Once upon a time, I saw a discussion where people were weeping & gnashing their teeth over “graymail.”
What is graymail?
It’s when people opt in to get your emails, but never engage.
i.e. They never read them.
Never click on your links.
And, just let them sit in their inbox.
ESP’s notice this and they penalize you for it.
My opinion?
Graymail, Gmail’s promotions folder, more aggressive spam filters, and all other so-called DEATH OF EMAIL! changes have always worked to my advantage. In fact, what amused me the most about the email ex-spurt solutions displayed was not a single one of them mentioned simply writing emails people want to read, click, and buy from in the first place.
Nobody talked about generating more qualified traffic, either.
Or shooting for higher quality leads.
Or qualifying their opt-ins harder.
(Both at the opt-in page and right after)
Or learning how to write more engaging copy.
Or any of the other fundamentals of direct response marketing that people who have only learned from other “internet” marketers rarely get around to talking about while doing their social media grandstanding.
More fun facts:
According to the ex-spurts my ways shouldn’t work.
I’ve been told this by several of them over the years, even as my sales have gone up, my business has gotten more successful, my audience has grown, my customer loyalty has increased, and my “Email Players” subscribers have told me about their record sales doing all this stuff that supposedly doesn’t work.
It always reminds me of this Earl Nightingale-ism:
(paraphrased)
“Whatever you find yourself doing, if you look around at what everyone else is doing, and do the opposite, you’ll probably never make another mistake for as long as you live.”
All right, that’s enough internet for today.
To write emails people look forward to reading and engaging with, go here:
Ben Settle
