Mailing List Mistakes

I'm subscribed to about 20-30 IM mailing lists at any given time, and I see the same mistakes being made over and over. Most are newbie mistakes, so if you're new to running a mailing list or aren't having much luck at converting subscribers into sales, here are eight tips for you to consider.

1) The most common mistake I see is as soon as the marketer gets you on his or her mailing list, you're immediate bombarded by affiliate offers. News flash: Just because you got someone on your list doesn't mean you've earned their trust.

After reading "the money is in the list" enough they seem to have bought into it as though that's the gospel truth. The money is NOT in the list, it's in your relationship to your list.

Solution: Give before you receive. By offering useful information or free products first, your readers will come to appreciate you quicker, and hence, learn to trust you sooner.

Caution: You can give too much as well as not enough. You don't want your readers to become conditioned to expect everything for free. Mix things up, don't ask for a sale with every mailing, sometimes just send out "goodies" they'll like. The principle of social reciprocity will win you sales in time as long as your offers are of interest and fairly priced.

Here's a great example: I purchased a WSO from a fellow Warrior a few days ago. I'd never heard of him before, but I got 16 good quality PLR videos for a great price. The first email he sent (other than the download link) was to give me 5 more PLR videos on another topic. He did to draw my attention to the fact that he'll be releasing a new PLR series soon. He got my attention! If the new series fits in with my marketing subjects and the price is good, I'll buy it. How's that for marketing...he's got me looking forward to spending money with him!

2) Don't wear out your welcome. I've been on lists where the marketer sends out an email every single day, sometimes multiple times each day. One guy sent me 5 emails the first day I was on his list, each promoting the latest and greatest get rich quick product. He lost me on the first day he had me.

When you bombard your subscribers like that it makes you look desperate and greedy. It's not a good way to convert subscribers into sales. It is a good way to lose subscribers though.

Solution: Remember, it's a privilege for you when someone subscribes to your mailing list, but you can lose them much more easily than you got them. Judge the value of your emails from your subscribers' perspective. Are you really trying to help them or are you just trying to pick their pockets?
3) Don't be a shill for every product that comes along just because there's a good commission. I once had a marketer send an email praising a certain product, saying he endorsed it 100%, but the product and the product owner both were developing a bad reputation.

Out of curiosity I wrote the marketer back and asked him if he'd actually tried the product he praised so highly and, to his credit, he confessed he hadn't. He was an affiliate pimp.

Remember this: Once your subscriber believes you're prostituting yourself for a commission you'll never have their trust again!

On the other hand, I don't personally endorse products I haven't tried myself. My readers know that, so my endorsement carries weight with them. My reward? A mailing list of well over 10,000 subscribers. It's not the biggest list in the world, but it's not bad either.

Solution: Choose the products you promote with care or your reputation can go down the same toilet as the unethical marketer. I never ask anyone to endorse my products without offering them a review copy, and if you want my endorsement be prepared to offer a review copy to me or you won't get it - and if your product is crap you still won't get it.

4) Just because you're writing to dozens, hundreds, or thousands of people, don't write like you are - write like you're writing to one person. Why? People aren't sitting around in a group reading your email, it's being read by one person at a time.

Wrong: I've got a special offer for everyone today.

Right: I've got a special offer for you today.

If possible, use mail merge. That's where mailing software will substitute a value for a token. For example, if your subscribers are keep in a database where their first name is kept as a unique entry, you can code something like [first_name] into your email and the mailing software will replace the token with the subscribers first name in every email sent.

Hint: Most people like seeing their own name! Mailing services like Aweber and Get Response have mail merge capabilities. Learning how to use it will help you develop a relationship with your subscribers.

Having your email start off with "Hi John" is far better than starting off with "Hi" or "Dear Friend" or whatever. Remember, every subscriber is special, but it's up to you to make them feel that way.

5) Do you know what the "preview" pane of an email client is? Obviously it's to preview an email to see if you want to read it.

A lot of emails get deleted after a very quick preview, so the intended recipient doesn't read your message beyond the first paragraph or two. If your message isn't being read, the response you hope for won't happen.

Solution: Write your email messages so that there's a compelling reason to open the email visible in the preview pane. If you don't the open rate will be much lower than it should be.

6) Make your words provide the emphasis. In other words, avoid using ALL CAPS and multiple exclamation marks!!! to create emphasis in your message. These tricks make your message look like hype.

Solution: A single exclamation mark where one would be expected is not a problem, but if you have to use these lazy tricks in your message to create points of emphasis, you haven't thought out your message well enough. Think, rewrite, and polish your message so these amateur tactics aren't needed.

7) Use the full URL to reference websites because not every email client turns www,whatever.com into a clickable link, but most will turn http;//www.whatever.com into a link.

8) Let your customer's give you content ideas by reading their emails. If they are having problems, or don't understand something, these are clues that you might be able to turn into content or products.

Hope that helps.