The Right Numbers Matter

September 16, 2009 · Comments

opt outs I took a strong right turn last monday with my email newsletter. It’s moving beyond social media and into what I believe will help us do better with understanding how human business works. I knew when I wrote it that it was definitely NOT a newsletter about how to tweet or why facebook is cool. As such, I lost 349 subscribers.

I’m SO thrilled.

I also gained 278 new subscribers in the last six days.

What this means is that I’m better defining my newsletter to appeal to the people who will follow me through the next big story arc, through the next big change. It means that people are self-defining, and that they are along for the ride for what we’re experimenting with, and what findings I’ll share with them.

If you’re counting to see who has the most, and if you’re counting only growth, you’re missing an important point. Growth isn’t important. Valuable growth is important. Getting your email newsletter tuned up to serve your desired community is what matters.

Make sense?

What do you like (or NOT like) about the newsletter? What are you doing with your own communities? How are you tuning everything up?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Tagged as: , , , , ,

ChrisBrogan.com runs on the Thesis Theme for WordPress

Thesis WordPress theme

Thesis is the search engine optimized WordPress theme of choice for serious online publishers. If you’re a blogger who doesn’t understand a lot of PHP, Thesis will give a ton of functionality without having to alter any code. For the advanced, Thesis has incredible customization possibilities via Thesis hooks.

With so many design options, you can use the template over and over and never have it look like the same site. The theme is robust and flexible enough not only to accommodate a site like ChrisBrogan.com, but also to enable the site to run far more efficiently than it ever has before.

  • securitycamera
    I really like the personal and engaging format.Which gives an opportunity like to reply back and talk about the things that make us human, rather than Twitter best practices.There are so many questions are their so keep it up.Stay tune with us.Thanks a lot.
  • edhardyfish
    Edhardyfish.com is the original direct dealer of authentic Ed Hardy Hoodies,Tee,Jeans,Boots,Sunglasses,Caps. We have deal Ed Hardy online yeas and continue to be the leader.Welcome to http://www.edhardyfish.com
  • Chris,
    I was pleasantly surprised at the expanded angle of your newsletter, especially since it's exactly the kind of stuff I am a bit hesitant to include in a "business" blog...but I now feel inspired to stay true to myself and my experiences and worry less about what some readers may think. Personal and professional "success" are achieved through many channels. I get excited when those channels widen and expand. Let's hear it for open minds and a richer life experience!
  • Donna Baske
    Chris - I like your train of thought and the direction it might be heading. I use to read other peoples comments on blogs and keep mine to myself (unheard of for me, actually) but I now find myself leaving comments and offering my thoughts. Even contemplating doing my own blog.

    I think what it boils down to is that as we grow up we get confined further and further into a box. It starts the first day we go to school and get told to sit in one place and do things the same way everyone else does. That there's only 1 right answer (really?) From that point we get indoctorinated into just being one of the "well taught" masses of people that go through our education system, brighter, but not really able to think on our own anymore.

    Then comes the day we're looking for innovation and a new way of approaching our business or life and we're scared because that's not the way we've been taught to do it. Your newsletter was a great call to action to open our eyes again and try to be someone other than who we've been taught to be.

    You never know how cold/warm the water in the pool really is until you jump in. So come in, maybe you'll enjoy life a little bit more....
  • I get hung up on growth, too. To focus on the subscriber that correctly fits the platform of my blog seems to be a much more rewarding, valuable demarcation of success. Time to focus!
  • Brian
    Hi Chris,

    I've just signed up to receive your newsletter as I didn't know you were sharing more info this way, and not putting it on your blog.

    Is there any way I can look through a backlog of newsletters? Or maybe even the controversial one from Monday?

    Cheers,

    Brian
  • Afraid not. I only let you join on when you join. : ) It's part of the fun.
  • I love your newsletter Chris, tells me alot about yourself personally and shows your desire to know more about me personally as well. It's totally different to your blog, and I appreciate it alot.
  • Your last newsletter was my favorite so far. I've really been enjoying your newsletter recently, as it's a big departure from this blog and a departure from the same old topics everybody is rehashing.

    You really are making it human, even more so with the last newsletter. I agree with you, it's a good thing those 349 people dropped out. You want the right ones on the bus, nobody else.
  • Chris, I am modifying my own newsletter due to my response to yours. You have differentiated your newsletter from your blog/web site. Your newsleter is personal and personable. Your voice is there. When reading my e-mail, I usually wait to read newsletters until I have read all the important stuff from "real" people. Your newsletter doesn't fit that category because you feel "real" in it. Thanks!
  • Chris: You continue to outdo yourself. I love your confidence to talk about the number of lost subscribers in a positive way. I talk about email (and email marketing) all the freaking time (my wife would say too much), but this gave me something to think about. I think Amber said it recently about Social Media, "Remember This Is All Opt-In" - http://altitudebranding.com/2009/07/remember-th....

    My favorite quote from above is: "Valuable growth is important."

    Keep doing what you do. Keep trying new things. Keep learning. Keep growing. Ha ha - like I have to tell you that.


