E-mail Marketing

Like most people, I really hate getting unwanted e-mail. It clogs my inbox and instead of making me want to buy someone's product, it makes me hate it. In fact, every day I go through my e-mail and click the "Unsubscribe" link if it is trying to sell me a product for which I have no interest.

Every day I still get about 30 to 40 messages that I never read and just delete. The difference is that the e-mail comes from a place where I may eventually have an interest. For instance, I love playing the guitar and I get a message from Guitar Center and one from Musician's Friend every day. If you ask my wife, I already have too many guitars and so rather than be tempted to buy something that may get me in trouble at home, I just delete the messages without reading them. Every once in a while I discover I need something from a music store and so those are the first places I go to see what is available. Therefore I don't want to unsubscribe from them.

When you are looking to make a purchase, communication of any kind from a vendor that sells what you want to buy is seen as helpful. The rest of the time it is annoying.

A few months ago I received an e-mail from a company that provides a service to me and my wife. It announced that The Brian Setzer Orchestra would be playing in Salt Lake City on December 18th. As my wife and I are always looking for some fun Holiday activities I jumped at the chance to get early discount tickets to the sold-out show. My wife had never heard of them but agreed it would be fun. As we rode home from the show last night, she remarked about how much fun she had. I had to agree that it is one of the best Christmas shows we have ever seen. They even had an ode to the Nutcracker Suite at the end. I leaned over and asked my wife if that meant I could get out of seeing the ballet version this season. She said it counted.

Should you wish to sell your wares via e-mail marketing, remember that most people won't even bother to read your message. The exception is if they are looking to buy exactly what you are selling. Even then, that is questionable. So be careful and screen your recipients meticulously.