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By the time you read this email, the ordeal will be over.
But as I wrote it, I'm undergoing the modern torture device known as economy class, overnight, overseas travel.
It starts with boarding, walking through miniscule aisles and then scrambling to stuff your carry on into the overhead bin as fast as you can as everyone behind you waits not so patiently for you to finish so they can get to their seat.
Then you stash the rest of your possessions in the meagre inches between your seat and the seat on front of you and settle into the sUpeR cOmFy cushions.
Not long after, supper is served. And it looks so gourmet it's just too much for your taste buds so you send it back untouched. All to the beautiful background of some sweet crying little humans, while seated uncomfortably close to a stranger you've never seen before and will probably never see again.
You distract yourself by reading the book you took along, when your reading lamp abruptly goes dark.
Oh! It's bedtime on board. Let's try this.
You plug yourself in to some music, put on the overpriced neck pillow you picked up in the airport -because of course you forgot to take one of the dozen or so you have scattered around your house. You try to settle in, but the seat is just so uncomfortable. You fold up the flight provided blanket and put it under you. It improves things by 6%.
Time to try this falling asleep thing again, with the oh-so-close fidgety arms and legs of your seat partners making you feel so cozy, and the pressure of prolonged sitting cutting off all circulation in your lower body.
Finally, finally you begin dozing off..... "Sorry, I need the bathroom."
Here goes nothing.
So you give up and write an email instead.
It's been fourteen years since I last crossed the Atlantic, so I'd forgotten what it's like.
This was a very rude reminder.
(The flight's one saving grace? A creative version of the flight safety class, entertainingly performed by a mentalist using sleight of hand and even a card trick. Nice touch, ElAl!)
The flights industry is ripe for disruption. Or for legislation outlawing the indignities of economy class.
I'm not counting on it to change anytime soon, though.
But, maybe there is something else I COULD change?
One email marketing manager for an ecommerce band told me, "Despite "doing everything right", we have yet to see significant revenue from email marketing. Certainly not the 1:40 dollar in dollar out statistic so commonly quoted. So in that sense, it's been somewhat of a failure, or at least, a disappointment. However, I do think we are doing it right...
[I]'ve come to the conclusion that our current business model, site traffic and subscriber acquisition model do not support significant revenue from email marketing."
Are you, too, disappointed by your email revenue rates? Do you feel like even though everyone says it works, perhaps email marketing just can't be a big earner for your brand?
I have some ideas percolating. And I want to flesh them out.
Would you be interested in having a little shmooze about your emails, to see if we can figure out a more effective approach?
This is not a sales pitch, because I have nothing to sell yet. I just want to see how we can potentially solve this "disappointing email results despite doing everything right" challenge.
If getting my brain on board to tackle this thorny problem sounds interesting, hit reply.
Getting ready to lobby against the aviation industry,
Chavy