It’s Easier to Be Angry Than Impressed

Looking back at my posts here, I notice many of them are negative. I’ve gotten some private kudos for calling out people¹ giving bad advice (and hey, leave a comment or two instead of sending me a message on Twitter!). It’s not really my favorite thing to do, but it needs to happen every now and then.

Many of the things I write about come up because I’ve been talking with colleagues or just looking at what is coming into my mail reader. On an average day, I receive around 1,000 emails. Much of it is spam that I never look at, but many messages come from mailing lists, and others come from clients, prospects, and friends; then there are those from my wife’s business venture, which sends me receipts for products sold and requests for assistance. It takes me a lot of time to get through my email, and I see lots of examples of what not to do.

If you wonder why your open and click rates aren't what you hope, perhaps there is a good lesson for you: It is really easy to be angry. In fact, it is much easier to be angry than it is to be impressed. I get a lot of email, and with few exceptions, I spend only a few seconds on each one. Most email gets a pass (I don’t care enough to do more than glance, but I don’t unsubscribe). Of the emails that get a response, I tend to get angry about what I see because best practices aren’t being followed, or I notice a former client is now selling my test addresses to other vendors.

It takes something truly wonderful to grab my attention and make me take a closer look. Unfortunately, email like that doesn't come around very often. That is why I always try to take a moment to read when someone points out a campaign they think is doing it right. That's also why most of my posts are about people doing it wrong.

So, if you want to help me be a more positive person and I'm already on your mailing list (please, I get enough email as it is without people adding me to their lists without my permission), do me a favor and really work on doing things right.