Does this ever happen to you?
I receive 3 or 4 e-mail “offers” a week that make me think “why in the world are you sending this to me?”.
These messages are what I call semi-personalized (they use my name and maybe my business name) but I don’t know who they are. It’s as if a total stranger walked up to you on the street, called you by name, and started telling you about the wonderful things they have to solve your particular problem.
Now I don’t know about you, but when I get one of these offers, a lot of thoughts run through my head. None of them related to buying.
“Who the heck is this?”, “Why are you sending this to me?”, “Why do you think I need that?”. Those are the thoughts that I have. If I remember the sender at all, I’ve attached the “spammer” label to them, whether the message is technically spam or not.
So how can you make sure that your e-mail marketing messages are not creating these type of reactions? Here are a few tips:
- Always invite people to join your list. Just because we belong to the same Chamber and my e-mail address is in the directory does not mean you have my permission to add me to your mailing list.
- Communicate on a regular basis. It doesn’t matter how friendly your e-mail message is, if I only hear from you every 3 or 4 months and it’s only to sell me your “limited time special”, well that’s not friendly – it’s fake. Your prospect's B.S. filter is stronger and more efficient than any spam filter.
- Be relevant. Talk to me about something that I am actually interested in. This is easier to do if you are inviting prospects who meet your Ideal Customer Profile to join your list.
- Make it clear who you are. People build relationships with other people. Don’t make me guess who you are.
- Don’t make every conversation a sales pitch. Related to #2 above, balance your communications between information and sales offers. How many people do you hang around with who try to sell you something every time you talk? Exactly, I avoid them too.
Being the person that helps and gives good advice is always more profitable than being the one who annoys.
Bill…
I could not have said it better. You hit the nail right on the head. I suppose that is because your thoughts are the exact thoughts that I have under the same circumstances. If I were a betting man (and you KNOW I am), I would say that a majority of your readers feel the same way. It is a matter of catching more flies with honey than with vinegar (but personally, I use Black Flag).
Keep up the great blogs. I always manage to find a nugget in between the ads
Bestest,
…Dave