Commoditization Be Damned
As I’m in the process of relocating from England back to the U.S., I’ve been unsubscribing from myriad UK e-mail newsletters. And I’m disappointed—not by how difficult it has been, but rather by how laissez-faire companies seem to be about losing me as a subscriber. The same businesses that had courted me with “please subscribe, pretty please” on their Web sites and in their catalogs were letting me unsubscribe without so much as a “we’ll miss you” or “was it something we said?”
Okay, a few companies did include a form on their unsubscribe page asking why I was canceling. But just one not only asked why but also sent me a confirmation e-mail that made a point of saying how sorry it was sorry to see me go. I felt so warm and fuzzy after reading the e-mail that, had I not been moving, I would have reinstated my subscription then and there.
All of this is as good an example as any of how companies take their e-mail marketing for granted. If an organization really valued its e-mail marketing program, it wouldn’t let those valuable subscribers go without a fight—or at least without trying to find out what, if anything, it could have done to keep them.
E-mail isn’t a very old marketing tool, But because of its relatively low cost, or its ubiquity, or its ease of implementation compared with other marketing vehicles, it is already seen as a commodity.
And that’s a shame. Because an effective e-mail—one with an attention-grabbing subject line, a relevant offer, a sense of immediacy, a direct call to action—remains a powerful tool. Never mind the stats about ROI and effectiveness in comparison with this year’s shiny new toy, social media; surely you can think back to a marketing e-mail or two that really grabbed you, that made you click straight through to a Web site, that you simply had to forward to a friend or a colleague.
That’s why I’m excited to be covering e-mail marketing for Chief Marketer, as editor of its new E-Mail Essentials e-newsletter. I want to see more of those intriguing, effective e-mails in my inbox. And by sharing case studies, best practices, and expert advice each week, perhaps I will.
In the meantime, feel free to send me examples of any especially good or evil emails you come across, as well as suggestions for topics you’d like covered and any other feedback, in the comments area below or to slchiger@gmail.com. I’m looking forward to receiving them.
February 2nd, 2010 at 5:47 pm
Hello Beth, look forward to hearing more from you. In the meantime, I guess I’d better work on my unsubscribe content.
February 2nd, 2010 at 5:50 pm
I meant Sherry, sorry. Trying to figure where I got Beth from.
February 4th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
Welcome back, Sherri!
Everyone seems so anonymous online, I think that’s why they let subscribers go so easily with no questions asked. But in the end it’s still about relationships. That’s why it’s possible for an email confirmation to make us feel warm and fuzzy.
Now do you have a British-ish accent like Madonna?
best,
Lori McFadden
February 18th, 2010 at 7:14 am
Hi, Lori! Sadly, no, I did not pickup the slightest hint of an accent, though I did incorporate some very useful bits of slang into my vocabulary, most of which are not suitable to cite here. ;-)