Last week we approached our email we sent out as a big test.
The theme of our content this May is relationships, so we said, 'hey, let's get personal.' In an attempt to get personal, I (Andrew) wrote a story about a time I failed big time when dealing with a customer during a summer job long ago.
The story came out a bit long.
Patrick and I debated back and forth -- do we include this thing in the email, or link to it? Do we link to it, then link to our newest blog on new business relationship tips?
We didn't know. We weren't sure if people would actually care about the story.
So we tested it.
We sent one version with my story. Quite long.
Then a second one, straight-served like a potato fresh from the earth.
How It Went
Our measure of success was clicks and how many people eagerly responded with their story of customer service with us to score that hot $40 Gift Card.
Overall, clicks were equally low for both version and no one responded with a customer service story! We decided both of the our tests did not deliver.
One was a waste of time and the other was just jamming our agenda down your throat.
As we shared in our blog on our journey from flat-line hell to better business heaven -- we are here to be transparent, to educate and entertain.
So, this is our honest confession.
We aren't happy with last weeks email because it obviously isn't something you all cared about. We're not here to be inbox trolls.
What We Can All Learn
The lesson and takeaway from this is big and at it's core is the relationships of business: so, very applicable.
We made our email with our intentions in mind. We were asking questions like;
- "Which version is going to get us more clicks?"
- "Will people read this far down? Will they click the article"
- We should have been asking,"Do they actually want this?"
We, you, me, everyone - should never forget the importance of being in the mindset of the customer or other person. When a personal agenda takes over, you lose.
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