Melanie, I can see that you’ve received plenty of reassurances in the comments. And yet I still want to add my own!

I have been aware from the start that you are in business, that you would be offering affiliate links, and that you had information that I wanted to hear about. It’s a good thing to continue to hone and refine your emails and your approach — so I wouldn’t say, “you’re fine, don’t change a thing”. However, I found you to be perfectly clear and understandable. 😉

Don’t let this get you down, and keep working to make things better. And in the end, like many already said, the unhappy people will never go away. Think about the industry — in the old days of direct mail marketing, you “spam” thousands of folks and some little 3% (if you’re lucky) would respond and buy your product. But at least you didn’t have to hear the grumbles of the other 97% who threw your letter or postcard in the trash.

Here on the Net, they can take that moment of irritation and tell you about it. Ick! But… just reality. Even if they *asked* for your emails originally, people often treat marketing emails as if they are some kind of imposition, once they’ve lost interest. It’s as if they don’t realize ALL THEY HAVE TO DO IS UNSUBSCRIBE. Duh!

*grin* So keep up the good work. And don’t take those silly folks personally. And hopefully they won’t negatively impact your Aweber stats if you can give them enough encouragement to unsubscribe when they want to.

Dear Ms Kissell
My name is Mona Lott and I’m a personal friend of Ophelia Knees.

Unfortunately I am the harbinger of bad news; since Ophelia last corresponded with you, events have taken a turn for the worse.

Ophelia has found the whole sorry business most stressful and has had to self medicate with a bottle of rather fine claret.
Whilst the claret has worked wonders on her mental state, it has also left her unable to type… hence my intervention.

One moment she’s calling me….
“What is it Ophelia?… I’m talking to that American lady… well really Ophelia there’s no need for that sort of language!”
Ophelia wishes you well.

I’m sure that the whole sorry business is just a silly misunderstanding, which we can all now put to one side and forget.

Yours in friendship
Mona Lott

BTW – I thought that I recognized your poet friend Vernessa Taylor.
I know the face… perhaps from another website.

Hey Melanie,

If you read one of Brankica’s recent updates she vents about the same too! Apparently a few subscribers reported her as spam for no reason. The point remains that people do get a confirmation link in their inbox when we subscribe; so one actually go through the process twice just to make sure. And then they end up doing this.

I am surprised by why this happens; especially since I know you never offer crappy content and you are pretty clear and transparent on why you are here. I am sorry you had to take the trouble you know. But yes, always remember, you are the best! And we love you! 🙂

I have been following your blog for awhile now and your posts automatically update on my Facebook Fanpage even though I don’t always get a chance to read or comment. With that said, I don’t understand people, I really don’t! We chose to subscribe to your posts because something you said intrigued us enough to hit that button. Somewhere inside of us we felt an urge to follow because we just know there will be more delectable posts coming from you.

My email is constantly bombarded with this, that, and the other and it’s nobody’s fault but my own. If people spent the same amount of time to clean out their emails as they did to complain about something they would find out how stupid they look complaining about something this trivial. If I subscribe to someone’s blog/site and they send me an email I have three choices; open it, ignore it, or unsubscribe. Why do people feel the need to make everything about how inconvenienced they are by something they signed up for… Nobody is putting a gun to their heads and saying, “Sign up now or else.” Nor are they being threatened if they choose to not buy what is being sold.

With everything going on in the world, it saddens me that people find it necessary to stand up and throw a huge fit over “spam” or emails they opted in for over something like cancer, war, abuse, etc… People need to get their priorities straight! By the way, I enjoyed this post and shared it. And whether you post for dough or for show I will still be a loyal subscriber.

Oh, Melanie, this is one of my very big pet peeves. OF COURSE we’re in business and of course we have an obligation to profit — that’s the very definition of what business is.

I love that you’re asking people to unsubscribe, and, in effect, that’s what we do every time we send out a promotional email — we’re asking those who are not interested to either ignore it or to leave our lists. You’re just being proactive about it!

And people, listen here — DON’T mark promotional email as spam if you’ve been enjoying that person’s hard work and free advice and you signed up for it willingly, that’s just not fair. You’ve been taking the free stuff, the least you can do is ignore the promos you don’t want, or unsubscribe. Marking things as spam from bloggers and marketers from whom you’ve been willing to consume the free stuff is rude and akin to going to a restaurant with a big purse to steal all the free stuff off the table and complaining loudly when you get your dinner tab: you want us to give give give, but you’re not willing to pay for the legitimate stuff, or even let us show it to you. AND, it harms our reputation with the mailing houses, too, making it more difficult for us to do business with those who DO want to buy from us. Surprise, there are people who want what we offer.

Sorry, Mel, you opened a wound. Betcha can’t tell this is a thing with me. Kudos for you for running this post.
Marcia

Good post, Melanie. I guess a lot of people don’t realize that while we are committed to give the best of what we know, we all have to pay our bills – and we need to get compensated fairly so that we can continue helping and sharing what we know. There’s nothing wrong with throwing in an occasional link to sth relevant like you do. I think many of us grew up with a distorted look on money and that work is not supposed to be fun or meaningful. Vast subject you touched upon here.

Melanie,

I have this issue with selling even though I came online to earn a living. My issue is I don’t want to bother my readers. But I had someone tell me that I am not bothering them, I am helping them. If I believe in a product, which I only sell what I believe in, then I am helping others fulfill a need or want. This helped me to change my views and tactics.

I think your readers can be loyal and I believe they wouldn’t mind a helpful product and tools here and there. We want to know what helps and works.

~Allie