[ Email sent to AppSumo subscribers. ]
AppSumo customers are appalled by an email that used Steve Job's name in the subject line, but had no mention of him in the main text, after he passed away yesterday.
The subject line for the email, which advertised a deal for font collections, stated, "Steve Jobs was originally obsessed with typography."
AppSumo Chief Sumo Noah Kagan tells LAUNCH that they wrote the subject line before they got word of Steve's death.
"When I woke up and noticed that happened, we sent out a retraction and apology," Noah says. "It's truly unfortunate for Steve and a lot of people who are really sad about it. There's no handbook about making mistakes."
Still, reactions came hard and fast from the Twitter community.
". @AppSumo using a Steve Jobs reference to try to sell your latest deal is in poor taste. Unsubscribed." tweeted Mark Imbriaco, senior director of technology operations at Salesforce.com.
Drew Olanoff, west coast editor for TheNextWeb tweeted, "...@appsumo, no class. we remember these things, you know."
"@appsumo @noahkagan - it's TOO SOON to be using Steve Jobs' name to up your open rates," @kenjonson writes.
Chief Sumo for AppSumo Noah Kagan responded by tweeting, "it was an accident ;/ apology is slowly trickling out. it was setup before we knew. yea worst timing ever."
He's right. We can't think of a time that could be worse.
David Cramer founded Austin-based AppSumo, a daily deals site for software, in 2010.
SCREEN SHOTS
Letter of apology via email to AppSumo subscribers.
AppSumo Apologies via Twitter.
CONTACTS & LINKS
AppSumo
Twitter: @appsumo
Website: www.appsumo.com
David Cramer, Founder
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/zeeg
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dmcramer
Noah Kagan, Chief Sumo
Twitter: @noahkagan
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/noahkagan
