Tighten It Up, Democrats

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a registered Democrat in the state of Utah (with myself, my wife, and about 5 other people I met at a bar once, right?). I also, during the 2008 election, signed up for the mailing list for the national Democratic Party.

If the discussion over the White House Spam (See DJ’s post below this one) is any indication, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree for the Democratic Party. I get emails from them (with different voices, naturally, to have a veiled attempt at hiding the frequency) about 4 times a week, if not more. And most of them are asking for some kind of contribution. (If you were on the list during the campaign, you know exactly what I’m talking about.)

The latest salvo is from the Party Chairman Tim Kaine (Governor of my former state of residence–Virginia):

Let’s start with the from line: Tim Kaine. What if you don’t know Tim Kaine. How is this not spammy? Wouldn’t a better from line be “Democratic Party Chair Tim Kaine”? It’s a bit long, but it would help.

Now the subject line: “FWD: Strategy meeting with the President.” Crafting the subject line as if it was an internal office message? Not sure I’d go that route.

The crux of the message is asking for people to submit questions about healthcare reform for President Obama to address in his townhall meeting with Organizing for America. First off, what’s missing is an obvious button to link to this page.

Also, I don’t know who Organizing for America or David Plouffe are. (Okay, I know who David Plouffe is, but I’m a politics junkie, and assuming that everyone on your list has the same passion as I do can be a bit of a stretch.)

So really, how is this message more important than the other five I’ve received from you (the party) this week?

What’s also missing overall is simple respect for the subscribers. I don’t recall when signing up having the ability to set my preferences. Also, there is no opportunity within this email to go to a page to change my preferences. Just an interesting looking opt-out page. See if you can spot what’s peculiar on the unsubscribe page:

Where do I begin?

• The email address line isn’t prepopulated. That’s a mistake.
• Having the same header as the rest of the website? Why would I want to “Contribute,” Create a Fundraising Campaign,” or “Sign Up” for your mailing list on an unsubscribe page.
• Where is the opportunity to set my preferences? Seriously, to avoid losing subscribers completely, the Democratic Party should go that route.

I could go on, but this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. This is clearly a symptom of a larger problem in politics (all parties, I’m being non-partisan, but critical of my own party). Too many words, not enough action. Enough is enough. Tighten it up, Democrats. I’m putting you on notice!

P.S. here’s the full message in all its “glory”: