Let’s All Unsubscribe From Marketing E-mails
Who opens all of this junk e-mail? Not the messages from a Nigerian prince or your mother, but from companies trying to sell you something?
I’ve spent the last few weeks better educating myself on e-mail marketing. And despite the abundance of data and advice floating around the Web, I keep coming back to one central question that has me baffled: Why are people opening these e-mails?
It’s always the illusion (most of the time) of limited-time, expiring-soon, one-of-a-kind savings. Like, if you don’t act on this e-mail immediately, which by the way, you believe you were hand-picked for, you will miss out on THE deal of the century.
The subject lines aren’t even that clever. There’s always something for free. Or a ‘must-read’ tip.’ You can lure people with a list, i.e. – 7 Reasons to Read This E-mail. I’ve had enough of this tactic to last me a lifetime. Or you can get “personal.”
“Hi, Andrew! This E-mail Is for You”
Marketers are always touting the effectiveness of name dropping. In this case, using the recipient’s first name. Really? Does anyone under the age of 70 care that they are being addressed by name. I know the ‘data’ will prove me wrong, but I’m Jack of All Blogs, and I say otherwise.
No matter what the subject line, I guarantee you the same old bag of tricks is waiting for you inside. A big shiny button. Several images. A bunch of links selling something. And somewhere buried at the bottom, a tiny little “unsubscribe” link.
I’m thinking of putting together a campaign that would encourage people to take a few seconds out of a day to opt-out of the e-mails they longer need. It won’t save the environment, but it will save the sending companies a few cents – and that’s real savings that can be passed on to consumers.
Would you join my unsubscribing campaign?
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Tips To Get Repeat Web Traffic | Donald Fosters’ Blog said this on January 26, 2010 6:13 pm