What Happened When I Stopped Automating Emails After 8 Years.

Welcome To Mantry Business School…Entrepreneurs are obsessed with automated email flows. People think they are one Klaviyo or Mailchimp abandoned cart email from 5xing revenue. I blame Tim Ferris for convincing everyone that if they automated everything they could spend 80 hours in a hammock doom scrolling.

THE TRUTH IS THE SECOND A CUSTOMER SENSES AN AUTOMATED EMAIL YOU ARE DEAD IN THE WATER.

If you don’t care, they don’t care. Nobody needs your product unless you are water, nutrients or shelter. People will buy from your company because they trust you, see some value and most of all LIKE you or your company.

I’m an idiot but miraculously had the stroke of insight to stop automating emails and begin personally emailing customers about 1.5 years ago and the conversion rate has skyrocketed. We would have like 8 abandon carts a day and I was sending automated emails. Why? Now, especially for sales emails to past customers I include a personal note from me the founder, I mention something about a newsworthy event, I use their name if it’s obvious in the email address or mention a sports team based on their address if I have it.

Imagine the difference between these two emails:

— -

1. Hi! We noticed you bought last year, need any ____, can we help with anything?

vs.

2) Hi Steve! We’re not nominated for an Oscar tonight but we still have great ___. I just wanted to check in and see if you enjoyed the ____. We’re offering 10% off to past customers because we loved them and really want Michigan to beat Ohio State this weekend.

I’m the founder if you need anything or want to tear apart the product so I can learn.

— -

That’s the difference of about a 4x increase in conversion rate.

Conclusion:

If you are sitting there thinking you don’t have time for this, you are in business and nothing drives your business forward like sales. I guarantee if you write 10 cold emails right now to past customers that are genuine you will drive 1 sale or at least receive scathing feedback about how to improve your product. Not selling your product causes more stress and pain and frustration than anything else.

STOP AUTOMATING EVERYTHING, YOU DON’T EVEN DO 50K IN SALES A YEAR.

PS: Newsletters are great for valuable content, send some hot sauce recommendations or link to a blog post you wrote but PERSONALLY write the APE emails (Abandon Carts, Pop-Up Captures & Expired CC Cards)

If you don’t agree, COME AT ME BRO!

-Reggie Milligan, Founder Mantry.com