Email quality email often

Email Quality, Email Oftenby Jonathan Leger

www.LearnFromJon.com

Every time I send out a series of promotion emails to my list, hundreds of people unsubscribe. Does that make you think that I'm sending the wrong message? Or maybe emailing too often? Or pushing too hard?

If you think any of those things are true, you're mistaken. Why do I say that? Let me explain.

The simple truth is that you are always going to lose subscribers every time you try and sell them something. There are a variety of reasons for this. Let's talk about some of them.

1. Some people are just freebie seekers.

It's true. Some people are only on your list for what they can get out of you. As soon as you ask for something back from them, they jump ship. They're freeloaders. They're notserious about anything you have to offer, and never will be.

Other freebie seekers feel entitled. They think that everyone should give them everything for nothing. I have people write in asking me to coach them or mentor them– and they expect me to do that free of charge.

Because I often say that I care about the success of people on my list, I occasionally get someone who says, in effect, “If you really care you'll do everything for me for free because that's what people who care do.”

Um, no. That's what suckers do.

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Even charities need donors to have the funds to help people in need. I am not a charity.I don't have donors. I give out a lot of free information (like this report), and that information is loaded with actionable steps that can help you. That proves that I care. I respond to everyone who emails me. That proves I care. I stand behind the products I sell and only offer what I believe will actually help the people on my list. That proves I care.

I couldn't do any of that if I did it all for free. I wouldn't have the money to be able to send out that free information. I wouldn't have the time and money to invest in creating the tools that help people. I certainly wouldn't be able to respond to people's emails because I would be too busy getting a J-O-B to keep the lights on!

Freebie seekers just don't get that. They can't wrap their heads around the fact that it takes money to make money. And they will never succeed in business.

When they unsubscribe, just smile. It's good that they're getting off your list.

2. Some people are unreasonable.

Since I let people reply to all of the emails I send out, and since those replies go straightto me, I get quite a bit of unpleasant email. And by unpleasant I mean awful, sometimes even hateful. It's a tiny fraction of all of the email I get, but it exists.

I've been called a spammer, a scam artist, a rip-off artist and a con man. I've been sworn at, “screamed” at (you know how people scream online right—IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS AND LOTS OF !!!!!!!!) – you name it. People have said the most heinous things about me while knowing zero about me as an individual.

It always makes me shake me head. Clearly these people aren't reading anything I'm actually writing. They see an email, make an assumption and sling mud.

Some of these people are probably just having a really bad day and I'm a convenient target. Maybe they're upset because their own efforts have failed. Maybe they've been ripped off by somebody else and so assume all marketers are thieves. There is an endless list of possible reasons why these people act so disrespectful and hateful – and none of them are justified.



But hey, when you have 60,000 people on your email list, you aren't going to make everyone happy all the time.

And the sad truth is that some people just aren't happy unless they're unhappy! Some people, due to sad childhood events they've never dealt with or tragic lives or just bad attitudes love conflict. They think it's normal. It makes them feel good (even if only temporarily).

These people are unreasonable. You will never convince them that you aren't what theyclaim. You will never get anywhere with them. They will never buy from you.

If they write in to you like that and they haven't unsubscribed, unsubscribe them immediately! Good riddance. They're not the people you want on your list.

3. Some people's goals don't align with your message.

Have you ever joined a gym and decided a few months later that it just wasn't for you? Maybe you realized that you weren't really serious about starting an exercise routine. Or maybe you just didn't like that particular gym for whatever reason. Or maybe you decided to start running instead, or working out with a friend or at home or...

Yeah, there's all kinds of reasons why people might unsubscribe from your email list that don't reflect negatively on that person at all! In fact, I'd say that this represents the majority of people who unsubscribe.

Sometimes people opt-in for your free gift or report or whatever, and they decide that they just don't “click” with your message. That's okay! Everyone doesn't click with everyone. They're just not part of your target market. It's not a failure on your part. It's not a failure on their part.

By all means do not change your message to try and appeal to people that you're nevergoing to be able to appeal to anyway. You are who you are, they are who they are – andne'er the twain shall meet!

Just let them go and wish them well in whatever endeavor they take up.



