Am I supposed to know who you are? and other email marketing mistakes

Incoming rant. If you use email marketing, it could be the most profitable rant you’ve read in a long time.

I’m on many email lists on many topics: entrepreneurship, hypnosis, marketing, food, some comedy and entertainment…

So I see a lot of great emails in my inbox.

And a lot of rags.

Here’s a problem I’ve seen more than usual. I don’t know if more is happening or if I’m just on the wrong lists; either way, it shouldn’t happen at all.

An example:

Let’s say I sign up for Generic Industry’s fine and esteemed list. This means that I want to know about Generic Industry. Maybe I’m looking for great deals or the latest GI gossip, who knows.

What I expect to see are emails from… well, you know, Generic Industry.

Instead, what do I see?

John Jackson sending me an email with the subject “A special treat for you.”

If I click on it, I see that John Jackson is the VP of customer outreach for Generic Industry, with a great deal on his gadgets for my eyes only.

Alright…

Then 20 minutes later I get an email from Daisy Donaldson. The subject line is “time is running out!”

I open it to find that Ms. Donaldson is the head of marketing and engagement for Generic Industry. She wants to warn me that the deal on the gadget ends in just 12 hours.

…Well…

How many mistakes are these email marketers making?

First, who are these people? He can’t be expected to know who John and Daisy are. I never subscribed to your emails and now you are selling me something?

One of the rules of email marketing: don’t look like spam.

The solution: The name of the email should be the name of the company (for a large organization) or the name of the person (for a solopreneur). By all means, sign on as John Jackson, boss whatever, that’s actually a nice, personal touch. But the name in my inbox should be one I recognize, not some mid-level stranger I’ve never heard of.

I don’t know why so many organizations do this. Do you think it seems more personal? Maybe yes, at the cost of making you look like a spam bot.

Plus, your emails are your opportunity to build your brand…and a confusing, inconsistent brand is an oxymoron.

Second, these subject lines…

Fun fact: I don’t care for “special offers”. Most people don’t. Sure, some people, addicted to the rush to buy things, don’t need to hear anything more than that.

If you’re serving them, I’ll jump off your list.

Most of us don’t care if it’s ‘Last Chance!!!’ come to an agreement about something If you want to sell me 100 tires, I don’t care if you’re offering a 99% discount. I don’t want any of that.

“It’s the scarcity principle, William! Read some Cialdini you don’t know about!”

I have read Cialdini. Scarcity is powerful, but scarcity alone does little. I just drew a stick figure on the back of an envelope. He’s one of a kind his, super skimpy! Will you buy it from me for a dollar?

No?

Well then.

Tell me it’s my ‘last chance!’ And I’ll tell you that I don’t care.

Tell me this is my last chance to purchase a never-before-seen video of Milton Erickson working with a client, and you have my attention (and my business).

I am surrounded by scarcity every day. I only care about the rare things that I really want.

Also, my inbox is full of emails telling me it’s my “last chance.” The irony is that there is nothing more common than a subject line of pure scarcity.

If that’s all you can manage, too, you’re breaking the next rule of email marketing: don’t be boring.

Third…

Is anyone coordinating these emails?

I often get five emails in an hour, from different people in the same organization, telling me that I only have two days to sign up for your latest course.

A smart approach is to figure out the pace of your messages. Let’s say you’re promoting a course: maybe you’ll send three messages on launch day, one a day for the next week, and then five on the last day of enrollment.

A foolish approach is to let different teams do what they want. Readers will go days without hearing anything, then all the emails will arrive at once.

That’s not a rhythm, that’s premature ejaculation in the form of an email.

Which brings me to the next rule of thumb for email marketing: think about how each email connects to the other. Are you overwhelming your readers for no reason? Are you starving them? Is your email an entertaining and welcome distraction, or are they a series of uploads designed to test your patience?

This lack of coordination really bit an organization recently.

They sent me an email with the subject: “This is the LAST you will hear about this opportunity!”

(Urgh, boring! And what a chance? If I don’t know, then I don’t care!)

Only for them to send me a ‘final warning!’ (urghhhh!) about it a few hours later.

It’s time for another email marketing rule: don’t lie to your readers. This was an honest accident, I’m sure, but it was still a lie.

Anyway, let’s recap:

It doesn’t look like spam.

Do not be boring.

Think about your emails from your reader’s perspective.

do not lie

Stick to those rules, and you’ll look more professional than half the professionals out there.