You know “that person you don’t want to receive email from…?” It’s the eye-roll inducing marketing cousin of Cecily Strong’s SNL (Saturday Night Live) sketch, “the girl you wish you hadn’t started a conversation with…” character.

A friend and colleague of mine received one of THOSE emails. And the take-aways are beneficial if you want to avoid being “the dental emailer whose list you wish you hadn’t added your name to.”

I could make this short and sweet by saying the fix is easy. “Unsubscribe!”

You and your readers have more power than you realize. So, you should think long and hard about the content you send (more on that in a moment).

Something amazed me when I worked at a dental practice. Patients would often whine about the email we sent about this or that.

They would often invest more time voicing their dissatisfaction for whatever reason than reading, deleting, or perish the thought, unsubscribing.

As Zig Ziglar would say, “Some people are born in the objective case in the kick-a-tive mood.” Translation: they’ll whine about anything.

Yet do they have a valid point when it comes to the email you send that invades their space (permission granted, of course)? And are you giving them a reason not to boot you to the curb via a quick click of the unsubscribe link?

Consider my friend and colleague’s experience your wake up call!

Here’s the subject line of the email she received:

“Hey, [FIRSTNAME], what’s wrong with your blog?”

I’m not kidding, that’s it.

First, the subject line is an attempt at being “cute.”

It typically doesn’t work because we’re accustomed to it…like we are hype.

When hype leads the way. I’m out and so are most readers.

I avoid people who come off this way. And I certainly don’t waste my time reading emails or any marketing resources that start a conversation with such a tone.

Which brings me to my second point.

It’s an attempt at being conversational, but it misses a vital element of that process.

I could say that to my friend/colleague in a subject line to her without question. Why?

We have a relationship. And that’s my point.

Evaluate the relational quality of your list.

• Are you chummy? (Can you talk about anything relevant with them?)
• Do they enjoy hearing from you?
• Did they ask to hear from you?
• Does the information or conversation you share with them help them with something they need?

And this is HUGE…

• Can you continue the conversation via email at any time, about any subject, and they look forward to hearing what you have to say?

Before you even get a second chance, you must understand this.

The content of your email communications are irrelevant if you haven’t earned the right to be heard.

I subscribe to a number of email lists. Confession time: I don’t read all of them.

In fact, since we’re cleaning the slate here – I occasionally delete some of them without even opening them.

The point?

Timing matters.

Not all email subjects – even from trusted, valued sources – hit my hot-button on a given day. You won’t always bat a thousand when you send an email to your list.

But you increase your batting average when they find your content helpful and useful more than they find it hype-ful (how’s that for a word?).

Assure that your email communications to your dental patient, client, or house-list are helpful not hype-ful!

• Share an oral health trend instead of the latest triple-your-savings offer of the month.
• Lead with a benefit – something that improves their life, health, etc.
• Be generous with information that serves them with no-strings-attached (e.g. “Like” our Facebook page to enter our contest, Refer a friend or family member for 10% off your next treatment, etc). Email your list just-because without an “angle.”

Trust still translates via email.

Scammers, spammers, and hyped up marketers have peed-in-the-pool long enough. It’s time to take back the valuable online territory they’ve fouled up.

It should go without saying that you’re trustworthy. And your email content is simply another way your character shines.

Patients, clients, and those you do business with will actually anticipate seeing you in their inbox if you’re a source of useful, beneficial content.

And these days it’s really about the information.

Profit follows trust.