Will Gmail's version of its "Kiss Cam" out YOU?
"The odds of them getting caught were NOT 'astronomical'."
Yea ... I'm referring to Andy Byron, the now-former infamous CEO of Astronomer, caught canoodling (that's such a fun word) at the Coldplay concert with his head of HR Kristin Cabot.
I'm sure they thought they could sneak around unnoticed, surrounded by thousands of people in a giant stadium.
But the "Kiss Cam" exposed their compromising body language, eventually to the entire world - putting their unprofessional actions on blast for all to see and gossip about.
A similar public "outing" is about to happen to you and I as email marketers.
Google's rolling out a new Manage Subscriptions feature to Gmail users.
It shows every single email subscription the user has signed up for - and how many emails each sender has mailed over the past few weeks.
And next to each sender's name is an unmistakable Unsubscribe button just begging the user to click it.
In just a matter of minutes, your recipients can clean out their entire mailbox of unwanted emails.
Including yours.
On one hand, you have to respect Google's actions.
They saw recipients being lazy about unsubscribing from emails they never opened or read.
So they made the process super convenient and subconsciously satisfying.
But for us as marketers, this is yet another wake-up call to get serious about how we communicate with our subscribers.
If your emails provide legitimate value, most people will probably hang around.
And losing the inactive, uninterested people who never open your emails anyway will actually HELP get more of your emails hitting the inbox.
But if you're just blasting your entire list with a single, untargeted message ...
Or just mailing fluff just to "stay top of mind" without any tangible value ...
You might want to brace for some serious list churn.
So here's my advice:
Run a re-engagement campaign to light a fire under your dormant subscribers. Remind them why they should stick around.
Make sure every email you send has UNMISTAKEABLE value.
Double down on list hygiene. Get rid of subscribers who aren't opening/clicking/replying sooner rather than later.
Focus on growing an engaged base of true-fan subscribers more than anything. Quality over quantity.
Just like poor Andy and Kristin found out, there's no place to hide when you're being shady ... or lazy.
Now's the time to embrace email communication for what it should be .... to grow and build relationships with connections who want to hear from you.
P.S. Ready to get serious about building your email portfolio to grow your business? Tap the button in the top right and let's schedule a time to talk.
