I do a lot of sales through email marketing — to folks who specifically requested that I email ‘em.
I don’t email all that much; most months, I don’t email at all.
For the past month, I’ve been sending 1-2 emails a week. Not just “buy my shit” emails, but free samples from the class, free advice, true life stories of the lessons I’ve learned. (Plus fat discounts for my 30×500 Product Launch Class.)
In other words: good shit. Good news. Stuff people want.
OMG! A European Is Angry on the Internet!
And yesterday this email appeared in my inbox:
Amy, I really like you and your blog. Really, I mean it. However you’re getting in touch more often than my mum. I’m not sure if it’s how it works in the US, but in Europe people rather get pissed off. I have plenty of e-mails already. I like to read some of your stuff if it’s time to time. I will unsubscribe if you’ll be sending so many e-mails.
No hard feelings, just saying.
Action Required!! …Or is it?
What would you do, if you got this email?
Probably try to stop annoying people, right? After all, you don’t to piss off a bunch of Europeans, do you?
Well… yes. You really, really do.
Pissing people off is actually great for your business. Not just great — but required.
Why I’m Happy to Piss People Off
Here’s what I wrote back:
And that, my friend, is why so many Europeans fail at their businesses.
They think that some imaginary social boundaries are more important than doing what’s necessary — and more important than doing what helps the most people.
The folks who stay on my list are the ones who want to hear from me… and they buy. The folks who unsubscribe are the ones who don’t buy.
Why would I waste my effort & potential income & dilute my message in order to please people who won’t buy?
Being successful means doing what works over & over & over again. And that’s just what I’m doing.
Overly didactic? Snarky? Maybe. But truth.
The folks who are invested are staying on my list — overwhelmingly. Over 90% of them stick around.
You know, I almost don’t even care if those people buy what I’m selling. The invested people who stick around are infinitely more likely to be people I can help. Who’ll take my free advice and put it to use.
Which furthers my mission to create more happy, healthy, thriving indie biz.
Irritated people don’t invest. They don’t listen — even when it’s free. And if they don’t listen, what’s the chance that they’ll implement it?
I can’t help them.
So I’m happy when they get fed up and leave.
The Bottom Line: Aphorisms Edition
The empty can rattles the most. And our immediate, instinctive urge is to try to please them. We want to please people.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease. But it shouldn’t — not when that wheel’s never gonna roll the direction you want.
But we’ve gotta save up our precious energy & focus for our customers who are already pretty happy.
There’s no reward in listening to people who want to change everything about you, your business, or your products.
What do you do?
Do you have a great pissed-off-non-customer story? Have you caved to the loud minority before? (I have — it’s an almost irresistible urge.) Do you have an “action plan” for handling emails like that?
TweetAnd if you want to get free advice, free goodies, free lessons from my always-sold-out 30×500 Product Launch Class… click here and sign up for the email list
Funny how this post got me to subscribe to your email list. Good job
I think that needs to be the question I approach any critical feedback with — Is this person a customer? Is this person in the vocal minority?
Most of the time, yes. If only I could remember to ask myself the question when the time comes, rather than reacting right away!
(Btw, you don’t send too many emails. I love getting emails from you. And I don’t like getting emails from anybody.)
I’ve run across this in customer support — I dropped the ball on one customer’s order and they were understandably SUPER pissed.
I fixed the situation as best as possible: took responsibility, apologized profusely, fixed the order, refunded their money, changed the way I did orders so that I wouldn’t be able to drop the ball again… and they were still mad and calling me unprofessional and less savory things.
At that point, well, “haters gonna hate;” we had 150 other perfectly happy customers who never complained. The complaint from the one guy really ate me up, but rather than dwell on it I focused on serving the rest of them well and haven’t dropped the ball since.
A little different situation, since he WAS a customer, but all the same, fuck that guy, we’re better off without him.
Love this.
“Dear Amy, please stop sending me useful, actionable advice that will help me and business succeed. I know I asked for this information, and I agree that it’s great, but I have a bizarre socially conditioned limit on how much I can receive. Just sayin.”
