Michael Katz's E-Newsletter On E-Newsletters
July 21, 2006
Issue #156
If I Had a Million Readers
Youíve probably already heard about whatís going on in Arizona. According to an article in The New York Times earlier this week, in an effort to increase voter turnout
at the polls, there is a proposal being considered which would offer one million dollars to one randomly selected voter in every general election.
Thatís right. Vote in the election, win a million. Although perhaps not the shortest path to reassuring voters that our already embattled electoral process is on the
level, you do have to give them credit for thinking outside the (ballot) box.
Unfortunately, and as many people have already pointed out, increasing the number of people who vote is not the goal per se… itís simply the way in which we measure the
goal, that being something along the lines of getting as many citizens as possible thoughtfully involved in how the government is run.
And while offering you the chance at a million dollars may get you in the door, it will do little to focus your attention on the issues.
Interestingly, E-Newsletter publishers often take a similarly flawed approach towards growing their subscriber lists. Knowing that "more subscribers" is generally a good
thing, and believing (correctly) that incentives will increase sign-ups, they offer enticements in exchange for submitted e-mail addresses.
Here too however, the danger with incentives is that you get what you pay for, and – as any manager of commission-based sales people will tell you – that can easily diverge
from whatever it is you really want.
Hereís what I mean…
Think about your newsletter reader list for a minute. Although each person on the list represents one head to be counted, as individuals, they have wildly varying levels of
interest in what youíve got to say.
On one end of the continuum youíve got someone who was not only eager to subscribe, but who would have been willing to pay real money to get on the list (Ah, if only I
had 50,000 mothers, Iíd be a rich man).
On the other end of the continuum however, youíve got someone who was just barely intrigued enough to sign up. Had the registration process been any more time
consuming or cumbersome, he would have bailed out in the middle and never given it another thought.
Most of your subscribers of course – like the voting public – live between the two extremes of rabid enthusiast and apathetic participant.
When you offer an incentive, you're working on the disinterested reader (or voter) side of the equation; the people who absent a chance at a prize, wouldnít bother.
In fact, itís easy to see that as you move down the path from offering a large positive incentive at one extreme (e.g. everyone who signs up for your newsletter gets $1,000),
to offering a large negative incentive at the other (e.g. everyone who signs up for your newsletter pays $1,000), your subscriber numbers will go down but (and this is the key
point, so pay attention) the average level of interest among those who remain will go up.
So whatís the answer? Iím so glad you asked. As you can see, itís really a sliding scale, and the objective is to find a place where youíll get as many interested people as
possible without bringing in those who are simply along for the prize.
Some recommendations:
- First remove the barriers. Before even considering incentives, make sure that youíve made it as easy as possible for those who want to get involved to do so. In our
voting example, that means things like extending poll hours, declaring election day a national holiday, allowing registration at the polls, doing your best to actually count the votes
that do come in, etc.
For your E-Newsletter, itís things like requiring a minimum of information at sign-up, convincing people of your newsletterís value by archiving past issues and
providing reader testimonials, sending a confirmation e-mail so that new subscribers know "their vote was counted."
- Incent people enough to cause immediate action, but not so much that you attract the truly disinterested. I like offering a free report or white paper on something
related to the newsletter's topic scope for those who sign up. Itís not enough to bring people out of the woodwork who donít care, but for the person standing at the precipice of
subscribership, it helps to push them over the edge (not that Iím suggesting that signing up for your newsletter is even vaguely reminiscent of a painful death).
- Donít worry so much about the size of your list. As Iíve said here before, list size isnít really what matters. Itís list size multiplied by reader interest that leads to a
steady stream of client phone calls (and of the two, reader interest is a much more important part of the equation).
Bottom Line. Not all readers are created equal. Simply increasing their number through expensive incentives, while offering the feel of progress, may do little more than generate a lot of unproductive activity.
Enough About You, Let's Talk About Us
Thanks to the thousands of you (I may be off on the head count a bit) who attended the Blue Penguin 6th Birthday Party this past Tuesday. It was a beautiful day at Kimball Farms in Westford, Massachusetts, and it was great to see (and meet for the first time) so many of you.
And by the way, I had so many nice regrets from West Coast readers that Iím thinking maybe we should hold next summerís event out your way! Let me know which ice cream spot is your favorite and Iíll start trying to convince my wife Linda that such a trip would be a good use of my time and her money.
About Blue Penguin Development, Inc.
Blue Penguin Development helps professional service firms get clients,
by showing them how to strengthen relationships with the people they already know.
I specialize in the development of electronic newsletters.
Click here for an overview of my services.
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