So the other day, I was on a Sage partner website and signed up to receive an email newsletter … I do that sometimes just to see what partners are saying to their prospects and how they’re saying it.
Anyway, I get the first piece of “newsletter” communication and … wait for it … wait for it … it’s a discounted product pitch. Save XX% on Sage product. And I say to myself “Self, this is why so many businesses think that email marketing doesn’t work.”
Let’s think about this. Say I’m a prospect and I’m on their website to learn more about what they do and how they do it. I’m interested enough to sign up for the newsletter. To them, I’m just a nameless, faceless prospect …
Yet, based on the content of the first issue I receive, they assume I’m shopping for product and looking for a discount. When in reality, I’m in the early stages of educating myself about what’s out there to help me solve a business challenge. Needless to say, they’ve lost credibility and I’m either gonna opt out or mark it as Spam and not read another issue.