Many of the people in my Network know that each year I send out an annual email message with the purpose of doing a few things:
#1 – Confirm your email addresses are still good
#2 – Say hello
#3 – Touch my entire network beyond my normal day to day activity.
#4 – Stay top of mind so that when you are ready for what I do, you’ll remember me.
I started sending this message out in 2005. Of course in the early days I had no idea how to do this correctly. I admit the cardinal sin of “asking” to much in my first few years.
Over time I’ve gotten smarter and the messages now have more value.
Here are the numbers from the last few years.
| 2013 | ||
| List Size | 5200 | % |
| Dead email addresses | 185 | 3.56% |
| Unsubscribes | 36 | 0.69% |
| Happy responses | 188 | 3.62% |
| Unhappy responses | 7 | 0.13% |
| Message Reads | 1820 | 35.00% |
| Clicked on my stuff | 348 | 6.69% |
| 2014 (less Links in message) | ||
| List Size | 7012 | % |
| Increase over 2013 | 1812 | 34.85% |
| Dead email addresses | 368 | 5.25% |
| Unsubscribes | 51 | 0.73% |
| Happy responses | 84 | 1.20% |
| Unhappy responses | 4 | 0.06% |
| Message Reads | 1600 | 22.82% |
| Clicked on my stuff | 313 | 4.46% |
| Mobile Opens | 3303 | 47.10% |
| 2015 (less Links in message) | ||
| List Size | 8,172 | % |
| Increase over 2014 | 1,160 | 16.54% |
| Dead email addresses | 297 | 4.24% |
| Unsubscribes | 72 | 1.03% |
| happy Email Replies | 147 | 2.10% |
| Unhappy responses | 1 | 0.01% |
| Message Reads | 1,846 | 26.33% |
| Clicked on my stuff | 82 | 1.00% |
| Mobile Opens | 3,955 | 48.40% |
I used less images and links in my message this year.
A few of the Happy responses came in real life, one happily ‘yelling’ at me down the sidewalk.
What did I learn?
My Network is getting accustomed to this message and increasingly appreciating it.
What am I doing differently now?
I am going to purge contacts with bad email addresses. I do not have the time to track down people with bad email addresses any longer
What am I going to do differently next year?
I am going to exclude all Unsubscribes from future annual messages. This will restrict testing for bad email addresses, however I am going to begin considering each updated list as one list and not message people who unsubscribe from any annual message.
I am also going to add a few links with encouragement to subscribe or follow my articles and videos.
I am going to add a link to my coaching programs for anyone interested. I need a few more Links worthy of sharing with my network.
What ideas do you have that could make this a better annual message?
Thanks to my network. I am absolutely a blessed man in regards to this annual message and beyond.