Worst Email Marketing Tactic I Have Seen In a While
I subscribe to a lot of email newsletters, and I know that trading my email address for free products, videos, and reports would subject my inbox to a steady stream of email messages with an intended up-sell…
But the email I got the other day really irritated me and inspired this post.
A while ago, I opted in to this person’s website who is a self-proclaimed social media expert (who I will not disclose out of privacy concerns) with my first name and email address and watched the free video, which wasn’t that good and didn’t really provide any value. The free video was just a lame sales pitch.
Over the next several months I received a barrage of emails, at least two a week, of poorly disguised sales pitches and affiliate promotions, with nothing new of “value” since the initial free video. I guess I could have unsubscribed, but this person uses Infusionsoft for email marketing, just like we do, and I thought maybe I will pick up something new I didn’t know with the software.
So, to get to the point of the story, the other day I received and email that read something like this:
“Hey, it’s me, XXXXX.
I just noticed you haven’t opened one of my emails or clicked a link in the last 4 months.
Which means this email address is dead, or you just don’t want to be on my list any more :-( So I’m getting ready to remove you from my mailing list unless I see “signs of life” from your email address. Please click this link just to let me know you are still alive:
http://www.facebook.com/vanityURL (identity protected)
If you click the link I will assume your email address is still good and will NOT remove you from my list.
Thanks,
XXXXXP.S. This link simply takes you to my fan page, where I have prepared a great short article for you to read on how to start monetizing your Facebook account now. Please visit the Fan Page so I know not to remove you from my list.”
Now as a loyal Infusionsoft user, I know that you can create trackable links and view click through reports, and view reports of unopened emails to get a rough idea of your email marketing effectiveness, but no online marketer in the world would manually remove someone off of their list, just because they haven’t clicked on one of their links or “opened” an HTML email. What if their email reader is set to plain text only? I knew this was a cheap attempt at trying to get me to click on his link, and I didn’t. I wanted to see if he would really remove my name from his database, and he didn’t, just like I predicted.
About three days later, I got another email marketing message with another lame affiliate promotion. I really should just unsubscribe, but the material I am getting for blog posts is worth the onslaught. I want to send him a message and tell him, “If you actually sent me something of value and didn’t constantly pollute my inbox, maybe I would click a link once in a while.”
Email marketing can be a great way to engage your audience and the majority of the newsletters I subscribe to routinely provide value and are worth reading. In fact, my favorite gets published everyday and I can barely keep up to read all the great content I receive.
So don’t try lame email marketing tactics like this. You are either going to see your results plummet, or become fodder for other bloggers.
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Feedback and Comments:
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Jul 30, 2010 at 11:40
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by jenniferbourn and Lisa Wells, Jon Butler. Jon Butler said: Agreed RT @jenniferbourn: New Post: Worst Email Marketing Tactic I Have Seen In a While http://bit.ly/af4ZKS [...]
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Jul 30, 2010 at 04:20
Wow! I’m amazed at the tone of that email – what a turn off!
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Aug 02, 2010 at 08:45
Hi Jill, Thanks for stopping by the blog. We love comments, and I too was suprised at the tone as well. Definitely not a good way to keep a fan.
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Aug 02, 2010 at 06:33
I LOVE THIS!!! Thank you, Jennifer, for having the courage to put this out there. I hope the “marketer” in question (and others like him/her) recognize that this is about him and changes his tactics. I’m sooooooo tired of getting bombarded with emails pushing one get rich quick scheme (and that’s what they are–schemes) after another.
Keep up the awesome work!!
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Aug 02, 2010 at 08:03
I hadn’t seen that one before but I’ve certainly see some good ones. I especially like the emails that claim a mistake has been made by their CPA or accounting team that caused them to offer such a great deal. Yadda, yadda, yadda. I love to read good copy but can’t stand it when marketers think they can ‘fool’ you into buying or clicking or subscribing. Thanks for being a voice of email marketing reason in a sea of those that think we will believe anything.
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Aug 02, 2010 at 08:51
Darcie, Robin & Doug: Thanks so much for the feedback and comments. I had a lot of fun writing this post. Email marketing can be very effective if done right, but don’t try to fool anyone. It won’t work.
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Aug 02, 2010 at 08:05
I love web 2.0! I still recall the days where a slick pitch and flashy sales copy could make companies significant.
