When A Guru Loses It… And Takes It Out On His List

I subscribe to a lot of lists in the online business and marketing world as well as competing newsletters in my various niches. I do it so that I can keep on top of what’s going on with my competition, the various industries I’m involved in, and the internet in general… and I suggest that you do it too because it can be very enlightening at times.

I had one of those enlightening moments this weekend where one of the self-proclaimed gurus of internet marketing completely lost it with his list, alienated his subscribers, and probably lost a lot of folks.

Let me set up the story for you and explain how he could have avoided the whole thing…

First, I have to tell you that this guy sends out a lot of email… I mean a lot. It’s not unusual for me to get four or five email messages from him daily…over a dozen in a week.

I guess that wouldn’t be so bad if they were all highly informative articles, free resources, or other things that would really help me in my business. Unfortunately, about 70% to 80% of what he sends out is pure solicitation.

Now in fairness, many of his solicitations are fairly well disguised offers that look much more like freebies. He also does a fair amount of, “join so and so for this exclusive call” or “so and so is running a special offer.” In addition, this guy is hooked up with a lot of other self-proclaimed gurus in J.V.’s that he promotes quite heavily… you know the ones I’m talking about where he promotes some kind of massive free giveaway, but in order to get the freebies you have to subscribe to a bunch of his partner’s lists.

Not my favorite type of promotional strategy.

Anyway, this guy sends out soooo much email that I was seriously considering unsubscribing just so that I could clear out my inbox for awhile… but I’m glad I didn’t because I caught him in a tirade/temper tantrum over the weekend.

This is where he lost it.

Apparently, many of his subscribers started reporting him as a spammer, rather than simply unsubscribing from his list. I suspect that there were enough spam complaints that it caused him some problems or he wouldn’t have lost his cool.

Basically, he sent a broadcast to his list that tried to justify the enormous amount of email he sent and said if you don’t like it just unsubscribe instead of reporting it as spam (those weren’t his exact words… but that was the general idea. The tone of the message was accusatory and VERY angry.

…And he does have a point.

A lot of people subscribe to email lists and then hit the spam button as soon as they receive the email they signed up for. It’s just the nature of email marketing that there are some over-sensitive, silly people out there with a spam chip on their shoulder. Believe it or not, I’ve actually had people report me as a spammer when they only received the confirmation email… I guess they just forget that they asked to be subscribed.

His other point in the broadcast he sent out was that falsely reporting legitimate email as spam hurts everyone in the email marketing industry and makes it increasingly more difficult for us all to receive our legitimate email… a point that he didn’t make quite so eloquently since he was shouting… but a good point none the less.

His next move…

So, a few hours later this *guru* sent out an apology for his earlier message. Although his apology was about half apology and half justification… at least he did make the effort.

He also acknowledged that he send waaaay too many messages out.

I kind of felt sorry for the guy.

…Until this morning when I checked my email and found 12 new messages from the same guy!

That means that he sent out 12 messages in 36 hours to this single list that I’m subscribed to!

12!

In fairness, these messages are probably set up on autoresponder, but it he could have made some effort to limit them after his big epiphany… Oh look, I just got a new message from him while I’m writing this post!

Totally ridiculous!

What he should have done…

Believe me, I totally empathize when it comes to getting frustrated in your business. It happens to everyone… especially if you’re very emotionally involved in your business.

But that’s the time to take a step back and look at your marketing campaign with a clear, non-emotional, logical mind.

If this guy is getting an inordinate amount of spam complaints, what is that telling him about his campaign? In other words, what are his customers/subscribers trying to tell him?

1. Is he sending out too many messages too close together?

2. Are his subscribers finding true value in his messages?

3. Are his promotions appealing and appropriate to his audience?

4. What is the ROI of each one of those promotional messages?

5. What is the ROI versus the complaint rate?

And there are tons of other questions you should be asking yourself if you start having email problems like this.

If you learn to listen to your subscribers, you can get a lot of information about the effectiveness of your email campaign. If you’re getting a lot of spam complaints, then you’re obviously doing something wrong in your email marketing.

You can’t blame your subscribers for reacting.

Your best bet is to figure out what you’re doing wrong and fix it… not send a scathing message to the subscribers you actually have left… Duh!

These are the people that have actually put up with your crap and stuck around anyway. Why would you want to alienate them as well?

This *guru’s* biggest mistake – Letting his emotion interfere with his business.

Related posts:

1. List Building: 62 Super Strategies For Gaining Subscribers Part 2
2. List Building: 62 Super Strategies For Gaining Subscribers Part 3
3. List Building: 62 Super Strategies For Gaining Subscribers
4. Top Three Totally Stupid Twitter Tips
5. 8 Simple Ways To Increase Your Email Open Rates

Filed under: Email Marketing • Online Mistakes • Other Gurus

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