I received an email message from an Internet marketing guru with the following subject line: “… Why I’m mad at you Mike (Open NOW!).” As a Web lawyer and online entrepreneur, I just knew this was a deceptive email even without opening it.
Why was Mr. Guru “mad?”
I had ‘missed’ his webinar. In fact, I had never registered for it. Because of this ‘failure’ on my part, I was apparently never going to be successful…unless I listened to the replay of the webinar.
Would you listen to a webinar replay from someone pitching it this way? What else would he misrepresent?
Your Web lawyer will tell you it’s perfectly fine to build curiosity in your business marketing with your email subject lines. However, lying for shock value crosses the line. It is unethical and in some instances flat out illegal.
A second point — Mr. Guru’s business has pretty much collapsed and he’s trying to live off of past successes. So not only did he lie about being mad at me, he was also lying in the email about his current status.
How do you regain someone’s trust after pulling such a stunt?
If Mr. Guru had asked me for advice, I’d have told him to be truthful in the subject line, focus on what worked for him in the past, and teach people how to avoid the mistakes that got him into trouble in the first place.
To your online success!
-Mike the Web lawyer