Sure, there is an overabundance of information available online. SINCERE content that provides USEABLE information is the only method for creating new relationships.
Interestingly, this has always been true. Before the advent of the internet, you still had to provide value to a client before they purchased. For some reason, many old-school internet marketers think that “sales pitches” or “take away” copy will motivate us to “buy”
Wrong!
Only useful, interesting and valuable content can catch my attention and with the thousands of pitches coming at us daily, GOOD content always stands out.
Doug Crowe
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Aug 02, 2010 at 09:17
Blimey, how rude was that email?! Can you imagine if he was sending that to a subscriber who (Heaven forbid) had actually died and it was picked up by a spouse or relative?
It’s always a fine line with email marketing, sure you want a return on investment, but you also don’t want customers leaving in droves because you’re ramming your product or service in their faces every five minutes. I think we can all agree this guy is on completely the wrong side of that line!
Thanks for the post and I love your blog by the way, great design!
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Aug 02, 2010 at 09:32
Scott – It is most definitely a fine line! Brian and I both subscribe to several internet marketing / seo / social media newsletters and those industries unfortunately are laden with affiliate marketers who use the same old-school in your face, fear-based marketing tactics. The worst is that on several occasions we receive the exact same offending email from multiple people about the same product … as if each affiliate is just sending a canned email the product owner sent them. I for one, vote for more honest and authentic communications.
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Jan 02, 2012 at 08:45
Very good point, Scott, about what if the person actually did die. I didn’t think of it that way.
I can’t imagine this guy is making many sales providing nothing of value and being so completely disconnected from reality.
Does he/she really think people will become fans/loyal customers using these woeful tactics. Poor bastard’s got it all wrong.
I just read the book Crush It by Gary V so I’m all worked up about this exact topic of being authentic, especially online.
Thanks for posting this entertaining and informative post, Brian.
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Aug 02, 2010 at 09:33
Agreed, pretty lame. Even worse is when you meet someone that spams you and doesn’t use a email marketing system at all!
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Aug 02, 2010 at 01:51
Kathy, I had that happen the other day with someone I barely knew, and by the next message they sent, my ISP started flagging their emails as SPAM and are now completely blocked. Not using an email marketing provider is not only a bad practice, but you can get your email domain blacklisted too. Imagine if none of your emails could be received by anyone, and you had no idea why.
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Aug 02, 2010 at 11:27
What a great idea to use such an example of BAD email marketing for a blog post. Using a threat to get me to click on a link – nope doesn’t work for me lol.
I have been deleteing these spammy times or marking them as spam but should unsubscribe but maybe I too should look to hold them up as a BAD example.
And excuse the spelling it should have been spammy types but mac playing up and won’t let me edit and off for lunch!
Thanks for a good (but meaningful) laugh
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Aug 02, 2010 at 12:11
Louise – Thanks for stopping by! We thought about unsubscribing, but frankly I leave a few of those in these so I am always reminded how irritating it is and make sure I always respect my subscribers’ inboxes! A few months back I unsubscribed from everything and resubscribed under a different email address that gets filtered out of my inbox into a “newsletter” folder automatically. It has made a big difference too :)
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Aug 02, 2010 at 11:42
I would ask the send to keep their promise and remove me from their email distribution list or challenge them to not make promises they can’t keep.
Lisa Ann Landry – Corporate Trainer – Unleashing the Genie!
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Aug 02, 2010 at 04:16
Well, good to know I am not the only one who got that email. Yay you for outing this person. Clearly a “what WAS this person thinking” thing! You would think internet marketers would know better by now.
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Aug 03, 2010 at 11:01
Hi Karen, Thanks for stopping by. I am all for experimenting and trying new marketing tactics, but this one was not a good idea.
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Aug 02, 2010 at 08:50
This reminds me of the “threats” I used to get on catalogs or from a well-known “publishing contest company”. Perhaps your sender was trying to reach you through “humor”?! Lame and weak…maybe he reads your blog.
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Aug 03, 2010 at 07:47
This blog pointed out to me the power of email marketing. Even though the initial video was lame, subsequent emails lacked substantive content, and an obvious scam, Brian continues to subscribe.
This insight will shift my email marketing efforts.
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Aug 03, 2010 at 11:03
Hi Bill, When done correctly, email marketing can be very effective. We have success with it, but of course, we don’t try things like this.
