Most of the e-mail marketing I get is tiresome and banal. There's little to engage the imagination, no sense that people understand my world or even want to. It's all designed to push me to their website, where I am pushed to engage in a sales call, and have trouble getting any real information. (I recently read that the biggest complaint that users of B2B web sites have is the lack of price information. Yup, no doubt about that one.)
Many of the newsletters I get are not much better -- all pitch, all the time.
Every now and again, something breaks through in a significant way and catches my attention.
Today, it was Amy Boren, of Decision Point Consulting.
Starting point: a great subject line
"A day in the life of a Focus Group Moderator, are we correct?"
Two things done right here. She has a clue what I do for a living. And she asks a relevant question that makes me want to read on. So I did!
Tell a story
I loved this part. She talked about some fairly typical challenges that people like me have. How projects start out simple enough then quickly become complex. How timelines shrink. How we need to deliver within the original price even though things have changed. A little exaggeration for emphasis.
I kept reading and reading, right to the end.
Some decent pricing information provided -- not a lot, but enough that I didn't assume "I can't afford this". And a teaser that she would tell me more.
Anticipated some of my obvious questions and answered them in the story she told.A picture of a real person. Amy herself, of course. There's nothing like a real person's picture to add credibility.
Made me feel like a) she's kind of cool, b) she understands my world and c) this might be a service I would want to use sometime.
My takeaway
If you think you understand the world of your customer, show them that. Prove it.
Tell stories instead of relating facts, to engage and intrigue. Show how you make a difference.
Advice we could all use.
Hey Amy, thanks for making my day, and inspiring this post!