Daily email reader Faith Teel reveals one of many reasons why putting all your faith in “OMG look at my open rates!” and other soft metrics is near-dangerously short-sighted.
Take it from here, Faith:
About mood being more important for response rates than split test variables…
I run a handyman business with my husband, and we’ve been doing it about 5 years. At this point we know what times of year people are going to call, and when they won’t, to the point that we plan our vacations around it.
The slowest time is just before tax day. The best time is right about now. And there are even repeating sub-cycles related to New Year’s resolutions, school letting out, and so on. There’s even a season for cheapskates and lousy jobs like cleaning up bat guano or whatever.
It’s always been that way no matter what I do to our web presence or marketing. The only thing that changes is the quality of the customer, in response to the quality of my marketing.
I know many an offline business owner baffled by online marketers.
In fact, I think the only people who are more amused at online marketers obsessed with email open rates are computer scientists and engineers who know how inaccurate they are.
Anyway, do what you want with this info.
There are many “intangibles” you will miss if all you base your decisions on are tracking and testing, especially online, where your favorite goo-roo beating his chest on stage about all his tests like its his religion notwithstanding… analytics ain’t as exact and accurate as people pretend they are.
It’s one of many reasons daily email contact with your list is so vital.
Doing so can tell you far more than any open rate.
Or clickthru rate.
Or, especially, and survey response.
To learn how I approach email, go here:
Ben Settle
