I’ve noticed recently my keyword soft blocking of marketing emails has been bypassed. For the people who don’t know, you first set up a folder called ‘Unsubscribe’ in your inbox. You then set a rule that any email with ‘subscribe’ or ‘unsubscribe’ in the body should be sent automatically into that folder. By bypassing the inbox I currently have over 2000 emails in there, waiting to be deleted.

Yes, I check the folder occasionally – usually once a week – for anything important but it’s very occasional I’ll find something worth moving to the inbox.

What has happened recently is people not putting unsubscribe in their email footers. If they’ve got my details from a list, they’ve probably been farmed somewhere and should leave me the option to unsubscribe. By not putting this in the footer, there’s even less chance I’ll engage.

People in your organisation are the same with your learning offer. If you’re blasting them with direct marketing approaches to force them into your learning support, you’re doing it wrong. Have a look at this list of lead nurturing statistics:

Key Picks on Lead Nurturing Statistics
Over eight out of ten new leads never convert into qualified sales.
Only 4% of website visitors are ready to purchase.
Unlike standalone email blasts, lead nurturing emails receive 10% more responses.
80% of businesses that are utilizing automation software can generate leads.
Over 451% boost of qualified leads was experienced by companies using analysis and marketing automation.

Tech Report

I keep hearing people that learning needs to think like marketing. If that’s the case, be REALLY clear it’s about engaging people differently and not just sending out hurricanes of emails, posters, and nicely designed calls to action.