Summary

The author is upset about a marketer using his dead daughter to emotionally manipulate people into subscribing to his paid newsletter.

Abstract

The author has been following a marketer on Medium for a few years and tried one of his free Notion templates, which led to being automatically signed up for his newsletter. The author was not given the option to opt out and found this to be a smart but frustrating tactic. The marketer then promoted a premium version of the template, offering discounts, which the author found underwhelming and overpriced. The author was then informed of an even greater discount after purchasing the template, which the author found to be an honest mistake. However, the marketer then sent an email using his dead daughter to emotionally manipulate people into subscribing to his paid newsletter, which the author found to be appalling, cynical, unethical, and pathetic.

Opinions

The author finds the marketer's tactics to be smart but frustrating, as they were not given the option to opt out of the newsletter.
The author finds the premium version of the template to be underwhelming and overpriced.
The author finds the marketer's use of his dead daughter to emotionally manipulate people into subscribing to his paid newsletter to be appalling, cynical, unethical, and pathetic.
The author has no respect for these kinds of marketing tactics and even less respect for people deploying them.

He Lost His Daughter and Now He Uses Her to Make Me Sign Up For His Frickin’ Newsletter

I can live with the usual shady marketing tactics, but this is outright repulsive.

I’ve been following a guy on Medium for a few years. I started following him after reading a typical comparison of SaaS tools, I can’t even remember which ones, and I kept reading a portion of the stories he published.

Not long ago, I tried one of his free Notion templates. It was pretty good. I found it a little bit odd that he had them on Gumroad at first (since they where free; he could have just shared it on Medium), but then I read one of his stories about marketing.

It should have been obvious, but I didn’t think about it: the freebies are for gaining leads. How? You’re automatically signed up to his newsletter when “buying” his stuff on Gumroad, even if they cost zero bucks.

It’s a really smart tactic. And I hate it, because I didn’t have the chance to opt out during checkout. Suddenly I just started getting emails from him. Had I been given an option, I would have opted out. I wasn’t the very least upset about this though. I mean, I was already following him on Medium.

The noob marketer

Some weeks after, I got one of these typical marketing emails from him promoting a premium version of the Notion template that was about to be released. An “early access VIP” offering. The regular price is $49, and that’s an extremely hefty price given the pretty basic content of the template, but the “early access” email offered a couple of discounts.

The first offering was a 75% discount, but it was capped: only the first 10 to use the promo code would get it. “In case you missed out on the 75% discount, you can still get a great deal,” the email stated, and that great deal was 50% off.

I was intrigued by the template and decided to buy it at a 50% discounted price. Even at $25, it was underwhelming and definitely overpriced. I still wasn’t upset though, I’ve done much worse investments for a lot more than $25, although the shady “hurry before it’s too late!” tactic annoyed me a bit.

A week after purchasing the template, I received another email, this one announcing the official pre-launch. Isn’t that a bit silly, even in terms of marketing? First “early access,” then “pre-launch” and then finally an official launch? I mean, come on. Just frickin’ ship it!

Anyway. In this email, I was again informed about the 50% discount (that I had already accepted) but now I was also told that I could get it for $10?! So much for being an “early access VIP.” I still wasn’t really upset though. Annoyed, yes. But I could live with it. Only an effin’ noob would give a discount and then an even greater discount after a purchase, so I figured this was an honest mistake.

And then he sent the email that made me unsubscribe and unfollow him on every existing platform out there.

”I Lost My Daughter and Nothing Will Ever Be the Same”

The email title read I Lost My Daughter and Nothing Will Ever Be the Same. I started reading thinking that it might be something that had happened recently. Turns out it happened 2 years ago.

As I reach the end of the email, the story is cut short in a typical cliffhanger kind of way. It ends with the word “unbearable”.

And then I see this:

What. The. Actual. Feck.

I bought this dude’s overpriced Notion template and now he’s using his dead daughter to tap into my emotions just to make me subscribe to a frickin’ paid newsletter?!

I’m not upset about this. I’m furious. This is so appalling that I find myself in lack of words for it. Not only is it extremely cynical and, if you ask me, unethical, but downright pathetic.

This is the very reason I hate approximately 95% of the marketing industry.

No, I’m not gonna subscribe to your fucking newsletter to read about your family’s personal tragedy. Yes, I’m aware that fluff specialists say that you should write engaging content that taps into people’s emotions, but there are limits and you just crossed a pretty darn important one, all to make a few extra bucks.

Gosh, I’m getting even more riled up writing about it. I almost feel like screaming from the top of my lungs:

Screw you! Screw you and your fucking marketing stunts!

I sincerely hope he reconsiders his appalling marketing tactics, although I doubt he will. I’m not gonna stick around to find out though.

Mark my words: I have no respect for these kind of tactics and even less respect for people deploying them.

Shame on you.