I’ll take that guy’s share of your emails, Amy
Keep it up amy! Your core fans are cheering you on. Since last time we interacted on your comments, i’ve gone to have almost a dozen apps launched, and am 1/3rd of the way to replacing my day-job income. You’re an inspiration and IT WORKS. Now i’m finding i’m just like you – trying to inspire others, and finding that some people just won’t catch it.
Well, other point where he’s wrong is the “in Europe people rather get pissed off” part. That’s grossly over-generalised, I think. Just think of the bunch of Europeans that came to SchnitzelConf. I can’t imagine one of them (including me) being annoyed by your e-mails.
Anyway, thanks for keeping the info flowing to Europe as well. As SchnitzelConf has shown, there’s need & desire to exactly that kind of information, IMO.
I’m always happy to see a new email from you, because they are engaging, thought-provoking and to the point. Keep them coming!
I am European. We’re all individual – we don’t all get pissed off at your emails, and I think your comments on “and that is why so many Europeans fail at their businesses” is over-generalizing. (Like only Europeans make these mistakes?) Just keep writing for your audience – people who share your values and appreciate your work – wherever they come from.
The lesson is spot-on as ever – you can’t please everyone, time and energy are limited – so focus on real fans and happy customers – not the noisy critics
But what if he were a customer? Would it change the frequency of your emails for all of us, who never asked you to write less? I’m not your customer, I’m not paying for letsfreckle or your courses. But I’m in the same “indie software shop” business and I find your stories, advice, your style and spirit tremendously helpful.
Many thanks for your emails, Amy, from a “European non-customer”
Good for you! You can’t please everybody and there are people that will come and go. Stick to your plan, believe in yourself and your products and good things happen.
It’s not only one European. I was bothered by that sudden flood of (what I perceived as only sales emails) from you, too. I considered unsubscribing, but ignoring was just the simpler thing to do. Once in a while there’s something useful in there.
After reading this post I am unsubscribing. I feel offended the the arrogance that shines through in the post and even more so in your reply to that person.
I’m from Europe, but that doesn’t matter. If the headline would have been “An angry American” it would have been just as offensive.
Good luck with your endeavors and pissing people off.
You can’t please them all. I love reading your emails, blog posts, success stories, etc. I wish I could receive more of them.
Sure, every once and a while someone might get mad and leave like Mark, but, to me, it shows they don’t see the value of what you’re offering. It’s just like you preach, you attract the right people and repel the wrong people.
Mark was obviously the wrong person and should move on to find someone else he finds value in. The internet is a large place.
Keep up the great work, Amy!
Hi Amy
Great Blog! I know what you are saying here in that you cant please all customers but at the same time their is something to be said about listening to what your customers want and need, looking to see if you can accomodate feedback, even if you dont agree with them on every point.
Take the example here, have you ever asked potential customers on whether they would like to receive emails at a set frequency? How about giving them the option to choose when and how they are contacted?
The European never said it wasnt good stuff coming in to his inbox, he never said that he would never buy, he never said “change your business”.
Agree their comes a point when you have to say this is my business, values, behaviours etc but at the same time why upset what could still be potential customers… sometimes we can take stuff personally (I can at least) and shoot myself in the foot.
Keep up great work and thanks for the blog Antony
I kind of lost respect of you from “And that, my friend, is why so many Europeans fail at their businesses.” I understand your point clearly in to why you should keep sending emails but this statement is racist (in the stereotypical sense (I don’t mean that in such a harsh way)) as I am sure there are users all over the world bored of your emails at one point or another. Junk/crap emails are just that yet when you’ve had enough of the service yet you seem to take offense that someone has had enough and as was more vocal than simply hitting unsubscribe.
You could of taken this chance to engage and find out how you could service this current or potential customer but instead you vented via a blog post.
Also “Over 90% of them stick around.” I hope this comes from you matching up sales to recipients because personally I am on a lot of lists which I simple get my filter rules to bin off rather than un-subscribe.
I don’t sympathize with the guy at all…
And @Andy, you lost respect for Amy? How?
The guy threatened Amy with a warning if she didn’t run her business as “he saw fit”. Who the hell does he think he is?
He subscribed for FREE Grade A Business Advice and then complains when he gets it with a Cherry on Top. He needed to take a deep breathe and humble himself before he even thought to send that email.
Thanks, TVD. You said it better than I could have!
