Fragility Breeds Stress
When I started my retailer back in 2003, I wouldn’t say that I was the happiest guy in the world.
Quite the opposite — my business frustrated the hell out of me.
I would devise some cool promotion or offer only to see our top competitors knock if off it the next week.
I would spend weeks figuring out a content strategy that would get us top Google ranking, implement it, and then freak out when Google changed up its ranking algorithm.
One morning I even woke up to see a carbon-copy of our site operated out of rural China.
On days like those I could actually feel my hair turning grey. Like in real time.
On the internet there are no secrets.
Everything can be seen, and if it can be seen it can be copied. Every advantage gone in a matter of time.
Woe to those who depend on a single source for all their traffic.
And all this for a piddly 1% conversion rate.
During one of these particularly frustrating weeks I downloaded Seth Godin’s Permission Marketing on audiobook. I’m not sure what initially attracted me to the book — maybe I had heard Godin speak or had found his bald head to be appealing.
Whatever the reason, one weekday morning I was doing a little sprint workout, running up the Lyon Street Steps in San Francisco, listening to Godin expound on email marketing.
Maybe it was the lack of oxygen to my brain by that third sprint, but it finally hit me: email marketing was the answer.
The truth was that up until that day I really hadn’t built anything defensible at my company.
My “business” was built on a loose foundation consisting of hacks and tactics and tricks, and these things do not make for a true sustainable competitive advantage.
But email could provide that advantage.
I drove to the office that morning more excited than I had been since I started my company.
Over the next few weeks, we began to prioritize email, rolling out some basic newsletter programs and encouraging more opt-ins…
…Over the next few months, we experimented with email drip campaigns, campaigns that built up trust with our subscribers and ultimately sold more product…
…And within a year we were on to advanced email marketing: behavioral-based segmentation and targeting campaigns, all driven off a customer database and 100% automated.
Results followed. Our list size exploded. The value per subscriber — which had hovered around $1/subscriber/year in 2004 — eventually moved past $1/subscriber/month.
In 2007, when the Great Recession cut our revenue in half, revenue off that list kept us in business.
In 2008, when a disastrous Magento migration eliminated the site from Google for weeks, revenue off that list kept us in business.
And the best part? In 2011 I sold my company. The first question every potential acquirer asked?
“How big is your list?”
Email works, and here’s why:
Business happens in the inbox. Put all this together and you have one potent marketing channel. And the beauty is, you can control this channel completely.
Build a list and it’s yours to keep, to make money for you in good times and bad week in week out.
Godin is right: When it comes to building a business on the internet, there’s no better way to guarantee your success than by building up your opt-in asset.
So my recommendation to you is to focus on what you can control.
Build a list of rabid fans ready to buy your product.
You aren’t in the housewares business or the project management business or even the SAAS business or the e-commerce business…
You are in the audience-building business.
Go build your audience.
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Thanks, Drew. Solid stuff.
100% agree with you Drew—such an unused resource in so many businesses.
Thanks David. I’m going to ‘dive deep’ into email in the coming months and needed to set the stage
thanks Jeff!
Awesome blog Drew! Do you have any examples of ecommerce sites using lead magnets (besides % off dicounts) to build email lists?
WCCB:
Next post is on list building — hope that helps.
Drew
And he even mention email retargeting that makes things get even sexier! Nice piece….
Thanks!
Good advice Drew. This is especially problematic with retailers who just don’t have a USP, and compete on price. They often don’t see the value in, or have the drive/expertise to create remarkable content assets that help their shoppers. All it takes is one large shift in search engines, to topple an eCommerce shop that isn’t focused on this.
Wish I knew this when starting back in 2004, when it was all about hacks as you mention.
Yup, totally. Much less stressful too, as the constant barrage of hacks would stress me out that I wasn’t doing everything.
“Your email list is an asset — probably one of the most valuable assets a business owns”
So true, yet so many businesses don’t invest much of their time or $ to optimize their email marketing strategies. Just think, all the business emails you probably get sound way too robotic. You can probably tell this has been spammed to 1,000+ more people like you. If only they can teach their email marketers how to really write, they can increase conversions (getting people to click) and land more sales. I mean, what do you think Drew?
I think good email is a craft, and few companies try to master it.
True true, know of any companies who send some good email crafts? Only one I know of is Bonobos.
Thank you for this article it is very interesting. I believe that Carts Guru (http://carts.guru ) is going to bring up Ecommerce to another level.
I think Chubbies does a great job. We’ve been improving at Karmaloop.
I hired Shola Abidoye, founder of Converport last April to help me create, publish, and market a bestselling book for $5,000. Unfortunately, after delaying everything six months past the due date, she decided to cut off all contact with me without delivering what I paid for.
Because she has ignored all my attempts at peaceful resolution, I don’t see what other choice I have but to start warning others about her fraudulent behavior before I gather to evidence necessary to take her to court and try to get my money back.
I have yet to receive even a partial refund for what I paid, and Ms. Abidoye publicly denies that I hired her to do these things. She has taken a very insulting and condescending tone to me or anyone who questions her about this incident.
I know these are strong accusations I am making, and I am prepared to support them with emails and recorded calls if necessary. Please let me know if you have any questions or any suggestions for getting Shola to reach out to me so we can resolve this dispute.
You can read the full details of my experience getting ripped off and scammed by Convertport here: http://www.borderlessblog.com/shola-abidoye-scam-inspired-me-write-self-publish-first-book/
Gregory Diehl
[email protected]
Agreed! Doing everything at once just doesn’t work.