    DJ Waldow
    Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
    @djwaldow
  • Eadwacer
    Chris
    My problem is that I get far too much email as it is, and I find that tracking blog entries via RSS feed is far more efficient. I'd like to see your commentary, but not at the expense of a new email. If your goal is to use this as an additional filter, and I can see where one might, then it's working. Meanwhile, I like what's coming through on my side of the filter.
  • I had not signed up for your newsletter. Now I'm curious to read your take on how humans do business. I find myself discussing this same thing with peers and somebody always ends up saying, "regardless of what hard skill one possesses, interaction with people is inevitable and imperative for internal buy-in.." or something like that. That always gets a few hearty groans and table slaps.
  • I enjoyed your latest newsletter. I love where you're going with your philosophy and am so happy that you are sharing it. This is the direction I want my own work in social media to gravitate toward. Keep sharing what's really on your mind. Your audience is finding you. I am inspired and know I will soon start adding more of my own personal opinon and philosphy to my own blog.
  • I like the newsletter. I tried changing up how I answer people with some great results. There is a wonderful woman that I work with. She and I pleasantly say hello every morning but today I really asked her what was going on with her and was interested to know. That lead to a great conversation.
  • And THIS is why I did it, Ben. Glad to hear your story. Thank you for sharing that.
  • Recycle or change thoughts or the way we see things is very frightening but is something that must be done. New approaches are welcome, as well as some experiments and invitations to move on. Some messages will find an audience ready to understand them. Some of the public may be willing to change and embrace new ideas and points of view. Other important part is the public which disagree and question us. We have to adapt to the audience, so we can provide useful contents. We also have to challenge our community with new and personal approaches. This is what generates movement and meaning and growth. This is what makes our ideas worthy.
  • jenniewhite
    Chris,
    Consider me a new subscriber. I was only subscribed to your blog, but if you providing even MORE great content, then I'd be crazy not to subscribe! I am not concerned with numbers either, I mean it's nice and reaffirming seeing good numbers, but it's the content that matters. Sorry you lost those subscribers though, you'll gain them back in no time!
  • Gary Powell
    I actually enjoy the newsletter better than your Tweets, especially since they all seem to revolve around selling your book. We all get it....you wrote a book and you want to sell a billion copies.
  • That's strange. I went back three pages and I find that most of my tweets are @ messages to other people. Maybe you mean @garyvee ? : )
  • nsavides
    Hey Chris,
    I like that you're not afraid to do things that make the numbers drop. Statistics don't tell you everything, and the people who are slaves to the numbers generally don't have a compelling vision of what could or should be.

    The style and content of the newsletter works for me so far.
  • You know what, Chris? I love your latest newsletter. It's different in a good way. It's personal and engaging in a way most email newsletters aren't. It makes me feel like part of a group, instead of just someone on an email list. So maybe it doesn't showcase the top 10 ways to become the best Twitter-er ever - I like it anyway.
  • I like what you said.
  • I agree with Jeffrey - I really like the personal and engaging format. And I really like the opportunity to reply back and talk about the things that make us human, rather than Twitter best practices. :)
  • What do you use for your newsletter? Campaign Monitor? MailChimp? Something else? I'm currently trying to pick a newsletter "platform" to use for my own.
  • Ed
    I think he uses BlueSkyFactory
  • John - Ed is correct. Chris is a Blue Sky Factory (BSF) client. See his post from a few weeks ago: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/the-building-blocks-...

    DJ Waldow
    Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
    @djwaldow
  • Thanks DJ and Ed. Will check that out.
  • AmberNaslund
    Yes, yes, yes. And yes. :) Good for you. I love that you're leading and blazing trails, yet again. So happy to see this.
  • anniebanannie
    This is fabulous. I've never cared how many hear my message; I just care who hears it. Thanks for confirming the direction I'm taking with my newsletter, and also now I don't feel so bad about waiting to launch it until I have something useful to say.

    Annie
  • Ed
    Hm. Direct feedback from those who unsubscribed would be best, obviously.
    And there's probably a mix of 'why'.

    But anyone who unsubscribes [or unfollows, etc]
    quickly, because the current big thing wasn't beaten to death,
    loses out on the parameters that make which hot topics you do cover,
    relevant and valuable; perspective and context.

    Personally, I think some of your most recent newsletters were
    far above industry average, and thankfully, original content.
  • I like what you said.
  • Carried out the four actions you suggested to change habits. So overcame my aversion to putting photos on Facebook at put photos up. Still don't feel comfortable about it. And have taken action after forgiving myself something. The opportunity suddenly arose to do something about it. Perhaps it just jumped up at me because the topic was at the forefront of my mind. And I am feeling a new consciousness or awareness about the way I interact with the world. So I consider your suggestions helpful. Thanks Chris.
  • I'm so glad you're part of it, Lisa.
  • EC
    One suggestion is making newsletter content different from your blog post that day. I don't necessarily even open the email newsletter if I'm crunched for time, because I know I can just visit your blog later and would rather declutter my inbox. Anything that could differentiate the two would be pretty sweet.
  • You must not read my newsletter. It's pretty darned different from the blog.
  • EC
    Oh shoot - I was confusing it with the email I get everyday! Busy day and I spaced on what you were talking about!
blog comments powered by Disqus

Previous post:

Next post: