… and what’s that got to do with e-mail marketing?
I may be showing my age here but I used to watch the television show “Dallas” every week. The show was about a oil rich Texas dysfunctional family and was more than just a prime time soap opera. J.R. Ewing (the spoiled little rich kid who turned into a spoiled little rich adult) was a sneaky little bugger that almost everyone hated. Then something happened to the little guy.
I remember the scene. It was the final scene of the 1979-1980 season. A shot rang out. Cut to J.R. laying on the floor with blood and all… and no movement. Was he dead? Wounded? Who done it? Who shot J.R.? It could have been anyone. “Fade to black”.
I sat there staring at the t.v.. What the —-? I have to wait till September to find out? You’re kidding… right? I’ve got to wait 3 hot summer months, and then an actor’s strike in the fall, to find out who shot J.R.?
The world went crazy. There were T-shirts printed with such references as “Who Shot J.R.?” and “I Shot J.R.” became common over the summer. Betting parlors worldwide took bets as to who had actually pulled the trigger. A session of the Turkish parliament was suspended to allow legislators a chance to get home in time to view the Dallas episode. The show’s cast was sworn to secrecy.
Finally, it was estimated that 83,000,000 people watched the episode and at the time was the highest viewed in television history.
What has this got to do with e-mail marketing?
Plenty. Your goal in every newsletter, every e-course, every e-mail and every site page you build… is to keep your site visitors, readers, subscribers… wanting more!
How do you do that? By teasing? No. Manipulating? Not at all!
You do that by providing valuable but incomplete information. I wish I could take credit for that last statement but I learned it from my friend Jimmy Brown. He has the amazing ability (among many others) to break things down to their simplest forms, provide valuable but incomplete information and make you want more.
Now you may not be a great writer and I’m not suggesting that you treat each e-mail as some big production but there are some ways to get your subscribers to anticipate your next communication.
You can get 22 ways to do that right here.
Did you see what I just did? That was a teaser and I don’t recommend it. First of all, that looks like some ploy to get you to sign up for my newsletter. I want more than just subscribers. I want lifetime customers. I would have been better off listing 3 good ways to get your readers to want more right here on this blog… then I can invite you to want more. If I do a great job, you’ll be more than happy to subscribe to what I want you to subscribe to. But I must deliver first!
Make sense?
I know. I know. There seems to be a fine line between teasing or manipulating and providing valuable but incomplete information.
I’ll address that in another post very soon. (whoops.. I can’t help myself.. I just did it again!)
All the best,
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