4. Some people think you email them too much.

How much email is too much? Let me ask you this: if you had a close friend who emailed you every day, would that make you mad? Do you have friends who text you multiple times a day? Do you tell them to stop? Probably not.

Why not? Because what they have to say matters to you. Sure, sometimes they can get a bit annoying if you're not so interested in the conversation, but you put up with it because you get a lot of value out of the relationship you have with them.

The same is true with a business relationship. Your target market, the people who click with your message and like what you have to say don't mind if you're in touch with them often! They know that what you have to offer is positive and beneficial. If they don't have time to read it, they won't unsubscribe, they'll just skip that message and read it later (or read the next one).

I can't tell you how many people have written in to me telling me that they read everything I send. I recently had an issue with my autoresponder that sent out ten emails at once to a whole bunch of people on my list.

Did some call me a spammer because of the glitch? Yes.

Did some unsubscribe because of the issue? Yes.

But the vast majority responded to my apology about the issue saying basically, “No problem! We knew it was a glitch and we like to get your emails!”

Why did the vast majority stick with me? Because most people on my list are my target market. The rest have already unsubscribed for one of the many reasons listed above. The few stragglers who were left made their exit when the glitch happened, and that's fine by me!

Look, I email my list often. I know many marketers who email every day. As long as you're providing real value, your target market will love it.

People who aren't your target market won't love it, and they'll unsubscribe. That's okay! They're not the people who would eventually buy from you anyway. Just wish them well and let them go.



Customers Are More Valuable Than List Members

Another important point to keep in mind is that customers are far more valuable to youthan list members. The reality is that you're a business. You're trying to sell something. The people who buy that something and love it are your most valuable list members! So take good care of them.

Each time I do a promotional series, like I said, I lose hundreds of list members. But I also gain hundreds of customers. And those customers I gain are worth a thousand times more than the contacts I lost.

Once a contact becomes a customer and they see that what you offer is truly valuable, the next time you offer another product they will be first in line to get it! I have customers who own almost all of my products. In fact, 37% of the people on my list are active members or customers of something that I'm selling.

That's where your bread and butter is. If you have to lose a bunch of idle contacts off your list in order to gain even just a few happy customers, it's worth it.

Don't Fear The Seven Percent

I recently changed autoresponders. I left Aweber due to a serious lack of tools and capabilities that I needed as a marketer. After looking around for a replacement I realized that nobody did what I needed.

But hey, I'm a software developer – so I created my own. And it's awesome (if I do say so myself, and I do).

Part of what I learned from importing my list into the new system is the actual percentage of people who opt-out. It's about seven percent.

Now I know that seeing people opt-out of your list can be a little scary. You think to yourself that your potential customers are leaving you. You may be inclined to change your message to try and appeal to those people. You might stop emailing as often. You may stop pitching the products you love so hard. You might... make a huge mistake by doing those things!



Seriously, do you think I'm going to change what I'm doing to make 7% of the people onmy list happy while not giving the 93% what they've shown me they want? And they've shown my that by staying on my list, opening my emails and buying the products that I recommend.

Why would I do that? It's completely irrational! So don't even think about doing that. As long as your list is growing and your spam complaints are low, you're fine.

How “low” do your spam complaints need to be? Think of it this way: I've had 500 spamcomplaints in the last month. Yup. Five hundred. That means 500 people clicked “this is spam” inside their email program or provider. Most of those complaints came with the autoresponder glitch.

Five hundred may sound like a lot, but it's less than 1% of my list, and I've sent out closeto one million emails this month! Those spam complaints only make up 0.05% of the total emails I've sent out. Suddenly it doesn't seem like so much, does it?

In fact, the service my software interfaces with to perform the actual sending of the emails, Mandrill.com, rates my account reputation as “Excellent”!

So don't pay too much attention to that SPAM rate. When it starts getting over 1% then you might want to start to worry about it. But that's only likely to happen if you're targeting the wrong people to get onto your list to begin with.

So don't fear the 7%. They're not your bread and butter. They're not your target market.

A very simple rule to follow that has worked for me for more than ten years is this:

Email quality, email often.

It works, I promise you that.

Here's to your success!

Jonathan Legerwww.LearnFromJon.com




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Email quality email often