I’m getting battered to pieces by the sheer volume of unsolicited spam coming my way, by text, phone call, email, on social media… even in my private message inbox, on Facebook.
I think some people are unaware how these approaches come across (or just don’t care, as they’re applying ‘throw enough mud against the wall and it’ll stick’), or unaware just how many people send exactly the same, obvious, sales messages… or variations thereof.
For the record, any email with the subject line (or messages within the first few lines) as follows, gets deleted without so much as a second glance;
‘… a fantastic opportunity’
‘This will change your life / a chance to change your life’
‘I just had to let you know about this…’
‘It would be rude not to let you know about this’ (specific to an email received yesterday)
‘Can you afford not to watch / read this?’
‘I paid three times as much for this course!’
‘This course was £997, but it’s now only £199’
‘Do you want greater financial freedom?’
Any call from ‘Unknown’, 0843 numbers, or ‘Private’, gets sent straight to my voicemail. If the call is that important / not a sale, the person will leave me a message.
… and if you send me ‘buy my stuff’ / sales messages to my personal, social media inboxes – which I reserve for private chats with friends – then your message instantly gets deleted, and (unless I really like you), I unfollow, unfriend, or delete you.
On the positive, I do respond (as do most people), if you send me a message that’s clearly been personalised, or you send me something that shows a little self awareness – a little humour e.g I sent a newsletter with the subject line ‘Yet another newsletter’.
Also, try targeting specific people or businesses, rather than scattergunning everyone.
I’ve just sent something out to ten health and beauty companies I’d like to work with, and three digital agencies. So far, I’ve had a good response. I thought about what I was sending and who to, rather than sending any old crap to hundreds of people, and it showed.
Just have a think about what you’re sending, who you’re sending it to, how you’d react if receiving the same message, and whether you’re using a tired, it’s-clearly-selling-me-crap message that everyone else is.