

Many college campuses are arms of govt. The welfare department isn't allowed
to tell you what you can and can't say to get aid, same for colleges and
education.

> Also, campaign finance reform is not about suppressing ideas;

I was going to write "Never confuse intent with effect." but then I remembered
that both the intent and effect of campaign finance laws is that I can't make
political speech without obeying certain restrictions.

Note that those restrictions don't apply to some other entities, so it's
discriminatory as well. Feel free to explain why my political speech should be
disadvantaged.

> Not sure what you mean by "hate speech" laws. Other than slander/libel and
> inciting "imminent lawless action", you can say or write pretty much
> anything you want.

Not even close.

It's my understanding that
[http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/03-04/bill/sen/sb_1201-1250/sb_12...](http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/03-04/bill/sen/sb_1201-1250/sb_1234_cfa_20040524_182709_sen_floor.html)
passed.

There are others in other states and an effort to get comparable federal
legislation.

