It's like one of those daytime TV commercials for a new kind of blender, but he's selling his own kind of email hucksterism. Ugh.
It does have an infomercial vibe to it, but the groupthink on HN is strong and easy to exploit.
An Introduction to Lifecycle Email
11–20 of 33 posts
Re: An Introduction to Lifecycle Email
#12A tip if you already use lifecycle programs: Set up your marketing automation tool to automatically unsubscribe your recipients from the program, if they are not opening the first 2-3 emails (thereby showing a lack of interest in the specific program). This allows you to keep a higher percentage of email permissions, which you can use for less frequent communication.
Otherwise a large part of the uninterested segment will end up revoking their email permission, i.e. Unsubscribing from your permission base entirely.
Re: An Introduction to Lifecycle Email
#13I don't quite get the supposed-earnings math on the "$200-an-email" example. Sure, you get cash up front - but at the cost of one month's fees (the prepay discount).
Whether that's a win would seem to depend on other variables never discussed, for example what your cost of cash is from other sources, and whether the year-prepay has other benefits (like preventing mid-year lapses due to payment problems or customer second thoughts).
Re: An Introduction to Lifecycle Email
#14A tip if you already use lifecycle programs: Set up your marketing automation tool to automatically unsubscribe your recipients from the program, if they are not opening the first 2-3 emails (thereby showing a lack of interest in the specific program). This allows you to keep a higher percentage of email permissions, which you can use for less frequent communication. Otherwise a large part of the uninterested segment…
What's the best way to do this in Mailchimp?
Re: An Introduction to Lifecycle Email
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
HN users have traditionally been very interested in sharing their experiences in the software business (among, obviously, many other interests). If that doesn't interest you, that's quite alright, but it's not "hucksterism". Also, 'patio11 is one of HN's most valued contributors (as evidenced by his position on the leaderboard). That doesn't mean that he should be exempted from any criticism, but I think in any healt…
> Also, 'patio11 is one of HN's most valued contributors... I'm guessing "kalzumeus.com" and/or "zeeshanm" is "'patio11", but I'm not plugged into the community enough to recognize this august citizen. The article reads like a sleazy, low-grade sales pitch, so I don't see why it deserves any particular respect.
Welcome to HN! I don't know 'zeeshanm. kalzumeus.com is 'patio11's domain.
This is a great way to get a feel for the site and its members: https://news.ycombinator.com/lists
You're not being down voted because of "groupthink", by the way. You're being down voted because you haven't said anything of substance.
Re: An Introduction to Lifecycle Email
#16It's like one of those daytime TV commercials for a new kind of blender, but he's selling his own kind of email hucksterism. Ugh.
HN users have traditionally been very interested in sharing their experiences in the software business (among, obviously, many other interests). If that doesn't interest you, that's quite alright, but it's not "hucksterism". Also, 'patio11 is one of HN's most valued contributors (as evidenced by his position on the leaderboard). That doesn't mean that he should be exempted from any criticism, but I think in any healt…
> 'patio11 is one of HN's most valued contributors (as evidenced by his position on the leaderboard). That […] would at least merit a level of respect that your comment lacks.
No. Being a person is what should afford him due respect, but being a celebrity (or “most valued contributor”) should emphatically not grant him any privileges.
EDIT: Please note that I am agreeing with the fact that patio11 deserves more respect, and that username223 was disrespectful. (I am merely disagreeing with napoleond’s stated reasons for why username223 should have been more respectful.)
Re: An Introduction to Lifecycle Email
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
HN users have traditionally been very interested in sharing their experiences in the software business (among, obviously, many other interests). If that doesn't interest you, that's quite alright, but it's not "hucksterism". Also, 'patio11 is one of HN's most valued contributors (as evidenced by his position on the leaderboard). That doesn't mean that he should be exempted from any criticism, but I think in any healt…
> Also, 'patio11 is one of HN's most valued contributors... I'm guessing "kalzumeus.com" and/or "zeeshanm" is "'patio11", but I'm not plugged into the community enough to recognize this august citizen. The article reads like a sleazy, low-grade sales pitch, so I don't see why it deserves any particular respect.
Hi - I am not patio11 but I like what he writes so that's why sharing it here. Hope this helps.
