people are getting immune to opt ins

As the dude would say.. "that's just like your opinion, man"

This is a personal opinion, but it appears to me that many marketers fail to realize that the 'relationship' starts off before the prospect has opted in vs after the prospect becomes a subscriber.

By that I mean too many folks throw up a squeeze page with the hopes of getting subscribers to their list without doing anything that makes them stand out, or become what Seth Godin terms 'remarkable', e.g. worth making a remark about.

In essence, you need to distinguish yourself from the herd from the very moment you start your interactions with your prospects. This interaction starts when they land on your squeeze page. If your squeeze page is merely a 'me too' template that others have sworn gets a 50%+ opt-in rate, so you model yours after it, don't be surprised when your prospects only embrace a free offer and shun the relationship you are hoping to develop.

If there is a correlation between throw-away email addresses and a lack of wanting to develop or create a relationship with a marketer on the part of the prospect it is not the fault of the prospect.

Rather it is a lack of value that is being subconsciously imprinted on the prospects mind whereby the value provided for the trading of a name/email address appears to be insufficient from the prospects point of view.

I know when I opt-in to someones' list and I use one of my alternate email addys it is because I'm only in the mood to gamble a tiny bit on whether or not the marketer may turn out to be someone I want to develop a relationship with. If it is someone I truly believe may have the goods that I am looking for they get my real email addy staight away.

A large influence on those decisions is based on the perception I get when I land on their squeeze page. If it looks like a 'me too' page, it sends the message that they don't think highly enough of their subscribers, or perhaps even their offer. However, if they take the time to give upfront value, or even be creative enough so I know they in it for the long haul, and are not just another fly-by-night wannbe, that goes a long way.

Bottom line...if you feel your prospects are immune to your offer you need to change their perception of you as a marketer. So kick it up a notch on the front side before the opt-in occurs.

KJ

Valid point. Remember though, not everyone has been exposed enough to build an immunity. Know thy audience.

But! But! But! I just launched this GREAT ebook/video/audio/robot that shows you how to make $293,482,392,993.93 in only TWO MINUTES! I'm giving away the first chapter to get you on my list so I can message you forever and ever, but if you act RIGHT NOW you'll get it for just $97...

>

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

In all seriousness, you have a great point. Instead of reading Yet Another Free Report, you could be doing something productive.

The reason many of you don't subscribe to lists, or are bored with joining lists is because:

• you are used to joining so many peoples lists
• Know the autoresponder series marketing method
• Have joint many and got little in return
• and think "not another report offered, with a sales pitch"..so you reject and dont opt in.

But think of it in terms of the customer in your niche market(assuming you are in a non IM niche)

They:

• They are new to joining a list (assuming you are in a non IM niche)
• They don't have a clue about email marketing,
• They dont have a clue that you are slowly trying to make money of them
• They want to find more information about tht niche
• They have a problem which they came on your site to find the solution too,
• They can potentially buy from your autoresponder, aslong as you provide them good content, and create a trust relationship with you

So lets not get confused between 'us' internet marketers, and our 'customers' who have no clue about what an opt-in, email series, etc is.

In other words- put yourself in your customers shoes.

So I guess you won't be subscribing to my list then?

I kid. I know exactly what you mean. People need to think of their lists like a TV channel or a magazine. People come for the CONTENT and they absorb the ads while they're there. Whether they're clearly ads, or it's advertorial - no one watches a TV channel of nothing but commercials. No one reads a magazine that's nothing but ads.

(Of course, things like QVC, Home Shopping, and Mail-Order catalogs are different.)

You want to know how to build a KILLER list? This is the secret to how we used to do it at StomperNet when I was there. Ready? Give people awesome stuff for free. Ask them for an email address. Keep sending them awesome stuff for free. Occasionally, send em something that's not for free, but talk about it in a way that connects up with all the free stuff you give them.

The majority of production time when I was there was spent on generating content for the free-line side of the business. The free channel we had there at the time was MORE valuable than a lot of competing paid memberships were. That was the goal.

Note: I haven't worked for StomperNet since I left voluntarily in August of last year, nor do I follow them now that I'm not an employee - I'm speaking strictly of how it was when I was there then. Things are different now from what I understand.

Done. That's it. No big secret. You don't have to "sell" jack. I actually suck at selling. Don't tell anyone.

What I'm good at is getting people to want to buy stuff on their own, and that's all about context and accumulation. Which is the whole point of creating the list. It's a context of CONTROL.

It's your CHANNEL. You need to make people want to tune in, educate while you entertain, and then they will just want the stuff you promote. I can't explain it any simpler than that. Anyone who claims it's more difficult than that hasn't ever tried doing it this simple. I challenge you to test it.

Back to the bit of text I quoted:

I'm tempted to actually test that copy. I have one opt-in list that gets about 10 subs a month and it's for a dead project that never got off the ground. The home page is literally nothing but an opt in box that says "Don't subscribe here - who knows what terrible things might happen." 500+ subs later, and still going. I'm sure some of them are just bot spam, but still.