Imagine you’re a store-owner. I’m talking brick-and-mortar store-owner, complete with your very own space, filled with your shiny products strategically placed all over the area.

And there’s no customer there. Only you and your slightly grumpy cashier who’s not really a fan of small talk.

What do you do? (Besides looking for a replacement for your cashier, of course.)

You do everything in your power to get people to come to your store. You run sales. You offer discounts. You promote your products to local media. You even do buy-one-take-one deals.

And then something magical happened. People start coming to your store. They actually go inside the door and wait for you to talk to them.

Owning a store offline and online are the same in this sense: once your prospects come to your store or to your website and engage with you, you can interact with them already.

And in your case as an Ecommerce entrepreneur, once you get their email address, you have the power to reach out and talk to them directly via email.

Do you:

A) Panic and tell them everything all at one go -- the company’s history, your allergies, your best-selling products -- and then ask them to buy from you, subscribe to your newsletter and donate to a charity you support all at the same time?

Or do you:

B) Identify one goal you’d like to achieve by every interaction you’ll have with them. And then end the conversation by directing them towards fulfilling that goal?

If you already do B (in both offline and offline interactions with your audience), give yourself a pat on the back and take a break. You deserve it.

If you do A, though, get your favorite drink and let’s get started on this week’s video: the “one action rule” and how it can help you deliver better emails for your newsletter subscribers.