In mathematics there is something called the “pigeonhole principle.”
At first, it sounds immensely stupid. Something like:
“If you have 20 pigeons but only 19 pigeonholes, and each pigeon has to go into a pigeonhole, then one pigeonhole will have more than one pigeon.”
No sh– Sherlock. But with a little creativity, mathematicians have found all sorts of complex and surprising applications of this simple principle. Still, they haven’t thought about marketing.
Three pigeons, just one pigeonhole. Something’s got to give.
I recently came across a successful business owner who wanted to send a sequence of “indoctrination” emails. Indoctrination emails are supposed to build a relationship without selling. I don’t think they are a good idea for multiple reason. Today let’s just talk about one that has to do with the pigeonhole principle.
When somebody subscribes to your email list, chances are very good they have subscribed to many other email lists. Perhaps they opted in on some web page for a free PDF. Perhaps they bought some supplement and put their email in when prompted. Perhaps they signed up to get notified of a webinar or of a sale.
What happens to all the emails all those businesses are sending and will be sending? Yep, they are arriving to the same inbox you are targeting. On the same day. And vying for the same attention and time of the person who’s supposed to read them. It’s the pigeonhole principle, applied to marketing.
Only, unlike in mathematics, this pigeonhole has limited space. You can’t fit infinitely many marketing emails into a real person’s day.
Which means:
Some emails will get skipped, ignored, and passed over…
Today
Tomorrow
And forever
And here’s how this applies to the indoctrination sequence: If you send out a “good-will” or “indoctrination” email (or two or seven), it might be the email that never gets read. That means that once you do send a “sales” email, your prospect won’t be as warmed up or indoctrinated as you might hope.
And yet, there’s a worse option still. And that’s when people read your indoctrination email, they like you, but they don’t know you have anything for sale (or they can’t get at your sales page easily)… And then, when your sales email arrives, it’s the one that gets ignored for good.
Now of course, this won’t happen all the time, and with every customer. And ultimatley, you still have their email address on your list, so you can follow up.
But why shoot yourself in the hoof before you’ve even started trotting?
There’s a simple solution to this problem. When you have somebody’s attention (when they’ve opened your email), build your relationship, build good-will, and offer your products for sale at the same time.
Speaking of which, if you do need somebody to write emails for your business in this vein, get in touch with me, because it’s a service I offer.