Is the Customer Always Right?

I subscribe to email newsletters from most of the top copywriters. Got one today from a big name guru who mentioned a survey he'd run recently.

He said that one of the respondents asked for longer, meatier content while another praised him for his short and to-the-point emails.

Guru then went on to explain how you can't please all the people all the time, so focus your efforts on those who like you and forget about the ones who don't.

I disagreed and told him so. Here's our email correspondence with the guru's name removed...

ME: hmmm....well, I agree to a point.

But, if "(name of his subsriber)" is subscribing and taking
the time to answer a survey, I wouldn't exactly call him
someone who "doesn't like you".

A better response than "so what" would be list segmentation.
Offer a shorter version for those who want a shorter version
and a "meatier" version for those who want that.

jf

GURU: In theory you may be right.

But segmenting the list is so logistically difficult, it only
makes sense for major segments.

For instance, I might segment my list into "copywriters" vs.
"Internet marketers."

Not sure I would segment into "prefers short copy" vs. "prefers
long copy" and then have to prepare two different editions of
each e-newsletter.

ME: yes, I would only pay attention to (subscriber) if the
survey showed that he was part of a "significant segment".
BUT... His segment wouldn't have to be THAT significant
numerically. If it turns out he's part of a substantial
group who...

• wants meatier content
• clicks on every link
• hangs out on webpages for a long time
• reads every word
• fills out surveys
• BUYS STUFF

that sounds like the kind of person (group) you might want to
make an effort to please...and I don't think that would be very
hard to do: "Click here for the full article" kind of stuff.

Bottom line, of course: do people like '(subscriber name)' BUY A
LOT OF STUFF? If not,ignore the crank.

jf


What do you think?