Five Things Dad Taught Me About Email Marketing Without Even Trying
My father has always been good at turning a phrase. I’m often told my “gift for the gab” comes from him. As with most fathers, he was never shy about sharing insight and rules for life as I grew up. With Father’s Day near, I started thinking about some of those bits of wisdom and realized many could be applied to email marketing.
Perception is nine-tenths of the law. What people perceive is what people believe. CAN-SPAM or any other anti-spam law is all but irrelevant to most recipients. If they think your email is spam, then it’s spam (see below).
There’s what you can do -- and what you should do. Laws cover the former, and sensitivity and common sense cover the latter. If we show more of the latter, we’ll hopefully need less of the former.
It’s not how you fall, but how you rise that is important. You’re going to make mistakes. No one plans to fail, but how many of us fail to plan? Do you have a plan on how to deal with mistakes? Few people may actually notice the fall, but rest assured, everyone will be watching how you get back up.
Verbal diarrhea can be fatal. Too much information is worse than not enough. Give people the amount of information they need to take the next step you want them to take, and leave some room for questions to answer.
People love a good story, but hate a great sermon. Don’t waste subscribers’ time telling them what they should be doing, when you could be using a good story to show them what they could be doing.
Thanks, Dad! Here’s another tie!
When you consider a half
century of really ugly ties and badly made ashtrays I gave my dad for Father’s Day, the wisdom and insight he provided in return was a pretty amazing ROI. Just don’t expect your email
subscribers to give you the same indulgence as Dad did if you give them crap.
Recent Email Insider Articles
-
Once Again, I Double-Dog Dare You! May 20, 11:41 p.m.
In 2008 and 2010, I double-dog dared marketers to experiment with some little-used, out-of-the-box, perhaps even ...
-
The Inattentive Consumer: How To Break Through To Mobile Subscribers May 14, 1 p.m.
As marketers, we have put a strong focus on building mobile programs over the past few ...
-
Mother's Day Hangover May 13, 1:15 p.m.
Post-Mother’s Day, and we made it through. While not quite the holiday retail rush that the ...
-
Parenting Advice For Email Marketers May 9, 3:04 p.m.
For decades, the evolution of email as a viable and proven marketing channel has been, in ...
-
Phishers' Kryptonite: Big Data May 8, 9:29 a.m.
Over the last few years, spam has become a “largely solved” problem. The average consumer sees ...
-
Go Ahead -- Send More Emails May 3, 12:04 a.m.
In fact, send a lot more emails. There, I said it. I feel better now. As ...
-
The Truths Your Email Metrics Don't Reveal May 1, 11:09 a.m.
When you read the latest email statistic as it comes through your news feed each day, ...
-
Email Before Breakfast -- And Other Trends April 29, 1:43 p.m.
I always say, I get more done before 9 a.m. than I do the rest of ...
-
Sending A Welcome Series Is The New Onboarding Differentiator April 23, 3:24 p.m.
The beginning of an email marketing relationship is the most important. Not only are subscribers more ...
-
Updating Email Acquisitions? Focus Further Down The Funnel April 18, 9:01 p.m.
For many companies, revenue or conversion activity mirrors something similar to the 80/20 rule, with 20% ...
Be the first to comment on "Five Things Dad Taught Me About Email Marketing Without Even Trying"
Leave a Comment