• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, 11 hours ago

It may be tempting to offer “urgent” or “last-minute” prompts in emails. But it can lead to trouble. 

Two consumers in the state of Washington have filed a Lawsuit against Pods Enterprises LLC, a moving and storage company, alleging that it sent emails with false or misleading information in the subject line, according to Top Class Actions. 

They are now seeking class-action status. 

Plaintiffs Colby Hutton and Kelley Rice claim that Pods, a moving and storing solutions company, used subject lines intended to create a false sense of urgency in the minds of consumers.

“This false urgency wastes consumers’ time by enticing them to engage with the defendant’s marketing efforts for fear of missing out,” the Pods class action says, according to Top Class Actions.  

Wait a minute. All email subject lies are written to engage consumers. Why is this different?

Top Class Actions reports the claim that the “deceptive time-sensitivity” in these emails steers people away from shopping for better deals.

Then there is the privacy issue. “It is thus highly probable that a seller with the size and sophistication of Pods employs not just one but several means of tying consumers’ email addresses to their physical locations, at least on the state level,” the class action says, according to Top Class Actions.

Again, none of these claims rise to the level of civil or criminal liability, in our view.

Brands have invested a great deal to determine identity: Personalized marketing is built on it, in part. It is also a critical factor in ensuring that emails get delivered and are not trapped in the spam folder. 

This is not the only such case. Plaintiff Hutton is also pursuing a lawsuit against Papa John's Pizza, alleging that  that Papa John’s emails contain “false or misleading” subject lines designed to get them to make a purchase, the suit states. 

“This false urgency wastes consumers’ time by enticing them to engage with Papa John’s marketing for fear of missing out and chokes consumers’ email inboxes with repeated false notifications that the time to act — i.e. purchase — is short,” the Papa John’s class action lawsuit says.

Again, what is the case?

The Pods case, which charges violations of Washington’s Commercial Email Electronics Act and Consumer Protection Act, is on file with the Superior Court of the State of Washington for the County of King.