I don’t know about you, but I spend a good part of my marketing building a relationship with my list. That mostly includes writing and linking to articles on my site that I think members would find useful. I also may promote something once in awhile, but not often – because I honestly don’t get a chance to try everyone’s products or software; and I’ll only promote something that I’ve used with success. So having said that, I use to take someone unsubscribing from my list very personally.
I remember going to an internet marketing seminar a few years back and my coach explaining that sometimes people aren’t going to like what you do, what you say, or how you say it. She encouraged us to not take it personally, let it go – and move on. Well, that lesson kind of went over my head at the time because at that point, no one had complained about my writing, my emails, or my products, etc. Needless to say, I should have listened, because that day came and it wasn’t pretty!
Someone unsubscribed from my list and because I use aWeber for my list maintenance, there is a section where folks can explain why they are unsubscribing. Most will ignore that box. Some will feel a little bad for me I guess, and say it’s because they are getting too many emails from everyone. Which of course is probably true for so many of us (but that’s why I use a separate Google mail address for newsletters). But anyway, this woman decided to tell me why she was unsubscribing from my list and tell me good!
She said that she had been looking to build a professional relationship with me, and because we lived in the same area was hoping that we would get together. I remember replying to her that I had just moved to the area and had a lot on my plate. I just didn’t have the time to meet with her. Then of course she went on to say that my strategies were not advanced enough for her. After I read this email, I was bothered by a few things. So I wrote her back. Which I have done in other instances as well. So this is what I’ve learned from this particular situation:
The Personal Touch
Writing people personally takes them by surprise. People are not use to hearing from marketers. That’s because the seasoned ones have learned to ignore “hate mail”:) Although this woman didn’t respond, some others have and I was actually able to save the relationship. Do I recommend that you do this? Well, I think it depends on the size of your list, the time that you have, and how much you really care about that one person. You could always take in consideration – has this person bought from you? Has this person been on the list long? As rule of thumb though – you cannot respond to everyone who unsubscribes. That’s just the nature of online marketing – but if you feel like you can save one – do it!
Don’t Take It Personally
Not everyone is going to like you or what you do. And that has to be okay, or you will never really get any personal satisfaction out of what you are doing. The general idea here is that you need to let go of the negative energy that some might throw your way — and keep moving forward. If you have a message and it is clear, it will resonate with some folks and not with others – and that’s okay.
Stop The Notifications
One essential element of this whole fiasco is that I was receiving ALL my subscriber notifications to one of my main email addresses. Big mistake. I think I enjoyed getting the “ping” sound when I saw that people had just subscribed. BUT that also meant that I also got the unsubscribe alerts – and I would get distracted and want to read why they unsubscribed.
Keep On Truckin’!
At the end of the day, you have to believe in the direction and course of your marketing and keep on moving forward with your plan. Write your articles. Create your information products. Build your social marketing presence. Trust your instincts. And make sure you love what you do:)
Lisa Angelettie
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