Make more time for your life: unsubscribe from spam
At a very social day of learning about social media for law firms this week – we mostly sat around and talked about the issues, rather than listen to endless PowerPoint-led talks – I got a sage piece of advice: unsubscribe from any email newsletter you no longer read.
This sounds obvious, but I'll bet you are subscribed to a least a few email newsletters you've never read, and they are probably sent to you because you bought something – in other words, you never really signed up for them in the first place. I was, until yesterday, signed up to something like 10 or 15 email newsletters I either once wanted but don't have the time to read, or never wanted in the first place.
Ed Weatherall, who's an email newsletter guru apparently, from Concep told us that after a few 'opens' of an email we don't want or need, if we don't unsubscribe from them we tend to just delete them out of hand – but never get round to saying we don't want them. This sucks time from our days and adds an unnecessary stressor in my humble opinion, and I don't need any more of those.
I've now done this and feel strangely liberated in a very minor way. I've also discovered which companies I've done business with either make it hard or impossible to unsubscribe from, and they've made it on to my 'evil' list.
There are several lessons for law firm marketing in this, I feel, alongside the obvious advice for any time-poor solicitor of divesting oneself of unnecessary email weight.
First, make sure you track who's opening your email newsletter. If someone's not opened it more than three times, why not try to find a way of unsubscribing them?
Second, don't sign people up for email newsletters just because they've done business with you – make sure they want it. I have more negative feelings for firms who do this than firms that don't. Simple.
Third, make unsubscribing a one-click or two-click process. I feel fine about companies I've been able to easily unsubscribe from – I really don't about those I can't.
Comments
"Click here to unsubscribe"
I think a distinction should be drawn here between actual spam ("unsolicited e-mail") and "e-mail I signed up for a while ago but no longer want to receive". "Unsubscribing" from actual spam, whether by replying or by clicking on a link, often does no more than verify that your e-mail account is active and get you signed up to a dozen more spam mailing lists.
Brevity trumps verity
Chris you're right that emails I have signed up for aren't really 'spam' per se, it's a fair cop. We needed to make a good headline though. However, to me the rule that I'm making out in the piece is the same for spam and non-spam - I still want to unsub quickly, and they still take up my time... And I tell you what, some of the worst offenders in making unsubbing hard are things I actively signed up for once, like a major US news organisation...
Use Your Loaf On Email Or You'll Be Toast
If someone doesn't open your law firm email three times in a row -
DO NOT TAKE THEM OFF YOUR LIST.
If you do you are wasting a massive opportunity to make money.
You must not listen to people who tell you what to do with your email newsletters based on their thoughts about spam email.
Just because someone does not open an email three times does not mean it is spam. Imagine if you called someone three times and just because they didn't pick up the phone you decided to never call them again?
If you don't get an open on an email newsletter there are a number of things you can do other than throw out the baby with the bath water.
I'm not going to go into all of them here, there are too many to list.
But a different subject line and the first two sentences of the email
are just a couple of things to change to get a better reaction.
Perseverance - or just pointless?
The point the email marketing expert was making - well, he didn't tell me to kill off contacts that don't read your emails, but his point was that if people aren't reading your mails you're not getting through - and you could be creating negativity with someone. And I think that's true - I was just seeing these emails as annoying, And I think he was also trying to get across the importance of measuring whether people open your mails or not - not just if they have *once*. He certainly wouldn't mix up spam with non-spam in that way.
Take 'em off or don't - I have to say if you're mailing thousands of people, are the few who aren't bothering with your mailout worth the follow-up? If you have lots of people who aren't opening your mails, perhaps you should look at why, rather than try to convert them? Depends on your database size I guess.
To me, your view assumes that the sender is 'relevant' to the receiver - when perhaps that's not true. Physician, heal thyself...
Also, with any of the mails I have now unsubbed from, it wouldn't matter what they said in their subject lines - they weren't relevant to me. I may have actively sought them before - but I'm just not interested now. S'just the way it is.
Click and go
There are plenty of superb email applications out there that do all you need and are so affordable, whether it be Mailchimp, Constant Contact etc.
One of the key elements is the 'unsubscribe' functionality. The application will manage all of that for you so you don't have to It will also prevent you from putting that prospects details in again. In my experience they are very particular about unsubscribing and 'canning the spam.'
Such applications will also give you very rich data as to who is reading, and clicking which parts of your mail. Always put a few hyperlinks in your mail so you can see what piques interest and what doesn't.
I don't have a problem with email newsletters and would rather get them and delete/unsubscribe if required. This can be done in seconds as opposed to hard copy that has to be opened, flicked through and then binned with all the ensuing carbon footprint moral dilemma.
What have I got to lose? Emails have to be punchy to get my interest and that means they have got about 6 seconds!! Go on enjoy your Simon Cowell moment..."sorry you have four no's" If you unsubscribe and they still contact you then you can call the big bald bloke in!!
I would sooner see, check and know what is going on rather than miss something. Even if it is not relevant to me now my brain will pick it up, in the weird way my brain does, and then I can revisit when appropriate and I have the time.
Please Don't Stop Sending My Subscription... I'll Be Back!
Sometimes I'll forego reading emails I've subscribed to for different reasons- usually just because they don't fit into what I'm currently working on. Just because I delete them or don't open them does not mean I want to sever the connection altogether. If that's my intent, I wouldn't hesitate to drop the subscription. Otherwise, you can safely assume that I consider you too valuable to unsubscribe. And, my time too valuable to have to re-subscribe in the future. So, please don't stop sending my subscription... I'll be back!
Zorka Kovacevich
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