Mailing Lists – Stop Monkeying Around!

I recently survived the anxiety-filled experience of shopping for the perfect engagement ring. I’ll admit, ring shopping was surprisingly less stressful than I first anticipated. However, one jewelry store from a neighboring town made me regret giving them my contact information. Here were their three strikes:

1. Having pushy staff who pressured me to buy a ring $1000 out of my budget. (Seriously, I said I was a teacher and musician. Get real!)

2. Leaving multiple voice messages asking, “Are you still looking for a ring?” (Nat has a funny story to share about my handling of their call while she was in the car. She asked, “Who was that?” I said, “PBS asking for a donation.”)

3. Snail mailing me advertisements and generic thank you letters for visiting their store. (One ad was waiting in my mailbox the day Natalie and I returned from our trip to San Francisco where I proposed. Wait, I said I was getting engaged. This is a secret! Don’t you think my girlfriend might find mail from a jewelry store suspicious?)

Anyways, I emailed the store to tell them that I had found a ring elsewhere, and I wasn’t interested in the ones they showed me. AKA, stop contacting me. So what does the store do? Sign me up to their mailing list!

OK, this is a big no-no in the D-I-Y musician handbook, and I think it’s worth restating: Don’t sign someone up someone to your mailing list, unless they have requested to be on your mailing list. It’s that simple.

Or not. People and companies break this rule all the time:

Example 1: I was hired by a local nonprofit to play their event. I emailed them about the business of my contract work, and then they added me to their mailing list without permission. (Boo!)

Example 2: I emailed a company  with questions about their services. They automatically added me to their mailing list. (Boo, and boo!)

Example 3: I email a complaint about a company’s services. Boom! On their emailing list! (Triple boo! That one was really annoying.)

Example 4: I emailed a local band to see if they wanted to share gigs. Immediately, they added my email to their mailing list. (Boo. Boo. Boo. Boo!)

One thing the band didn’t know was I use a separate email for mailing lists. I had already signed up that account!

Oh, here’s another no-no:

1. Don’t gather all of your Facebook friends’ emails listed on their personal pages and add them to your mailing list.

In conclusion,  Email = one’s time. Bands need to respect that just as much as companies. Don’t abuse people’s time. If people do sign-up for your mailing list (and I think there will be less people willing to now-a-days) don’t go overboard. You should only send out one email a month at most. Group small announcements together in one newsletter.  Oh, you have a local booking at the bar down the street? That’s probably not worth it’s own email. Wrote a new blog? Nope. That neither. Have a collection of songs being released with a free download opportunity and tour upcoming? OK, that constitute an email.

(PS: You can sign up for my new newsletter on the right!)