Hey, I just noticed ... I've been sitting here filling out a ... forms, ... my dang article about alexa's ... toolbar til I'm blue in the face (vent much? yes.), and I reali
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.
