10 Things I Learned from Marketing Emails

For the past few years, I’ve subjected my poor little email address to the brunt of many a marketer’s promotions.

Product launches, coaching clubs, limited time discounts, once in a lifetime specials.

Bleh.

As of yesterday, almost all the noise is gone. If I missed any, it won’t be long till those are zapped too. There are a few I’ll keep, only because the folks sending them are real… and they have an idea and value to spread.

Ahhhhh….. nice.

While most of the emails got pretty annoying and ever more transparent (that I was simply another opportunity to sell something), I did learn a bunch of things that I needed to be reminded of.

Here are some of the things I’ve learned from receiving all of these emails. These are reminders for me, that’s the reason for the harsh language. Sometimes I need it:

1. Free Content is worthless if your reader can’t/won’t put it into action. Dumping a series of 80 minute “training” videos (or even a 15 minute sales video) gets annoying after a while. Always put yourself in their shoes. Your people have lives.
2. Using a noreply email address for your mailings or forwarding responses through a ridiculous ticketing “support” desk speaks louder than words just how “valuable” you believe your prospects and customers are. Don’t ever do that. That makes you annoying.
3. Never think for a moment that your subscribers or customers care about anyone else but themselves. That is to go against human nature. To the extent that you join them in caring about them, your business will be better off.
4. At some point, if you’re not 100% authentic, your subscribers will make the connection between YOUR emails and a sales pitch. That’s when they put up a wall around themselves. That sounds obvious right? Don’t forget how damaging that is. It’s not easily fixed.
5. Emailing your list multiple times about a promotion might increase your sales, but please be sophisticated enough to take your buyers off the list so you don’t annoy your best customers!
6. Just because your business lives and dies by the numbers doesn’t mean you should forget that those numbers are actually real people. John, Susan, Bob, Ralph…. they’re not “subscribers,” they’re people. Treat them like it.
7. Being consistent is rare… and it pays off big. If the only time you mail is when you want something, or want to sell something, you are TOAST.
8. One of the greatest ways to attract people is to listen to them. How are you doing that in your emails? In how many ways?
9. Can you change lives with your emails? How? How often?
10. The best way to get your emails read is to watch whatever everyone else is doing and be different… more valuable. Or you can watch no one and sail based on your own map.

If you have something to say about this, let me know. Post a comment or a tweet or send me an email at jason @ leistermg.com. I don’t get many emails these days

Related posts:

1. 10 Lessons Learned from Running the SAME Online Business for 7 Years
2. Indirect Response Marketing: Will Somebody Please Call Claude Hopkins?
3. 10 Things I Learned in School That Aren’t True
4. Which Came First, the Business or the List?