Hey, I just noticed something. I've been sitting here filling
out a bajillion forms, submitting my dang article about alexa's
changed-up toolbar til I'm blue in the face (vent much? yes.),
and I realized what makes me give out my real email address.
See, I've got like seven. I have one free email account I NEVER
open- I log into it every couple of months and empty everything
in there without even checking what I was sent- anything that
has spam potential goes to that address. I've got one I clear
out once a month- I check some of the titles that look
interesting, but they're mostly either junk, status reports or
emails I need to look at once then throw out.
There's another I clear out once a week, there's semi-important
stuff in there- information I can't keep track of, back ups of
emails or attachments. Then there's the one I use ONLY for
signing up for things. If I subscribed to your newsletter,
that's probably where it'll end up. But after a while, if I
really like your ezine and you don't spam me, I'll also
subscribe at one of my real email addresses.
One of my real email addresses is a personal one, that's the one
for family and friends to send me personal stuff, where I get
all my jokes and horoscopes and what not.
The other real email address is my business one. It is a
fortress against spam because almost no one knows I have it. If
I treasure your newsletter above all others, if at some point we
have slept in the same bed, if at some point I paid more than
$100 for something or have some sensitive financial information
coming back and forth from you, that's the email address I'll
give you. I stay on a computer about ten hours a day. During
those ten hours I leave this account open in my email client. If
you're a client of mine, this is the email address you have to
get directly in touch with me at any hour. And when I'm away
from my computer, it's synched to my phone so I can check
messages as they come in.
And I realized today, that I let a few more people into one of
those top three email boxes today- guess why? We'll get back to
that in a minute.
Now, I'm sure all your clients aren't as crazy as I am with the
spam-proof fortresses and the highly organized email system. But
any savvy consumer on the Net learns eventually to have more
than one email address, usually only two. There's the ISP email
address, the one they use for primary communication with family
and friends, and for information that is near and dear to their
hearts. This is where you want to be. I don't even have Spam
Assassin turned on for my private email. Why should I? No one
who would spams me knows it exists.
So again, why do you think I would let anyone get my primary
email address, since I guard it so closely?
They made me believe I could trust them with my information.
How?
Privacy Policy. They promised me no spam. Ever. No sharing.
Ever. Never Ever EVER.
Value. Something they were going to send me was as precious to
my business as air is to me.
Reciprocation. If I gave them my email address, they gave me
something of theirs that I wanted. Not some free ebook that
everyone has or a 10% discount- something really special. Like
150 free ebooks, most of which everyone does not have, or
something free that would help my business.
Trust. In the past I wasn't sure what they would do with my
email address and something they did or said, or just my
experiences with them earned them my trust.
Disclosure. They told me what they were going to use it for,
when, how often, why and who would have access to it. Then they
stuck to what they said.
Personal relationship. The person who contacted me at that email
address didn't send me some generic blahblah form email, they
reached out to me person to person and asked my opinion, offered
their help, or wanted my advice. They gave me THEIR real email
address and what else could I do but reciprocate?
Now, you and I both know that you have no intention of spamming
anyone- if not on a question of ethics alone, you're just not
stupid - it would to ruin your online reputation! Fast.
I'm just saying... maybe making it clear to your visitors that
you are employing some of the techniques above. Perhaps making
your customers feel how I felt will get them to give you their
real information and their Primary Email address. And a repeat
purchase.
About Author :
My friends bet me $1000 that I couldn't get spidered by Google
and in Alexa's top 100K in 90 days. I won the bet in 34 days
flat. And guess where I'm going to share how I did it?
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