In a post yesterday someone I respect highly, Chris Guillebeau wrote an engaging, passionate post on Why People Hate Marketers. In it, he laid out a whole bunch of things about marketing that I totally agree with: marketing is about trust and building relationships. That using scarcity marketing to push people and manipulate them doesn’t feel good, and in many cases isn’t necessary.
His post was in response to an email from someone named John who suggested he use an email opt-in list to build an empire. The way John expressed himself did seem to be focused primarily on empire-building and not so much on trust and relationship-building.
Chris wrote that he was bothered by this, and he felt that “freely give, freely receive” works just fine for him. And it has. Not only is he happy and living the life he longs for, but if you also want to talk numbers, he’s reached hundreds of thousands of people, maybe millions, and he sells a good number of his information products, that supports him.
And, if you haven’t yet read his 279 Days to Overnight Success, go get it now.
The One Big Reaction I Had
If you read his post, he doesn’t directly say that email opt-in is evil, and I’m sure he doesn’t believe it, because he does have an email opt-in series on his site. I’m sure he knows and probably agrees with what I’m about to write.
But, reading his post, you could draw the conclusion that email opt-in is a manipulation, and that you shouldn’t ever do it. Let me give you a different perspective.
Here’s what my life looks like:
- I run a business;
- I’m a father of twin 6-month old boys about to crawl;
- I also spend a good deal of time keeping up with friends and community;
- I try to stay physically active and eat well;
- Finally- there’s the laundry. And the dishes.
As I’m writing this, I have to stop writing, and take a break to go help my wife feed the twins. I’ll be back in about 20 minutes.
Ahhh… twins fed, changed, no poop-on-dad disasters, or other unseemly events, and they go back to sleep with my wife for another hour or so.
I love my life, and it is very full. It seems as if I literally don’t stop from the moment I get up until the time I go to bed. And, even once the boys get a little older, life will continue to be full.
I Need Reminders
Some things I can be pro-active about, some I just don’t have the capacity for. There’s a workshop I’m wanting to take that two of my spiritual teachers are giving. If I hadn’t been on the opt-in email list, and if they hadn’t sent me, I dunno, five, six, seven reminders, I wouldn’t have gotten around to registering, and I might’ve missed it completely.
I created an opt-in email list for our upcoming Heart of Money course built around a free teleclass I gave on the topic.
With issues around money, I know a few things. One, that a good number of our readers are interested, but not everyone. Two, that issues around money are highly uncomfortable, emotionally-charged things, and as such are painful. Three, that humans tend to avoid, deny, or go unconscious around painful issues.
If someone wanted to take the course, needed to take the course, I’m not sure they would get to the point where they would actually register without getting regular reminders to break through the autopilot/unconsciousness of daily life.
And the folks on our regular email list, or blog readers, have been getting far fewer reminders of the course, mostly in the form of reminders of the free teleclass, so that there is less noise for them to ignore if they just aren’t interested.
Of Course Anything Can Be Evil
There are people who pull every psychological trick out of the book with their opt-in lists. There are definitely people who prey on fears, and use hype, scare, and false-scarcity tactics to drive sales.
Don’t do that.
And, don’t shy away from using email opt-in from a genuine desire to be of service. Your email opt-in list may be very helpfully cutting through dirty diapers, piles of dishes, and heaps of laundry to help the very people who need you most and can’t quite get to you on their own power.
I’m happy to take all comers. Do you think I’m just rationalizing? Or does this ring true for you? Other perspectives?