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Aug 03, 2010 at 08:21
Interesting, and irritating! Whether it’s an email/newsletter that has to do with social media, pet issues, or any industry, the emails Must have some valuable content to grab my interest. Even one little helpful tidbit, or link, is worth the (sometimes) subtle sales pitch. But, the emails that show up pitching their products or services using fear tactics (“don’t miss out”, “only space for 3 more attendees”, “last chance offer”…) are, usually, deleted immediately. I don’t appreciate being scared into making a decision.
The email you received, Jennifer, is beyond all realms of tact! Thanks for venting on this subject for all of us. -
Aug 04, 2010 at 11:00
How annoying was that? I agree that email marketing can be a real boon to your business (it has been for us), but it needs to be done in a way that provides value and builds a relationship rather than making people crazy! I hope, too, that whomever is using this marketing strategy will read your blog and learn from it. I am guessing it is not their intention to turn people away, so they need some help!
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Aug 04, 2010 at 04:12
I hear ya. Like you I used to subscribe lists and would stay on them in an effort to learn from the success of others. What I mainly seem to have learned is that there are a lot of really bad email marketers out there!
I’m not going to fault someone for having the initiative to try and make an effort to wake up a sleeping list, but it seems that starting a “value campaign” is far more effective than a “why don’t you like me” campaign. :)
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Aug 04, 2010 at 04:20
Dave, Donna, I agree! They need some help and a better approach. Threatening people is never a good way to market your business! I love the reference to a “why don’t you like me” campaign! It does seem like that’s what several email marketers are doing these days – especially the heavy affiliate marketers. I’ve left all of those lists…
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Aug 04, 2010 at 06:29
Oh my! That is so wrong!
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Aug 04, 2010 at 08:06
Good post. I wonder if that was on an autoresponder, after X # of months, or whether he had to go through all his list to see who hadn’t responded. Since Karen Frank got the same email, there had to be some pattern to it. I’m afraid I am not as patient as you… I just push the unsubscribe button. My limit is usually more than 1 a week or everyother week. Unless they have good content where I am actually learning something, more than that… they go. lol I guess I’m not a very good remail receipitent!
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Aug 05, 2010 at 11:30
Hi Candace, Thanks for stopping by our blog. That message could have been part of an auto-responder campaign, or a single message drafted after running a report from the email marketing software provider. Either way, still not a good idea.
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Aug 05, 2010 at 12:58
You don’t think anyone ever removes email addresses from their list? I’m not sure…I just had a frustrating conversation with Constant Contact that has led me to think I should do just that – delete the emails addresses that aren’t opening the newsletters. Everyone opted in to receive it, but if they haven’t opened it in a while, don’t I want it front of the people that are actually interested? I thought the wording in that email was sort of cute, so I must be missing something :-)
Brandy Mychals
Jewelry for Your Target Market-
Aug 05, 2010 at 11:24
Brandy, when an email marketing provider reports “opens” they are only estimates and can only be reported as an “open” if their email reader is set to accept HTML emails. If someone on your list is set to receive plain text emails only and they are reading your newsletters, they will not get reported as an “open”. Also, some customers just take a while before making a purchase, so I wouldn’t remove them manually. Just keep sending quality information, and eventually they will buy. We recently signed a new client after two years of receiving our newsletters, so don’t get discouraged.
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Aug 05, 2010 at 12:28
This just happened to me! And I got pretty upset about it; I wasn’t throwing my cat out the window or anything but as a former sales and marketing professional, I was rather peeved. And, get this, the person was selling some sort of love/laws of attraction program.
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Email Marketing Cirtique: Direct Email Marketing Gone Bad | Bourn Creative
Aug 05, 2010 at 01:09[...] week Brian wrote about the worst direct email marketing tactic we’ve seen in a while and on Monday I received probably one of the worst introduction emails [...]
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Aug 06, 2010 at 10:48
I totally agree, from one Jennifer to another :). Some people dont understand how easy it is to engage me, if you give me something instead of trying to sell me something all the time. Too much good stuff out there to waste precious time on emails that yell buy me.
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Aug 18, 2010 at 03:05
OMG. What is that, “I’m going to pack up my toys and go home?” So not effective. Do people forget that humans read this stuff?
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