Internet DNA Podcast

… and on to GDPR, but only briefly before we brainstorm ways to increase your mail list both on and off line, how to keep it tidy and wishing Dan’s mum happy birthday.

Transcription

Welcome to this week's episode of intercept DNA. With this week we're going to finish our conversation about email marketing. Starting off with Gdpr and emails, I need to have a clean list. Don't tie for a start, so I need to make sure that people have agreed that they would like to receive my email.

Yeah. Okay, so yes marketing, you need consent, but the fact is that what would be very difficult for a lot of companies is to say, I didn't get the right consent at the beginning and now am I still allowed to send the emails and everybody will be different. Because the way in which you were originally collected it, the way that you have managed that database, like how clean do you keep it? Like do you say, right, if people have not open my email in six months, I'm going to delete them because they're no longer really active.

That's quite interesting because what I was going to say was with Gdpr, if I have people on my email list, I have been on there for over two years and have not unsubscribed but do click. Surely they are by their nature and it has an unsubscribe on the bottom. Surely by their nature they are consenting.

I thing it very, very clear about this which is it must be positive and affirmative, so you can't just say, well, they didn't say they didn't want it. That's not positive and affirmative.

If I'm being really good for Gdpr, then I should send them all an email using my email system saying, please click here. If you do want to continue,

what you should say is we have noticed that when you signed up, the sign up process did not comply with Gdpr and therefore if you would like to continue receiving emails, please click here. That's affirmative because you're saying if you would like to continue say yes. What you can't say is if you don't want to continue click here because that's negative. Do you see what?

Well if you don't do anything and then great if you,

so if you don't do anything under GDPR that you're really saying, I don't want an email.

Pr Really does penalize the small businesses doesn't it? Even though it's going after the big spammers really as a small business, if you ask that of your clients who'd publicly with about 10 subscribers?

Well I think that the argument for that would be then you haven't really got engagement. You're just pissing emails out of your email system because it's cheap and easy to do, but you're not actually engaged with any of them. If any tenders and Max you wanted your emails, you're better off. He's just talking to those 10 people cause the rest of the people didn't want them anyway. I mean I know it's not like that, which is some people just can't be bothered to click links and everyone's got GD PR fatigue and it was especially bad when it came in and got an email every damn day. As I've said, Gdpr has had exactly the opposite result of what was intended, which is we've just got blindness to clicking buttons to get it out of the way. Every website agree, click, get it out of the way. Nobody reads it, reads it. Yeah, and so actually is it is people now affirmatively signing up to things that they would never have signed up to before.

Be quiet everything it is. Again, getting back to doom and gloom, I just had some really positive,

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I think it's the daily Mash which the button actually says. Yeah, whatever that is exactly. Most people's attitude like, I mean Gdpr is actually really all about having policies in place so you, if you had a policy in place that says if people haven't responded or open my emails in 12 months, I will remove them from the list. That's the beginning of a GDPR compliance, because within a year, anybody who doesn't open your emails is going to be gone anyway and you can say

much cleverer and better way of doing it because actually you want to clean it out because a lot of these males systems anyway, you have to pay over a certain amount of these people, so that's a really good idea to just clean out. So I assume that you can search and select anyone over a year, two years, and then just say,

do you get occasionally, which is all Gdpr, the policy says that anybody hasn't opened an email for over 12 months is deleted from the system. If you'd like to continue receiving emails, you need to click here. Now these are guys that don't open your emails anyway, so they're probably unlikely to click there and then they're gone from your system and that's kind of right. Anyway,

you know, I think I'm going to do that. I'm getting there, my 2000 mark, and I think I'm just going to talk to the people because it does make you feel more loved as well when you're talking to the people that really are listening. So if you're paying for your email, you're paying to send emails to people that probably have never seen it because it's in their spam or their promotion tab anyway. Oh, okay. I might try that. I'll tell you how it gets done. So how do I go about getting new subscribers?

We have it on all corporate websites. A pop up that arrives 45 seconds after you start reading a post. So not on the home page, not on the archive pages, but actually on a post. If you've stayed on that post for 45 seconds, you'll get a pop up and all it just says this, give us your name and email and we'll send you information in and around this. Actually there's a loop involved afterwards, but oh, sign ups to newsletter went from a hundred a week to over 1500 yeah. Literally. And that timing has changed

soon. People have just gone go away. Yeah, I'm not interested.

