I heard from a subscriber who told me he does it twice a month and wants to do it weekly but his wife thinks this is too often.
I’m talking about email, of course. What were you thinking I was talking about?
He sends his clients and former clients an email (newsletter) every two weeks and wants to bump this up to weekly. His wife thinks that his subscribers will “get annoyed by that many emails and start tuning them out.”
His wife is right. If he increases the frequency of his emails, some clients will be annoyed. Some will stop reading them. Some will complain. Some will ask to be removed from the list. But none of this is necessarily a bad thing.
If your subscribers don’t enjoy reading your emails, you don’t want them as subscribers. You don’t want to cater to the lowest common denominator. You want to build a list of fans.
If your emails are interesting, entertaining, and otherwise valuable, most of your subscribers will look forward to them, read them, and act on them. And it’s those people who matter because they are the ones who will hire you (again), send you referrals, and otherwise help you build your practice.
Sending emails to clients and former clients is about strengthening your relationship with them. Yes, it’s also about keeping your name in front of them, but you need quality, not just quantity.
Just like in the bedroom.
If you are delivering emails that people want to read, you can write every week or every day. If you’re up to it, you can even write several times a day.
Just like in the bedroom.
On the other hand, if your emails are boring and lack value, if you fail to please your subscribers, it won’t matter how often you email, your emails aren’t going to get the job done. Yep, just like in the bedroom.
Once a week is not too often. It just isn’t. Try it, and see for yourself. You will get people asking to be taken off your list but you will also get people thinking you for your words of wisdom, your valuable information, and your wit. They will look forward to hearing from you.
Don’t worry about the ones who don’t. It’s better to have a list of 100 people who love you than 10,000 people who are relatively indifferent.
I used to email once a week and I was nervous about what might happen if I starting emailing daily. (I also wasn’t sure I could keep up with that schedule). But I did it and I’m glad I did.
Is it different if you’re writing to lawyers or to “regular folks,” i.e., clients? No. If anything, busy lawyers would seem to be less tolerant of more frequent emails. But (most of) my subscribers read and like my emails because I deliver value.
Tell your subscribers (in your emails and on your website) how often they can expect to hear from you and remind them that they can opt out at any time. And then have at it.
If you’re still not sure, or if your wife is nervous about how often you want to “do it,” conduct an experiment. Continue emailing clients and former clients on your current schedule but email more frequently to prospective clients. When you see good things happening, you can have another talk with your wife.
Get good at building an email list and using it to build your practice
