Suburban Lawn Maintenance and Bloated Email Lists…
This will be a quick one.
Why?
Cuz I have to go mow my lawn.
Now this is definitely one of those “first world problems”; I am beyond blessed to even HAVE a lawn to mow.
But man do I understand why my father was excited when I turned 8 and could finally mow the lawn.
IT… IS… A… PAIN.
My lawn is very irregularly shaped. No neat rectangles that I can simply go back and forth and make aesthetically pleasing patterns.
No mine curves and has paths in it and a wall that makes it impossible to get ALL the grass and it steeply drops off by the sidewalk which is hard for my ancient cast-iron lawn mower (or at least it feels that way) not to mention the grass on the OTHER side of the sidewalk which is also my responsibility…
Run on sentence aside, I think you get the idea…
But the facts are the facts: the lawn grows, and it needs to be cut.
And I’m sharing this with you not only because I am short on time and can’t delve into some scientific, historical, or tabletop games related true story…
But also because it is a perfect example for why you need to DELETE subscribers/customers from your email list.
You read that right…
But for it to be great, you have to regularly take a lawn mower to your board game’s email list and cut 40%-20% of it off, and throw it in a garbage bin.
(Metaphorically of course… don’t be a serial killer)
Now this might seem counter-intuitive. After all, why on earth would you EVER get rid of the contact information of the people who bought from you?
Well, without researching one bit (probs will update this post later on…) I can think of two reasons that are relevant to board game marketing:
They mess with your domain’s deliverability
They keep you from understanding your customers.
The first point is straightforward; if you have tons of emails being unopened or bouncing, then your email provider will lower the authority of your domain.
This will result in more of your emails being blocked or going to spam… and just like a can of spam, you definitely do not want that (unless the spam is fried, placed on top of rice, and wrapped in seaweed…)
The other point is less intuitive: having a bunch of people on your list that don’t engage with any of your products, content, or communication prevents you from understanding your core customer base.
In a previous blog post I talk about how ESSENTIAL this is for profitable email marketing (oopsie poopsie Hasbro…).
Because even if you are e-commerce, your board game marketing isn’t actually targeting the whole planet.
Instead, you are trying to capture anyone that matches the definition of your specific target audience.
And to do that, you need to know:
What subject lines they like…
What kind of content they prefer…
What specific frustrations your game fixes…
What wants and desires your game satisfies…
How they feel about your brand…
What are frustrating aspects about your game/service/product…
What communication style they respond to…
What they tell their friends…
You should consider THAT information more precious than all the jewels of the earth, because it will help you hone in on the particular persons that would LOVE your game.
Which will make all your branding, copywriting, and targeting not only more effecient…
But also make your offer borderline IRRESISTIBLE to your target audience.
This all begs the question… WHEN should you delete emails from your list?
It totally depends on the industry, but…
For board games, TTRPGS, trading card games, and war games… I would say 9 months.
If they haven’t opened ANYTHING from you in 9 months, there is a good chance your emails are going to promotions, spam, or they just don’t care anymore.
In which case you need to craft a killer re-engagement email campaign that attempts to woo them back into your loving arms.
But if that fails, let them know that you will delete their info from your database, and go separate ways… no hard feelings!
