Cheshire

wrote on December 20, 2006 7:53 PM

I run the business side of Impact Theatre, a small theatre company in Berkeley. At every show we hand out audience survey cards, which people fill out in order to possibly win a prize and also help us gather demographic data which we use in grant applications. Of course we also have a line for email addresses.

Previously we did what Heidi Miller had done, adding those emails to our list, but around the time we started using Campaign Monitor we got religion about being good opt-in practitioners (our add form is double opt-in), so we added a little box for someone to check if they wanted to join the mailing list. The percentage of people at each show who gave us permission was about 10-20%, a very disappointing result. We thought maybe they were missing the box, so we bolded the box and the "add me to the mailing list" line. Still about 10-20%, depending on the night.

Since we now manage our mailing list responsibly, we don't add anyone who doesn't check the box. But it kills us that so few people actually check the box, and we don't know whether they a) just really don't want to be on it, b) still miss the box, or c) turned in their survey before they made up their decision that it might actually be nice to receive email from us.

We're hoping it's b) or c), obviously, but we thought we'd lost them regardless. Last night, however, I read an interesting article on the power of a simple thank-you note to your customers, and I realized I'd missed a huge opportunity.

I picked out 32 survey responses in which the person hadn't checked the box, and I sent an email to each person thanking them for coming to the show, inviting them to let me know what they thought of it, reminding them about the next show, and then telling them I noticed they hadn't checked the box. I wrote that if they deliberately didn't check the box, that was totally cool, but if they had actually wanted to be on the list (or if they'd decided later that they wanted to be), they could let me know or go to the signup page. I personalized the emails if I had something from their survey that I could work in, so they'd know it wasn't totally a form letter.

Since these emails were a one-time-only thank-you, I think it was ok to do. The purest of email marketers might just say thank you and leave it at that, and maybe that's what I should have done. I'm curious to hear others' opinions on the subject.

Finally, the results: in the 24 hours since I wrote those emails, two of my recipients chose to join the list, people who otherwise would have stayed off it. That's neither a fantastic raw number nor percentage, but hey, it's two more people who will probably come back and hopefully tell their friends about Impact. And everyone else who didn't respond, maybe they liked the attention even though they still don't want to be on the list, and maybe they'll be back, too. No one wrote to tell me to go to hell, so that's a good sign, right?

Chris In Cincinnati

wrote on December 21, 2006 12:21 AM

What I've always done is follow up with a personal email saying that I enjoyed meeting them, added something else relevant to the relationship and then mentioning that I have a newsletter.

Something along the lines of:

"Oh, and also, I write a monthly newsletter that I think you might find helpful, would you like me to send it to you?"

Brian

wrote on December 21, 2006 2:48 AM

We have taken to this method: Ask people if they'd like to receive the newsletter and if they say "yes" simply collect and then put their info in your double-opt-in subscribe form. That will kick off an email to them that asks them to verify their address.

This acts as both a measure to ensure that they truly want to be on your list as well as a way to ensure every address you add is legitimate. From signup lists to typos from business cards, it's easy to get bad addresses in your list - unless you really enforce the double opt-in practices.

Heidi Miller

wrote on December 21, 2006 9:07 AM

Thanks for the mention and for continuing the conversation. It's quite an interesting one, with lots of helpful suggestions for getting the word out via email without being obnoxious. Thanks!

Mark Wyner

wrote on December 28, 2006 6:05 AM

When I spoke at Webvisions this past summer, I saw Jared Spool give his presentation “The Dawning of the Age of Experience”. (It was excellent, by the way.) After his presentation he requested that people wishing to obtain a copy of his slides should come up and hand him their business cards. He also mentioned that he had an email newsletter for which anyone could subscribe by simply writing “newsletter” on the back of his/her card.

I think this is a model example of how to both create awareness of an email newsletter and to gather legal/legitimate subscriptions while in the meatspace.

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