Recently I participated as an affiliate with a top drawer marketer who is known as the Queen of Sales Conversion. She is really, really good at sales techniques. But I got an eye opening email from a subscriber during this time that made me realize that even the best have something to learn.
You see, once a person registered for this Queen’s preview call, they continued to get barraged by emails, as many as three a day. The funny thing is that these were directed to getting them to sign up and they were already registered. My subscriber pointed out that while she was going to listen in, more curious than anything else, she fully expected to unsubscribe from the Queen’s list due to the pushiness of the emails. I got inundated too but just let them stay in my junk file.
The irony is that what the Queen is selling is how NOT to be pushy or salesy. Now all of this being said, I was on the call. Since I’m familiar with the Queen’s routine, she was in top form as always. You could feel the tension, not desperation (critical difference) and sales started rolling in as would be expected. I simply wonder how many were left on the table because of the overwhelm in email that could easily have been stopped.
I’m betting that the Queen isn’t the only one who does this, in fact, I can recall more than one instance where once I opted in to a call or event I was buried under an onslaught of pitching mails. It wasn’t pretty, or fun, and honestly it made me want to unsubscribe too. In fact, sometimes I have unsubscribed and ditched that call or event, other times I stuck it out just to see what was on the other side.
There are some simple tricks you can use to avoid this and keep your hot prospects HOT!
#1 Keep registrants on a separate list!
They have already registered and deserve to be treated with extra care and attention. They have already raised their hands and said, I’m in. Now they haven’t bought yet, but they are a lot closer than those who haven’t registered. Don’t bury them with continued pitches.
#2 Only send continuing pitches to NON-opens.
Whenever you send an email series that is timed close together, be sure to allow some gap time (even it it’s two days) by sending the second mail (often a duplicate with a new title) to NON-opens only. This way those that opened aren’t hit again quite so quickly. I’m not saying don’t tap them again, just give them a little room. (Yes, this may fly in the face of conventional email marketing, but then I’m not conventional and nor is my tribe.)
#3 Keep your tone warm and friendly.
You aren’t Crazy Eddie (are you?). You aren’t hawking street wares on the corner. Instead you are more likely selling transformation through information and systems. Even if you are selling hard product you’ll want to do this in a way that showcases the transformation your product delivers instead of just the sales noise. Be sure to personalize (first name) youre emails and even include their first name occasionally in your subject line.
Alternatively, if you are the recipient of a barrage of mails and you want to stay on the list, but want to quell the noise, set up a folder in your email with a rule that sends all emails from this source directly to that folder. That way you can look at them at your leisure and not feel the crush as it enters your box. You also might find some gold nuggets in the copy that is received (food for your swipe file, why reinvent the wheel!)
Share your stories of email marketing woes and wins here. Love to get your take about what is too much, what makes you opt-in to a call or event, and what drives you crazy!
Couldn’t agree more, Melissa. With regards to item 1 on your list. although many autoresponders are setup to move prosepcts off one autoresponder when subscribing to another, they’re designed to move people from a prospect list to a customer list when making a purchase. They often don’t deal with a situation where someone is already a customer and opts in for a later offer. And when it comes to singing up for a webinar, the emails are usually handled through the webinar’s service rather than the marketer so the systems don’t communicate.
Bill,
I agree with you and guess I’m just still working small enough that I’d be willing to pay my VA (and do) to pull off registrants to a separate list for the duration of that specific call.
Funny because when I checked FB this morning, a colleague had statused about this very same issue, evidently common and peeps are losing otherwise loyal followers.
Warmly, Melissa
I recently just had the very same thing happen to me and has TOTALLY turned me off of what this person offers…frankly, if her “system” doesn’t recognize who already signed up, and continues a barrage of “please sign up…the call is coming soon…love to have you…” when they already have me, I feel like I’m not being paid attention to…just part of a cattle call.
I hear you, I hear you, I hear you and thanks for putting this out there….
As you said, for someone that is so “good” at what they do, can really screw up their loyalty/potential followers by doing so. Know such was the case for me. I now tune out this person/her business completly.
Ruth,
Yes, I’m betting a lot of peeps are getting royally pissed off and entirely turned off by this as the noise in our inboxes has increased exponentially.
I try to be careful and keep registrants for calls separate but also space out my mailings in a way that doesn’t inundate. I’m still not immune but I figure if someone is on overload and isn’t getting value then they aren’t a fit.
Creating that folder really makes a difference too, I’ve done that with several!
Hugs, Melissa
Melissa, this is a great article highlighting that a little business etiquette, customer service and respect for others goes a long way. Whether your operation is large or small it should be customer oriented. It is easy enough to monitor and automate who receives what so people are not inundated. Or in this case, harassed (I was on that list too). I am sure there is a method to Lisa’s mailing madness. She has been very successful. I still believe in there being a balance in the right amount and appropriateness of email as you so expertly pointed out. Thanks for the great read and reminder!
Karen,
Thank you for reinforcing what I believe. Evidently a lot of my subscribers and tribe climbed on her call and many have commented on the barrage, not happily so.
Yes, the balance is tricky always.
Hugs, Melissa
I used to think email bombardment was a sign of amateur marketing skills but that’s not always the case anymore. Some of the biggest IMers mail more than once a day. The newbies are just following bad examples and the only way to teach them a lesson is to unsubscribe.
I know all about list segmentation and split testing and can usually tell what’s going on. Yet and still, I don’t want to hear from anyone on this earth that often :).
Seems to me there should be a way of staggering messages if subscribers are on several of your lists. Otherwise it’s just annoying to get the first message, the “did you get this” message, followed by the “Re:” message to make sure you got the first one…
Having said that, the real pros provide so much valuable content before asking for money it’s hard to not open and read.
Cheers,
Brenda
Brenda,
Well said and I hope you will flag me if ever I fall into that camp of too much noise and not enough value.
Hugs, Melissa
Thanks for this article Melissa. You’ve given a voice to what I’ve been thinking and much of the frustration I’ve felt with Lisa’s self proclaimed non-pushy style. There is much to learn from her, including what not to do!
I appreciate your suggestion to set up a folder and have those e-mails go directly into it. That will certainly help with the overwhelm.
Lastly, your Crazy Eddie reference made me smile since I’m a former New Yorker and remember his commercials well, although I’m betting not everyone understood it.
Cheers,
Madeline
Madeline,
I am tickled that everyone seems to know exactly who I speaking of and also feels the same way.
Crazy Eddie, while perhaps only in NY tristate area, is a national symbol for overselling!
Hugs, Melissa
Glad to see your view of this. I just went thru a wholesale unsubscribe for that reason–including the person you’re talking about.
In a class last year, we were told not to worry about people unsubscribing due to too many messages, because they were never going to buy from us anyway. I disagree. People have many reasons for not buying NOW, and I don’t believe pressure answers those reasons. (Not without remorse, anyway.)
What some marketers pretend is a relationship with would-be clients is a thinly veiled marketing technique. And while marketing is truly not my forte, I refuse to use a method that offends me when I’m the prospect.
*steps down from soapbox*
Yay, LaCharla!
BTW, great avatar, and I get so frustrated by so many folks not having them.
You are right, right, right. Pressure isn’t the answer and I certainly hope you get my emails, not just my posts, since I’d value your feedback into what I’ve got coming out.
Hugs, Melissa