Slammed By My List!

Posted on July 13, 2006

Today I want to talk to you about being a public punching bag…

It all just comes back full circle to an earlier post I made about having to have a thick skin to be in this business, to not taking any of it personally, to deleting the angry emails, unsubscribing people from your lists, and moving on. A lesson I still have yet to learn it seems because as I took my knocks this week it has left me with a really bad taste.

It all started with a free offer I sent to one of my mailing lists.

Now this subscriber list in particular, (not the one that subscribes to this blog):

Is nearly 3 years old. Over 90% of them have been on my list from the start.
The people on it (on average) have been marketing online for 3-5 years (so they’re a pretty savvy lot).
Their purchases, on my recommendation, have fed and clothed my family, allowed me some financial breathing room as a single mom (back then), and many have contacted me one-on-one by email for both free advice and pay for service.
Each one is near and dear to my heart because for a long time they were my lifeblood.

For all those reasons I try my hardest to give them the most relevant information in a timely fashion, about new tools and methods for search engine optimization, website promotion, increasing traffic and making sound business decisions.

If a product or free service is widely promoted by other marketers I generally don’t tell my list about it. (I figure they’re getting it from so many others, why fill their inboxes up with more of the same?).
I only email that list - on average - 2-3 times per month. (Remember we’ve already established a relationship, they ‘know’ me so I don’t have to work hard to ensure name recognition anymore.)
In my emails I attempt to spell out, in the fewest words possible, who the product or service is for, what it does, and how it helps them.

Generally, that’s my mode of operation for a well cultivated list.

So I was rather shocked this week when more than a few of them wrote back nasty notes on a free product I was telling them to get!

First off, let me tell you about the free product.

It’s software.

It’s downright awesome.

It’s based on the original source code of Search Automator, which is a fantastic search tool I paid $40 for last year and use weekly to dig deep into online resources when researching new businesses, products and keywords - for myself, friends and family.

It allows you to search just for ebooks, online guides, articles, tips, video, audio, forums in your niche, free content published by the U.S. government, as well as content in the public domain, (that you can legally repurpose and sell online), and even ’secret’ content that Google will serve up (that 99.5% of searchers would never find on their own during a standard google search).

And it doesn’t stop there. And I’m not going to tell you anymore about it - go here if you want this free niche marketing tool.

Wait! Don’t go yet. I’m not finished with my story…

Now remember, the email I sent was to a bunch of savvy marketers, with whom I’ve cultivated a relationship of trust, kindness, and caring.

And the link I sent them is a pre-registration page - leave your name and email address and we’ll send you the link - with an upsell after the registration. Pretty standard stuff I say.

They didn’t have to buy the package - and most didn’t - to get the free niche marketing tool. They simply had to leave their name and email address, then check their email for the download link.

But so many of them didn’t check their emails before they sent me spiteful notes like this:

“Laura laura laura. I had come to trust you and you just let me down big time. I watched the little video and then registered my email address for a free offer to find that Nothing in life is free it was a camouflage to sell selll sell without the option just to down load….You have mislead your cherished database. It would have been more honest to tell us that it was great but part of a bag of tricks but is value. I as a member of your database I will be more circumspect in future.”

Ouch!

Instant mis-trust.

Instantly lumped into the ‘guru’ category of those promoting ‘bags of tricks’.

And that email was one of the gentlest of them all!

Where was my list that has been marketing online for 3-5 years and should know by now what a freakin’ upsell looks like?

Where was my list that already knows free, awesome tools come with a price of subscription (something they can cancel anyway once they get their freebie!)?

Where was my list that knows I am not in this business to ‘trick’, manipulate or show zero regard for their time and money?

Now to be fair, many of them wrote back within a few hours and said “Sorry. I should have checked my inbox before I shit on you.”

And each one of those apologies I replied to personally - which to be perfectly honest was a mistake because that entire exercise took me a few hours.

Here’s one of my replies. If you know me, you’ll know that I was pretty upset about all of this:

“I got your apology, thanks. Don’t sweat it. A lot of people attacked me over this one. I think I’m just about ready to get out of this business in a public way - I’ve taken too many knocks by strangers to my integrity. I don’t know, perhaps it’s just the age of mistrust but this just doesn’t fit my mission or mandate - of helping others.

I give so much time, helping others to get their business going, to keep their business in profit, and that’s time away from my family, my hobbies and joys, and my own business. Actually I even rewrote your latest press release and submitted it to over 50 press release websites last month on my own time and out of love for my fellow man. And your case is just one of many…

Yet still, with all that, so many came back to write cranky emails, unsubscribing and leaving nasty comments in the unsubscribe box. Perhaps this is God’s way of telling me to get out and move on… Laura”

Now of course there were many other replies from my subscribers. Replies of thanks and gratitude for sending them the link. Most of them couldn’t believe that something so cool and so useful was being offered free…

One of them was my dear Nancy friend in sunny California. You know Nancy followed my methods and techniques in 2004 and had many successes as a result. Actually she sent me a pair of 14K diamond earrings as a thank you, which was a pretty awesome surprise let me tell you!

Far better than a blow to my integrity.

And Pat, who sent me back this note: “You are right about the software. After watching the videos and testing the software myself I have found several very under served keywords in my niche. It seems to combine the best of several other free tools that I have downloaded. Thank you for letting us know…”

Somehow the heaps of insults seem to get blown away in the country breeze when you focus on the love, thanks, and kindness.

But all of this does bring me closer to making the move in online marketing that I’ve been talking about for the last three months. And that’s out of the limelight and into one-on-one business consultation with select partners and pre-screened clients.

I’ll write more on that another day.

Your friend in marketing,

Laura Childs

p.s. I can’t believe you’ve read this entire post! Remember, don’t leave here without grabbing your free niche marketing tool. Remember there is an upsell (you do know what that is right, because I don’t want any more cranky emails), and to check your inbox after signing up for the download link.

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