No less an authority than the Wall Street Journal declared email dead on October 12, 2009... | It is fair to say that Ms. Vascellaro is probably surprised at the resilience of email. From the TikToks to Slacks to Lines and Messengers to Waves... email's influence as a tool of professional communication remains untarnished. And, email as a vehicle for Marketing? Let's say there has been no reason to bring the sexyback, because the sexy's never left. Still, even a fan like me has to admit that the abuse of email by Marketers has continued apace. Some simply skirt the beautiful principles of Permission Marketing, while others stomp on them with naked glee - oblivious to the destruction of their brand. So today, let's celebrate sucking. Let us celebrate the so many, many ways in which people are doing something extraordinarily simple in extraordinarily painful and heartbreaking ways. [Request: I'm not anonymizing any of the examples below because 1. an individual learns best when she/he can see the full context and 2. this email is unindexable by Bing, Seznam, Yandex etc. You are welcome to share the ideas in this email on Social or a public site, but I request that you please not share any images/company names. Thank you.] Ready to smile and cringe at the same time? Ready to say, "OMG! Really!?!"? Ready to quietly note what you need to change about your email marketing? Let's go! | I get a whole ton of spam (even after Gmail's excellent filtering). And, even if I entirely ignore the complete irrelevance of content, it feels extra insulting when you call me Michel! | Look. If you are going to stomp on the grave of decency and send out unsolicited no-value emails, maybe skip the effort to personalize emails? Why suck more than you need to? Save some time and put it into productive uses like meditation? | In two and half decades of email (I started with mail on Unix in Saudi Arabia!), I've bumped into few things as heartbreaking as the persistent emails by people and entities wanting to exchange links or offer to write guest posts. | Partly I'm sad that people think this actually works in improving their SEO - almost never does. (Think about it: If you get a couple links doing this, it won't work. If you get 500 links doing this, Bing is smart enough to figure out what you are doing and it won't work.) Partly I'm sad that they don't speak the truth. As above, they always say they've read Occam's Razor, they even include a link to a random post to make the email appear "personal" and say they would like to guest post/infographic. If they actually read my blog, they would know I abhor infographics and have never had guest posts. Partly I'm sad that these people and companies will have such low ROI because anyone who's accepting these offers is not someone worth writing for if you want business value! Key Lesson: If you do this, don't. Search Engine Optimization is one of the most effective strategies to win on the web. Doing effective SEO requires business relevant activity and a long-term commitment. The reward for that is joy in your heart and profits in the bank. | Now for something incredible. There is absolutely no one on the planet I now hold in lower regard, in this context, than the IAB. The Interactive Advertising Bureau. I've never been a member. I've never signed up for anything IAB ever. I've never had any business with them to the very best of my recollection. And, yet, they send me unsolicited spam. For an industry authority that would be unforgivable. But, no. It gets worse. This is their unsubscribe page... OMMMMG! | Yes! What in the name of all that is holy and juicy is this!!! I'm confident there are plenty of people at IAB with good taste. I herewith appeal to them to please see above as the assault on decency that it is. Key Lesson: If you send spam, please have one-click unsubscribe. Let's reflect on the glory that is the above page... Why do I need to type in the email address? Is your tech-stack really that non-intelligent? You sent me spam, you know the address you emailed! When you don't have the decency to pre-fill it... I have to go back to the tab with your spam, then open the email header and look for the email address you spammed (I have six email addresses flowing into one inbox), then I have to go back to this tab and type it in. Why? Then, I have to quickly earn a Masters degree to have the knowledge to decode this long-form and make sure I click the exact right buttons. Why? Half-way through, I realize this is a combo of unsubscribe, resubscribe, and increase subscriptions page! Why? Why, IAB, why do you hate me so much? Key Lesson: If you do email marketing, don't be like IAB. | Key Lesson: If you are an email Marketer, always think of the end-to-end customer experience - and what it says about your brand. Take The Atlantic as an example. This is a part of their email, it is beautifully formatted, content is readable, and everything is good... | Ignore the broken logo image, that is because I have images turned off by default in Gmail (a security precaution). Key Lesson: Always check how your marketing email looks like with images turned off. So many of them become instantly useless. But when I click on the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of the Atlantic email, I land here... | OMG! What a terrible looking page. What happened to all the beauty of The Atlantic, the good taste, the customer experience? Why not spend five minutes and CSS this page just like any other page on the site (or match the email formatting) so that you have one more chance of creating a brand impression? Oh, and why do I need to enter my email address? Also, why is the first long 1997 HTML 1.0 style button say "No, I do NOT wish to Unsubscribe"? How many people are going to click Unsubscribe in the email, land on this disappointing page, type in their email address and then click the mixed-case "No, I do NOT wish to Unsubscribe"? Look, not everyone can control the unsubscribe page experience. Ex., if you click Unsubscribe to this newsletter you will absolutely get one-click no need for typing in your email and pressing buttons experience... but the landing page is hideous. There is nothing I can do about it, my ESP controls that. Unless you are in the same situation as me: Key Lesson: Does your unsubscribe landing page look, feel, and match your brand identity? It should. | This is subtle, but can I tell you I so, so, so love this when it comes to people who send unsolicited emails... | So many of the unsolicited email senders trick you by unsubscribing you from one publication or one spammer using their system. I'm sure you hate this just as much as I do. When I bump into the customer-first mindset and thoughtfulness that you see above, I say: I'm not mad at you Newswire for spamming me anymore. Thank you for having the decency of giving me an option to completely unsubscribe from you! Do you try to trick people? Key Lesson: Make the divorce easier. A clean break from you actually makes me like you and remember you. | Here's an exact opposite example. Brightlands Chemelot Campus saw the Newswire unsubscribe experience and said hold my beer! When you click unsubscribe in their email, this is the landing page.... | But... is... it... an... unsubscribe... page? It takes a few seconds for it to dawn on you that while the page clearly says Unsubscribe, this is actually a Subscribe To Even More Stuff AND Give Us Privacy Permission trojan horse! I'll admit, it made me mad for a moment and then I had to tip my hat to the staggering chutzpah on display. You actually have to scroll back to the top and click the text "unsubscribe from all emails" link. That takes you here... | It is weird to see the comment box there. I'm tempted to say something funny about the Netherlands, but I resist. :) I click the black button and pray for no more email from Darklands. Key Lesson: Every little choice you make communicates your ethics and values. Make those choices carefully. Certainly don't compromise them for negligible business value. | My hypothesis is that all 6 billion people on this lovely third rock from the sun would agree that sending an unsolicited email with No Unsubscribe link is as close to a cardinal sin as you'll ever get to in a non-religious environment. And, yet, this common courtesy is uncommon... | Just don't do it. See my gratitude above to Newswire. They spammed me and I forgave them, I was that grateful that there was a simple way for me to never hear from them again. Key Lesson: Recipients will forgive you for spam, just let them be free of you. If you don't, my friends and I will commit our favorite passive-aggressive act as a digital citizen: Click the Report Spam button! And, make a mental note to never do business with you. Why take these risks, for such low return? Unless you are writing to a personal friend, include an unsubscribe link. It is the year 2020. | When it comes to letting people go... Don't try to be cute. Don't try to make it difficult. Don't show me that different departments of your company don't work together. I've never done business with KNOTCH (I don't even know what they are - and they incredibly don't explain in their unsolicited email!) or with Salesforce. Regardless, I still got this piece of bubblegum pink email with random sprinkling of fluorescent green... | Key Lesson: If you are sending an unsolicited email to complete strangers, write a paragraph about who you are and what you do. Obviously I'm going to unsubscribe from KNOTCH. In a fluorescent green worthy brash move, there is no unsubscribe link! Just a non-humble "manage email preferences" - all in lowercase. Cute. | Clicking that "manage email preferences" leads me to a landing page that reeks of arrogance. It has four pretty pink choices for more subscriptions! (Props for at least not making me type the email address.) | Not nice. Takes more seconds than I would like to locate the text Unsubscribe link there as hidden as they could have made it. By this point, you are probably happy I at least found it. Wait. It gets worse. I click Unsubscribe... And for the first time since 2009, I see one of those "do you want to allow this website to send you notifications" javascript popup with an unsubscribe message! | The nightmare that is this user experience is not yet over. I think carefully and worry, but still click OK in the above "JavaScript from go.knotch.com" pop-up. And, I suddenly all the pretty pink and fluorescent green is gone and I land on one of the ugliest unsubscribe confirmation pages on the world wide web... Worse than the Atlantic's! | It is officially saying: We, KNOTCH, hate you so much for unsubscribing from our unsolicited email that we can't be bothered to be decent to you. You deserve this disdainful experience. : ( If you look at the end to end experience of KNOTCH there is nothing that reflects the brand's tagline: "Inspired by content. Driven by data." (I just binged them.) Key Lesson: It might seem like this is a "silly" email marketing issue. I humbly offer that there is something foundational that drives this type of outcome. Lots of reasons, among them a depth of care, or at least love, for the customer experience. What does yours look like? | One last example, another appreciation. I deeply appreciate that Peridot Solutions included a very important signal that they are actively listening to customer feedback by including an important give us a reason for unsubscribing... | Do you know which one I'm talking about? Yes: "I never signed up for this mailing list." It makes me happy to just tell them that. This way, some caring leader somewhere will ask for that metric and then initiate a review of the spamming nature of the mailing list. Then, they will change the company's behavior for the better. Most frequently, the above page looks like this... | None of these options are right. I want to scream at them: I NEVER SIGNED UP! Oh, and choosing Other does not open a comment box where I can tell them I never signed up. I get a strong sense they are flipping me the bird. So, thank you again Peridot Solutions. | Bottom line: This might sound insane on the surface, but hear me out. Do Email Marketing as if the email is going to your mother. It'll trigger these thoughts: Will my mother be proud of this piece of unsolicited email? Will my mother appreciate our company's unsubscribe experience? What can I do with my email marketing program so that my mother would brag about it to her friends? Will my email unsubscribe confirmation landing page make my mother love me a little more than she loves my sister Amy? You catch my drift. Make your mother proud, and the world a little more joyful. -Avinash. | |
