Your Customer Is In Control 

I've worked in newspaper, magazine, radio, television, direct mail, online video, podcasting, blogging, public speaking, and I've written seven books.

Back when, you communicated AT customers. 3 TV stations. 1 or 2 local newspapers. 10 radio stations. Pick your mix, and pay your money, period.

We didn't use the term "interruption marketing" because ALL marketing interrupted. 

Then came the Web, and infinite choices for information and attention, and that started the control shift toward customers.

And in 1999, when Seth Godin published Permission Marketing, the idea that you should only promote to people who told you it's okay to do so was SHOCKING.

Ever since, the consumer has taken more and more control, including fast-forwarding TV ads, unsubscribe buttons, ad blockers, cookie permissions, and so forth. 

But most of those are technology advances that boost customer control over company communication.

Now, there's a new era that also boosts customer control, but based on personalization and preference.

This week, I received a remarkable email from Truff, the hot sauce company:

Indeed, Mother's Day can be problematic for a sub-section of every company's customers. 

But actually doing something about it? That's a new phenomenon, at least to me. 

Because the philosophy in the past has always been, "well, they'll just delete the Mother's Day email." And, "if we lose a few subscribers, we'll be fine." 

Truff isn't just talking about that Holy Grail of "treating all customers as individuals" they are actually DOING IT.

To spend the time and customer relationship capital to send their entire customer list (hundreds of thousands, at least) an email that sells NOTHING but gives them a big, fat opt out button is incredibly gutsy, and empathetic.

And I wonder what is the end state for this approach? 

Which holidays get "want to opt out" emails in advance? 

Does the email signup form ultimately include a dozen or more checkboxes, indicating yes to Memorial Day, but no to Father's Day emails?

This is just the beginning, as AI will make it easier to discern and automate this kind of advanced preference-setting. 

How will you change your marketing to give your customers more control?

The Books Report

The reviews are in for my pal Joe Mull's new book, and they are GLOWING. 

No surprise, as Employalty: How to Ignite Commitment and Keep Top Talent in the New Age of Work is a terrific field guide to attracting and retaining employees.

So many exhilirating examples and case studies. If you run any kind of team, grab this one. It's an absolute steal at $18.

Jay's Faves

This is one of my favorite, new software tools in the world. 

Time to Reply elegantly and inexpensively solves a problem: understanding how fast your team responds to customers and prospects via email. 

Time to Reply gives you precise responsiveness tracking for email communication, so you can optimize to win and keep more business. 

It's a snap to set up, and is low cost. If you've got more than 5 people interacting with customers via email, it's a must. 

And, if you go here and use code: TIME, you'll get a whole month for your entire team, for nothing. 

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