Posts Tagged “e-mail”

I’m not often one for snarky comments on this site, but something has pushed me to post this article. That something is 40+ e-mails from various independent improv groups around NYC, all inviting me out to their shows this weekend. This, in and of itself, is not a bad thing, but when every single member of every single improv group e-mails me, it starts to wear my patience.

You have new mail! Ah, sorry looks like yet another invite to that Friday show you can’t make anyway.

You guys have got to get your advertising together into one, “group mind”/group e-mail system. I don’t mind an e-mail, but 12 for the same event is too much. So here is the Improvoker time and tested formula for successful e-mailing your fan base.

• Make one person in the group responsible for e-mails - Give them your contacts you wish to e-mail. As a performing group, you should have an e-mail list anyway for people at shows to sign. That gives you one system and one one list to e-mail to.
• BCC your addresses - My e-mail address is for you to tell me about the show, not for you to send to every person you have ever met. This is an important step, because addresses that aren’t BCCed have the distinct opportunity of falling into the hands of spammers through malicious spyware. Respect your audience’s privacy. Keep em secret, keep it safe Frodo.
• Subject your e-mail something sensible, preferably with the group, date, and time clearly expressed — “I have a show!”,“weekend”, “I WRITE EVERYTHING IN CAPS LOCK AND EXCLAMATIONS!!!” These are three shows I really might want to see, but in my limited time and energy — I may not read further. I am not going to come to your show because of the hilarity of your subject line. Tell me what group you are representing, when your show is, what it is (improv or sketch), and where it is, so I can get a sense of if I’m available or not, before I go rooting through the e-mail for information. “Peppermint Captain — Improv Show Sat 11/3 8PM @ Gotham City”, now I don’t even really need to read the e-mail, I can make my decision based purely on the subject.
• Do not send out an e-mail to let your list know you screwed up some non-critical information - “Sorry I didn’t BCC all of you on the last e-mail” is another e-mail that you are sending. Just don’t do it in the future and I’ll forgive you. “Oh Sandy’s name is spelled ‘Sandie’” is not reason to contact your entire fan base. By all means send an e-mail if you really screwed something up, but the less e-mails sent, the happier your recipients.
• See if mailing list software is available to handle your mailing list - this allows your fan base to sign up for your shows at performances and allows you to e-mail them all from a central interface. This kind of stuff is available through most service providers, and is extremely valuable as you grow and expand. See the Improv Everywhere site.
• Keep it short and sweet - I adore you, I can’t wait to see you on stage again, but let’s get this e-mail over with as quickly as possible — so I can get back to my funny.

I know this all might seem a little harsh, but I assure you if you are more focused with your promotion, you will keep fans happy in the long run. Most of all you keep me happy and keeping me happy is really what’s important isn’t it?

Lastly, I hope you all have great shows this weekend and I can’t wait to get your one e-mail next weekend.