Last week, a client forwarded me a complaint from a customer:
“Can u count how many marketing mails in a week you are sending? Looks like you are determined to tarnish your brand value.”
The first thing I did was…
I popped open Klaviyo, pulled the profile, and checked –
Since I started working with this client in Jan, this customer bought…
13 orders. $94.64 AOV. $1410 CLV.
He also opened and read almost every email in the last month.
So, yeah…
Despite the complaint, I am confident that my strategy is working profitably.
In this case –
I Do Not Care What The Customers Say, I Only Look At What They Do
This is a very important mindset you need to have as a business owner and marketer. HOWEVER, this is NOT how I responded to my client.
Instead, I explained:
“We currently send four emails per week. He got one more (making it 5) because of a Browse Abandonment Flow.
I’ve removed him from all future browse abandonment (including those that send dynamic discount codes) since he is very sensitive to email frequency. I’ve also taken him out of all future Checkout Abandonment Flows…”
And I continued…
“I understand it’s not fun to get these complaints.
It’s a very delicate balance. Because it will always stay true that the more we send, the more total email revenue we’ll get. However, the more we send, the more complaints and unsubscribes we’ll also get.
(The email attributed revenue and list churn rate from the last 2 status reports proved this)
I think four emails a week is reasonable — not exactly an aggressive rate. We are slightly sacrificing maximum revenue for a potentially longer customer lifetime. However, this frequency ensures that the majority of our list will receive our offer at least once a week. This is our current approach, except during any major sales events. I won’t suggest going any lower.”
Why am I explaining myself when I’m so confident in my strategy?
Because empathy is important.
Look at things from the business owner’s point of view.
This is a delicate balance.
The business owner is spending their hard-earned money on advertising to acquire new customers.
Unlike info products, where there is almost zero delivery cost, it is difficult for DTC brands to liquidate the advertising cost in the first order…
…even with all the one-click upsells.
(DTC companies need to consider the cost of production, storage, inventory management, logistics, customer support, etc)
In most cases –
The brand can only liquidate the cost after the 2nd (or even 3rd) order.
This means…
The company can be bleeding money for 2-12 weeks before turning a profit with every new customer. (depending on the repurchase cycle)
That’s a lot of pressure.
And it’s my job — as an email marketer — to address that fear.
This is where most freelancers and agencies drop the ball.
It is not enough to deliver good results
Demonstrating the results with a quantitative report…
Communicating the results with a qualitative report…
And alleviating the fear (and concern) about the strategy behind the results…
These are ALL part of the game.
To your success,
– WYH