UK University Service Infuriates Students With Spam

Thousands of UK students are furious with the country’s Universities and Colleges Admission Service after receiving an email from them with the subject line “You’ve Been Accepted”. The message, which led students to believe it was an acceptance notice from a university, was actually a spam message advertising discounted HP laptops. This infuriated students, as this is the time of year when they are awaiting their A-level results and scrambling to apply to the limited amount of university openings available. In the UK there are more qualified students than there are spots at the most sought after universities. Many students feel that the spam message was not only misleading, but cruel and in poor taste. The UCAS, red-faced, quickly offered an apology.

A UCAS spokesman said: “We understand and apologise for the confusion this has caused to some applicants, and we are looking at reviewing our quality filters to avoid this type of situation in future.”

It’s not known who approved the message or its deceptive subject line. HP has declined to comment on the matter. This story illustrates how important it is to use care in sending newsletters and other bulk mailings to the customers on your mailing list. A deceptive subject line, even if it wasn’t intended to be, can cause a real public relations headache for your company, and thanks to social networking services like Facebook, your unhappy customers can make themselves heard in a hurry! Avoid wordplay and other attempts to be cute and keep your subject lines and messages simple and straightforward. The old saying, “Keep it simple, stupid!” really is the best policy.