A few years ago, my gran Winsome got Facebook. Best thing ever, she tells me.
One small problem: Winsome doesn't have an email address. She doesn't have a mobile. So I did what any tech-savvy son-in-law would do and popped mine in for her.
No big deal, right.
Right.
Since then, she has signed up for jiu-jitsu, weightlifting, golf lessons, a skydiving experience, and a cage fighting event. You could not make this up. Every confirmation email, every follow-up call, every "we noticed you were interested in cage fighting" notification comes straight to me.
All of them.
"She is not throwing hands in a cage — although I should ring Dana White and pitch the idea. That could be fun to watch."
She is not coming to your gym. She is not swinging a seven iron. What she is doing is clicking Sign Up on everything she sees, feeling absolutely delighted about it, and moving on with her day.
Some poor sales team gets the lead. Winsome gets the dopamine hit. Nobody gets a new member. Jason gets 27 text messages and 14 emails.
This is not a Winsome problem. Winsome is thriving.
In her own words: "I don't need the internet, Jason. Just The Facebook and The Netflix."
She has no idea these are the internet. She has no idea what jiu-jitsu is. She signed up anyway.
This is a targeting problem.
Someone is paying to reach customers. Some agency you're keeping on retainer is blasting your ads at everyone, then turning up to the monthly wrap-up with "look at our reach." The reach is great. You're just reaching my gran.
Please — for your ROI and for my sanity — target your ads. Spend your budget on people who are actually going to walk through the door. Not people who will enthusiastically open every door they see and then go home for a biscuit.
Winsome has enough brochures. She is fine.
But you can send those free MMA gloves if you want.