Mailing Lists

For the past several of days I've been trying to whittle down an email list totaling more than 6,000. I sent the last mail to the whole list on Monday giving everyone the option of receiving future emails or having their name removed from the list. There was really no bad news, I lowered the number of the names on the list by 1501 addresses and still have quite a few people that either still want to hear from me or haven't bothered to respond. There was a couple of curiosities or surprises.

What I found the most curious is that the people I expected to lose are still there and those that I thought were on the edge of their seats waiting for the next email are gone. I got a couple of notes offering the excuse of a full mailbox but mostly I just got "remove" or "I'm in." Not bad but it may explain why so many of those that dropped off are just no longer in business.

I thought my email was instructive and very easy to understand. I simply asked that those that wanted to remain on the list to do nothing and those that wanted to stop receiving emails from me to just reply to the email with the word "remove" in the subject line. I thought that would save people the time and trouble of a full reply and, because I think of myself as well as others, I would get all the information I needed to complete my task without having to open all those emails. With a list of more than 6,000 names that I had to contend with I don't think the request was unreasonable.

My ego was definitely stroked by those thoughtful enough to send me a note saying how much they enjoyed my periodic ramblings and those that took the opportunity to write a little more than the word "Remove" in the subject line didn't really inconvenience all that much. It did get me to thinking though.

Did those that went out of business do so because they failed to listen to their customers? I work out of my home in a one man business. When out of the office the land line rolls to my mobile number and I always answer the same way, with my name. Nine times out of ten the first words out of the callers mouth, especially if their trying to sell me something which is the most inappropriate time, "May I speak to Dan Light?" I had just answered the phone with a clear and audible, Dan Light but they weren't listening or, in my opinion, worse they didn't care enough about my business and their job to not use an auto dialer. At that point there is absolutely no way I'm buying anything their selling.

Did that happen to people I know? I certainly hope not but more important, did those people that removed themselves from my email list think I was doing it to them. I may never know. I can't ask them. I won't get feedback. I no longer have their email address. If I do this again maybe I'll ask first.