April 23, 2010Facing the fire yields useful feedback for newsletter appeal: Success Story

Filed under: Success Story by merylrunion |

I assumed Joy meant to hit forward and hit reply instead. It was a copy of my newsletter with the question – “do you want me to keep forwarding these? There seems to be less and less each time.”

So I hit reply. I said,

Oops – I think you set me this by mistake. But since you did, would you be willing to explain what you liked better about my newsletter before? it could be really useful to me.”

Joy replied with specific useful observations.

She likes the success stories and I haven’t been including many lately.
I refer readers online more than I had and she doesn’t want to go online.
And the examples seem to be more general and less about how to handle your typical business challenges than they once were.

Joy’s words were well thought-out, well communicated and easy to digest. I won’t be customizing my newsletter for her, but I will be making changes.

It was a happy accident that gave me information I wanted. I’m glad I faced the fire and asked for feedback. And I thank her for being so considered in her response.

P.S. Joy’s daughter answered her question about whether she wanted her mother to keep forwarding the newsletter. Joy’s daughter was quite specific as well about why she does want to keep getting them.