In Japan, the sayings are kind of the opposite:
“The tallest blade of grass is the first one cut”
which is a helpful way to look at it for your business. Cut out the customers and interactions that aren’t fitting with what you are trying to achieve.
Thanks, Amy. It’s always so easy to get wrapped up in the worldview of the first coherent complainer. We need more reminders to stay focused on what WE are striving towards, not the goals other people dream up for us.
Hm.. I’m going to be honest. I think it’s likely that the writer had the best of intentions. He/she probably thought they were doing you a favor by letting you know their thoughts and not just unsubscribing silently. So, even though there was a bit of sass coming in on the receiving end, I think your reply could have been softer. (What can I say, I was elected a “peer mediator” in the 7th grade.)
But you know what, I do agree with you for not up and changing your email frequency. It is way too easy to get distracted by insignificant or irrelevant things… not just a loud minority, but what other professionals are doing, what the latest “trend” seems to be, or a piece of advice from a big name. Kudos for having a firm grasp on what’s working for you and sticking to your guns.
“Irritated people don’t invest. They don’t listen — even when it’s free. And if they don’t listen, what’s the chance that they’ll implement it?”
Erm, have you considered trying not to turn normal people into ‘irritated people’..? The tone of your email/post suggests not!
You keep on irritating people and I’ll keep on not buying your product and giving my money to nice people instead
“1-2 emails a week” is many?! Really? That’s almost never.
BTW, never knew you have an email list. Just subscribed.
You make a good point about sticking to what works, and not pandering to “customers” needs.
But your point is totally overshadowed by the rudeness of your reply.
You’ve not ignored this person, you’ve insulted them, and surely that’s never a good way to respond to customers, regardless of whether they’re paying or not.
He’s not a customer. He will never be a customer. He will never, ever, ever want what I am selling — because it is too annoying. And he saw fit to yell at me about it.
I sleep easy.
Um…the definition of a customer is someone who is paying for a good or service. He is not, thus he us of no value business-wise and free game. The guy generalized, and she used his generalization right back at him. Trying being offended by him first, speaking for all of Europe just because HE didn’t like something.
First thing I’ve read here was this and it cracked me up. If he had approached respectfully I’m sure he wouldn’t have gotten such a sharp reply. He sort of asked for it.
Going by that logic, people browsing (in shops, for example) hold “no business value”. With that attitude, it follows that it doesn’t matter how you treat potential customers, which doesn’t sound right to me.
Oh Dom. You need to work on your critical thinking skills.
If you wanna talk about customers browsing in stores, let’s do it!
This guy is the equivalent of a customer walking into your store and saying “What’s with the wall color? It’s really aggravating. And boy do you have a lot of staff on the floor, asking if they can help me. What’s with that? And wow, those registers are making a lot of noise. You really ought to fix all that, because Europeans don’t like it.”
He wasn’t a customer now, but he could have been. Or he could have referred customers to you.
You could have replied with, “Sorry it’s bothered you, it’ll settle down soon, just in a sales cycle, thanks for the feedback”.
Instead you burn the guy and on top of that you blog about it.
Your just turned someone who may not have bought onto someone who might actively work against you by word of mouth should the topic of any of your commercial activities be mentioned in front of him.
Here is some advice for you, no charge: “don’t burn bridges”
I get the whole opinionated software thing. I admire your focus. But this was just unnecessary.
And no, I’m not a customer. I don’t need either time sheeting or help desk software RIGHT NOW. But then I didn’t need Campfire for several years either and I only became a customer a few months ago.
“Don’t burn bridges” is bullshit advice, given by people who let their lives be ruled by fear. That’s why that piece of advice is free, and so frequently given.
Sorry, man. Somebody writes in a bitchy email about too much awesome free stuff? They are never gonna spend $1600 on my class where I email them every few days with LOTS of long, involved lessons. Ain’t gonna happen.
I don’t want him around. I burned that bridge. Thank god, cuz I don’t want people like that crossing that bridge into my life where I have to deal with them more.
Even if he did for some freak reason sign up for my class, I don’t want him in there, because people like this guy are too obsessed with comfort and convenience to ever get outside that “it bugs me” zone to achieve something great.
Avoiding all that… That is the very definition of necessary.