I learned a lesson today, and like most good lessons, it was learned the hard way.
If you are a subscriber, you’ve probably figured out that I use a few autoresponders – canned email sent at preset intervals to try to get you to take some action, in my case, to call me and set up a sample coaching session. And like a good citizen of 2009, you’ve put up with it because in today’s world it’s expected that you will get these messages when you sign up for a mailing list.
So I was playing with my autoresponders today, trying to make them sound more sincere and somehow more salesy at the same time, and something I did made a few of my subscribers receive up to four separate emails at once. I did not realize it until one of these recipients immediately sent me a note with a four-letter word and also called and left me a message on my phone to unsubscribe her. Deservedly so. If you were also a recipient of an email deluge from me today, please accept my apology.
The experience today confirmed something that had been nagging me about using the autoresponders. You can’t really connect with people with an impersonal email. Even though I wrote it, I don’t even know when it is sent or who it is sent to. That’s not communication!
Although I’ve been tempted to reach out personally to email subscribers, I’ve hesitated because it seemed like I would be violating some internet norm if I actually tried to contact you in person. My perception was that if you sign up for a mailing list, you expect to receive impersonal marketing emails, but if a real person contacted you, it would somehow freak you out. Could that be true? Have we come to the point where we prefer to receive impersonal messages from computers instead of real communication from a living person? I hope not.
For now, I have turned the autoresponders off. If I use your email address to send you an original message intended just for you, I hope you are not offended. I’m not trying to be a pest or a pushy sales person. I’m just genuinely curious about what you’re up to that brought you to my organizational change website.
And I do hope that you will take me up on the offer of the free coaching session. It’ll be half an hour of focused attention on you and your change initiative with an objective point of view. Call me to schedule a time to talk.