Re: An Introduction to Lifecycle Email
#18I don't quite get the supposed-earnings math on the "$200-an-email" example. Sure, you get cash up front - but at the cost of one month's fees (the prepay discount). Whether that's a win would seem to depend on other variables never discussed, for example what your cost of cash is from other sources, and whether the year-prepay has other benefits (like preventing mid-year lapses due to payment problems or customer se…
The answers to these questions, and why they're not addressed at length there, is:
1) The typical SaaS company has no meaningful ability to raise capital at cheaper terms than pre-pays offer. If you could get a bank loan for 5% a year, then you actually have to do math here, but you can't get a bank loan for 5% a year as a SaaS company. It's virtually impossible. Not only can my business not get a bank loan, large, successful SaaS companies find it difficult to raise meaningful amounts of money on the terms that e.g. a restaurant would get if they pledged the real estate as collateral.
If you speak to more specialized lenders, you can get them to loan you money based on your existing revenue, but the cost is typically > 10% on an APR basis. If you speak to less-specialized alternative small business lenders, you can easily end up in the 30% region. (OnDeck, for example.) Or you could do merchant cash advantages, which are up their with payday loans, except company-sized.
2) A rule-of-thumb for churn rates on month-to-month SaaS is +/- 5% before you start really working on it, 3% after you've done significant work on that, and 2% if you're among the most successful in the industry. This implies that you expect to lose between ~22% and ~46% of customers in the first 12 months. The yearly discount costs you ~8% and locks in those first 12 months of revenue. Assuming people willing to accept that deal are not a-prior wildly better customers than the median customer at the best month-to-month SaaS companies, it's net-beneficial virtually every time.
Re: An Introduction to Lifecycle Email
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
HN users have traditionally been very interested in sharing their experiences in the software business (among, obviously, many other interests). If that doesn't interest you, that's quite alright, but it's not "hucksterism". Also, 'patio11 is one of HN's most valued contributors (as evidenced by his position on the leaderboard). That doesn't mean that he should be exempted from any criticism, but I think in any healt…
> 'patio11 is one of HN's most valued contributors (as evidenced by his position on the leaderboard). That […] would at least merit a level of respect that your comment lacks. No. Being a person is what should afford him due respect, but being a celebrity (or “ most valued contributor ”) should emphatically not grant him any privileges. EDIT: Please note that I am agreeing with the fact that patio11 deserves more res…
That is neither a description of how the world works nor is it a description of how the world should work. In human communities, social structures evolve around concepts like respect. It's anti-social for newcomers (or anyone else) to disregard those structures, regardless of whether or not it would otherwise be logical to do so.
In theory, HN allows a short-cut past all the social stuff by requiring disagreements to be stated in terms of facts. Of course it doesn't always work out that way in practice, but this is not such an instance because the comment that started this sub-thread didn't provide any substance at all behind its assertions and basically amounted to name-calling.
EDIT to add: Of course I agree that there is a basic level of respect that every person deserves. I'm just pointing out that it's possible to "level up" on that.
Re: An Introduction to Lifecycle Email
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 'patio11 is one of HN's most valued contributors (as evidenced by his position on the leaderboard). That […] would at least merit a level of respect that your comment lacks. No. Being a person is what should afford him due respect, but being a celebrity (or “ most valued contributor ”) should emphatically not grant him any privileges. EDIT: Please note that I am agreeing with the fact that patio11 deserves more res…
That is neither a description of how the world works nor is it a description of how the world should work. In human communities, social structures evolve around concepts like respect. It's anti-social for newcomers (or anyone else) to disregard those structures, regardless of whether or not it would otherwise be logical to do so. In theory, HN allows a short-cut past all the social stuff by requiring disagreements to…
I think two issues are being conflated here – the issue of whether one should be reasonably respectful, and the issue of whether social or other status should garner increasing respect. I only meant to disagree with you on the latter, not on the former.
From the TV series Kung Fu, episode Sun and Cloud Shadow (season 1, episode 8, 1972):
Master Po: “In the pond there are some lotuses which stand above the water. And though their roots feed, they are themselves untouched by it. Some others have risen only to the water's level. And others, are still under water.”
Young Caine: “Shall I seek to measure these differences, Master, that I may treat them differently, each according to his growth?”
Master Po: “Examine the flower. Is not the flower, in each position, yet a flower?”
Young Caine: “Shall I then treat each man the same?”
Master Po: “As far as possible, without surrender. Be on good terms with all.”