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Thanks for the effort —— our experiences the last two years trying to launch a product have shown me that successful email marketing is elusive. I do have a ge

by wkirby 2y ago

Thanks for the effort —— our experiences the last two years trying to launch a product have shown me that successful email marketing is elusive. I do have a genuine question though: who the hell does email marketing work on? I have yet to meet a single person, in and out of tech, who will admit to buying something because of emails like these. I can’t decide if email marketing is in the bucket of “it must work or they wouldn’t be doing it”, or in the even larger bucket of “they have to be doing something to pretend they’re adding value to the company.”

brushfoot 2y ago
Solopreneur here. For me, email marketing works, but in my experience, it works best when it's personal, casual, and highly targeted. This year, I actually had a prospect thank me for a cold email I sent him. He said in his 20-year career, had had never gotten one that was so helpful. Of course, that was nice, but the metric I'm most concerned with is sales -- and yes, they lead to those as well. The best ones, like the "best in my 20 years" one, have been the result of a lot of research, hand-crafting prospect lists based on what I believe are their exact needs, then writing a message that speaks to those needs. I'll add since this is HN: I have no course to sell and my startup isn't mentioned or linked anywhere. I'm just writing to share what's worked for me.
davidbff 2y ago
I guess that calling everything "email marketing" doesn't help. But it can be many things and impact in many ways. Bombarding people with spam is something that obviously isn't okay. A nice example can be a welcome sequence to educate someone about an app and help them understand the most helpful features/ways they can benefit from it. We're all here above average internet users, but most people appreciate some guidance and tips. It doesn't always have to be about selling stuff to people in an annoying and salesy way.

by wkirby 2y ago

brushfoot 2y ago

Solopreneur here. For me, email marketing works, but in my experience, it works best when it's personal, casual, and highly targeted. This year, I actually had a prospect thank me for a cold email I sent him. He said in his 20-year career, had had never gotten one that was so helpful. Of course, that was nice, but the metric I'm most concerned with is sales -- and yes, they lead to those as well. The best ones, like the "best in my 20 years" one, have been the result of a lot of research, hand-crafting prospect lists based on what I believe are their exact needs, then writing a message that speaks to those needs. I'll add since this is HN: I have no course to sell and my startup isn't mentioned or linked anywhere. I'm just writing to share what's worked for me.

davidbff 2y ago

I guess that calling everything "email marketing" doesn't help. But it can be many things and impact in many ways. Bombarding people with spam is something that obviously isn't okay. A nice example can be a welcome sequence to educate someone about an app and help them understand the most helpful features/ways they can benefit from it. We're all here above average internet users, but most people appreciate some guidance and tips. It doesn't always have to be about selling stuff to people in an annoying and salesy way.