And also you're just annoying people. They want to read the content. So we've played with it and you know, we started at 60 seconds, then we went to 30 now we're at 45 and we feel like we're in a good place with it now. But actually that's John. So after they've received two of the emails, which will be generic, it'll then say you've received our emails, we would like to tailor the content to you a little bit more. So can you just tick the subjects you're interested in? And we will tailor that content more to those subjects. That way is how you build up the knowledge of your people. Don't want to get it in front of them right in the beginning when you're collecting their email address and their first name with a whole bunch of checkboxes and click buttons and let's just think, well up to know, but we wait. Okay. Collect further data from it.

Yeah. I have to say, you have given me two little gems in the otherwise barren deserts. Those are really, really useful tips. I get a lot of my subscribers from offline, from exhibitions and things and I find those people are the ones that engage most of the ones that have been to the gallery scene, my work and then they will often at a later date by something or buy something in the sale. So for me those people, it's because they feel they know me perhaps because they haven't seen it in real life

towards your EMS. But that's because I know you. So I do have a genuine interest in and it's good to remember that as well. Like what a driver is that the fact that I know you means I will open your email. So

networking and getting to know more people.

That's why big companies do seminars and summits and symposiums and all the other than different names for the same thing, which is basically gain to meet people and giving people a personal connection to your company.

So those days where you might do a talk or after some drinks or have a networking evening are really useful in that. Then those people are more likely to buy from you in future because they feel that they have become more friends with you and therefore they will discount your emails

as an artist like you are. Then that's almost natural because you display your staff and you have to walk around and drink wine and go, yes,

but you're right. It is natural, but then other businesses obviously don't do that. If they thought of it in a similar way, they would find it a really good way to get people to their mail list and therefore then some things. I agree. If you think, right, if I'm going to think about this like an artist and I'm going to have the equivalent of an exhibition and I'm going to talk to people and ask them to sign up for whatever it is I've got to offer online and then suddenly you're building your mail list and missing people. I'm making that. I mean familiar to, like we said with the brand is everything.

Yeah. Let's say you were a plumber for example. You might do in your local area, it might just be every month. Do you do a little thing of as a plumber, there are certain jobs you don't want to go and do basically because they're so small, they're hardly worth your time, but you could train people how to do them, like how to fix a dishwasher or how to unblock a drain, you know, and do like little workshops with people because actually that's much more of a way of connecting with people and then you'll probably going to get the higher value jobs because you've given them the ability to do the low value job you didn't want to do anyway.

I love it. I want to work for plumber now I could depart the words of wisdom.

Oh, you could do it as an electrician. What I'm trying to say is you don't have to be a thing with a product. Even if you are a service. Let's say for me it was hosting. I could then explain all the things like how do you manage DNS? What is DNS? Most people when you go, Oh DNS, they just go, I don't know what you're talking about. That way it's complicated. It's really not. It actually. How does it email actually where might solve me a load of uh, support time, but also because they've met me now. The thing, actually I know the guy, it's not some faceless company with a bunch of forms and a click button. This is someone I know I've met and he's local. Any of these things kind of help?

Well, it's interesting as well is because you're online, it doesn't mean that everything has to be online. So a way to get people in our newsletters and sell three or newsletters is to speak to them as we've been talking about at a gallery and event at a networking gathering, combining online and offline is actually very powerful.

Yeah. And there's different ways of creating that connection as well. It is real people thing is really important. I deal with a massive host in America, but I always deal with the same support people because they've clearly put me in a group and it's amazing how once you stop using people's first names and you start talking to them and they've given you great service. How even though I haven't actually met Roscoe and these people, I feel like I have because I've dealt with them so many times. So there's more than one way. If you feel like you're not comfortable doing a little exhibition of standing in front of people, but there are other ways of doing it

to create relationships. Yeah, and we were trying to have the relationships. The newsletter is a really great way to be able to promote your services more and provide services to a lot of people who want them through this ongoing communication, but it's worth brainstorming. Different ways that you can get same job is to begin with.

Yeah, exactly. That you can stick some personality into your communications, be yourself. I think it's really, really important when you talk. I think a lot of people fall into this trap of writing corporate speak and emails. Just as if you were talking to someone is a really good way. You're quite good at it actually, of just making it feel like it's from somebody rather than some thing.

Good. Well, I've enjoyed talking to you now and it's been enlightening and more pleasurable than I first thought, so thank you very much. But we haven't got any more time for any more. If anyone has any questions, please let us know and we will try not to the next week. In fact, we're going to have a surprise talk next week. We're not going to let you know state. We will let you know when you listen. I'm excited. Good. Well, I hope

you enjoy your party weekend. I have everyone who's having a party this weekend, last weekend, and I look forward to chatting next week, especially my mother. Happy Birthday. Oh, happy birthday.

Okay.

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Dan & Abi work, talk & dream in tech. If you would like to discuss any speaking opportunity contact us.