The Best Responses to Sticker Mule’s A** Backward Email
If you work in marketing, you’ve likely seen the email heard ‘round the world sent by Sticker Mule Co-Founder Anthony Constantino. We don’t have to dissect why you should never combine political views with a sales pitch to customers. We’re all professionals here, right? Instead, I’d like to focus on some of the best responses from online sticker companies in the wake of the controversy and why each approach is effective for their brand.
1. Side Stepping - Sticker Giant
Sticker Giant mostly avoided the mess and shared a simple ‘Get to Know Us’-style video on Instagram. The video highlights a mixture of services and company culture with subtle visual cues, like a pride flag in the background of one shot, to let potential customers know what values the company holds without saying them out loud.
Why It Works: Sticker Mule upset a lot of customers with one email. Those customers simply don’t want to be confronted with political nonsense when buying something as trivial as stickers or labels. Sticker Giant responded effectively by letting new and existing customers know they can expect a great product and service without the baggage.
2. To The Point - Sticker Junkie
There’s beauty in simplicity. But that’s not always enough to cut through the noise. Plenty of brands take a more aggressive approach in their marketing, and it pays to be bold. Sticker Junkie took the opportunity to let everyone know they’re a 100% women-owned business and even welcomed new customers with a not-so-shy 15% discount code: ByeDonkey. For their social post, they used a viral TikTok sound from the show Love Island to announce, “This week, a hot new bombshell enters the villa.”
Why It Works: The combination of the TikTok sound and a discount code that takes a direct shot at Sticker Mule lets customers know exactly what kind of company Sticker Junkie is. Sticker Mule customers, including many female customers, left feeling alienated by the company’s views and tactics instantly gravitated to Sticker Junkie’s in-your-face, yet humorous, response.
3. Above the Fray - Sticker Robot
Sometimes, the best response is no response. Instead of a flashy post or cheeky discount, Sticker Robot let its customers speak for them. They reshared a number of customer testimonials and quietly updated their company bio to welcome new followers.
Why It Works: Many customers would prefer to avoid drama if given the choice. They may have seen Sticker Mule’s email and decided to jump ship. What may attract some consumers to a vendor (outspokenness, loud social media presence, etc.) turns others off. What always works, however, is consumer trust. Resharing customer testimonials keeps the focus on the thing former Sticker Mule customers are most concerned about when switching services - product quality.
Sticking the Landing
One of the biggest takeaways of this situation, a lesson many companies and CEOs fail to learn, is that competition will not hesitate to swoop in when you step in a steaming pile of donkey dung, especially when you drop it yourself.
Sticker Giant, Sticker Junkie, and Sticker Robot all offer nearly identical services and pricing models to Sticker Mule. Hell, Sticker Robot’s website could pass for Sticker Mule’s with a few quick logo swaps.
Sticker Mule built a reputation for quality and dependability over the last decade. A lot of that was wiped out in an instant because a co-founder felt the need to share his unsolicited opinion with unsuspecting customers.
Clever marketing and enticing deals can attract new customers, but you’ve got to earn that repeat business with a solid product and excellent customer service. It’s up to those companies to deliver on a promise to replace a service that customers have come to rely on.
