How well Do you take care of your list?

by kyhell
16 replies
There are really only two lists that I on am that I ever pay any attention to...
Ryan Deiss and Frank kern

I am going to whittle that down to just one list i think because to be quite honest Ryan really has nothing of value for me.

there is a lesson here and it goes as follows... people join your list because they feel you will provide them with something of value. They do not join your list to be pitched.

case in point, Every single email I get From ryan is a pitch either offering a product of his or an affiliate offer (all of which are over priced and under valued IMHO). not once in all the months ive been on his list have i ever received an email with just Value.

Frank Kern on the other hand sent me this email just the other day it goes as follows:

Let me tell you something about YOU.
YOU can do anything you want. YOU are
in control.
YOU can achieve as much success as you
want to.
YOU can and will pick yourself up when
life knocks you down.
I BELIEVE IN YOU.
Thant's all I wanted to say,
Frank
P.S. I'm sending you this because I just spent
some time with my Grandfather today.
He will turn 89 in a few weeks and when I
was younger, he would tell me what I just
told you.
And let me tell you ...I've been knocked on
my ass more times than I can count. And it
was those words that gave me the encouragement
to get back up and keep trying.
We all need someone in our corner. He was in
mine.
I'll be in yours to the best of my ability.
We're innundated with so much negative
crap these days ...we ALL need someone
to encourage us.

Look ...if you're struggling, I've been there
...and I can tell you first hand that it'll get better
if you keep on trying.
I believe in you. Go for it.



not one single pitch or link to a pitch in the entire message. I can honestly say this is by far the best sales pitch i have ever gotten and heres why....


the day i received this i really needed to hear this and i can honestly say it provided value to me and because of this i will buy from frank in the future.

I will on the other hand remove myself from Ryans list. The thing is this your list is important and if you treat your list like your own personal ATM machine and not a valued customer/subscriber then eventually the people on your list just quit listening to you.

Moral of the story: take good care of your list and your list will take good care of you.
#care #list
  • Profile picture of the author webfighter
    Yes, i got that email too. I also read emails from jeff walker and andy jenkins - because even if they're a "pitch", they'll have a story attached to them. These big guys often talk about "expert positioning", and emails like the one you quoted is exactly how you got to affirm that in your market.

    I only have a small list for now, but i make sure that i only send them high quality stuff - even if they're offers. What gets on my nerve is the amount of copy/paste emails promoting products. Its your list and the only person who knows what should be written in your emails is YOU.

    Its all about the relationship, as they say. Your subscribers should be able to recognise your email from between a bunch of crap sitting in their inbox. The fact that I get over 50% clickthroughs on my mailings makes me think I'm doing something right.
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    • Profile picture of the author kyhell
      Originally Posted by webfighter View Post


      Its all about the relationship, as they say. Your subscribers should be able to recognise your email from between a bunch of crap sitting in your inbox. The fact that I get over 50% clickthroughs on my mailings makes me think I'm doing something right.
      50% click through is something to be very proud of.
      i email my list once or twice a month. i post offers rarely and when i do i try to make sure it is the best value possible. i run several lists in several niches and I ran one promo last month for each list and ended up making more from sales from my lists than i did from my sites. My lists are small so i am very careful not to ever abuse them. My unsubscribe percentage is very low and i think that is because i try to make sure that when i press the send button im sending out useful relevant information everytime
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      • Profile picture of the author Peggy Baron
        I, too, have my chosen marketers I actually look forward to getting email from. I could probably lump them into 3 categories:

        1. Great valuable information for ME, where I am now.
        2. Competition - I want to see what they're marketing, how often, what their sales funnel looks like, etc.
        3. Friends in IM so I can give them feedback and/or support.

        I don't do much pitching to my list, except certain lists that ask to be notified when I've got new PLR ready. Otherwise, my emails these days are to send people to my blog where I try to give valuable info myself, and sometimes promote something I find worthwhile.

        Peggy
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        • Profile picture of the author Tyson Faulkner
          My goal with my list is to only send out things that will actually help them whether they're free or not.

          As far as a lists that I join, I tend to join a whole bunch of lists and I usually filter them into a different section in my Gmail account and that way if I ever need a good subject line I can just go through and look for one that catches my eye and that relates to my topic.
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    • Profile picture of the author GeneralTallon
      Originally Posted by webfighter View Post

      Yes, i got that email too. I also read emails from jeff walker and andy jenkins - because even if they're a "pitch", they'll have a story attached to them. These big guys often talk about "expert positioning", and emails like the one you quoted is exactly how you got to affirm that in your market.

      I only have a small list for now, but i make sure that i only send them high quality stuff - even if they're offers. What gets on my nerve is the amount of copy/paste emails promoting products. Its your list and the only person who knows what should be written in your emails is YOU.

      Its all about the relationship, as they say. Your subscribers should be able to recognise your email from between a bunch of crap sitting in their inbox. The fact that I get over 50% clickthroughs on my mailings makes me think I'm doing something right.
      I "Second" Jeff Walker. Amazing Man when it comes to List Building, very down to Earth.


      -Tallon
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  • Profile picture of the author Trieu
    I take good care of my list. I don't promote anything on my list unless its a product I definitely recommend or would use myself. From time to time I also offer free reports as well offering valuable information that I know can help them. At the end of every email I always ask them to hit reply , if there are any questions they would like to ask, and I would always respond to questions sent to me.
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    • Profile picture of the author Daniel Brock
      I think a lot of you fail to realize one crucial flaw with this principle...

      (I did too until a couple weeks ago)

      The majority of your subscriber base will lose interest within 6 months regardless of what you do. They either get bored of IM, they've spent all the money they want to spend on products, or they've made themselves successful to the point where they dont need new products to succeed.

      The other thing you have to understand is that no one has an exclusive list. You can train them to not respond to this, that, and the other, but that won't stop your subscribers from signing up for someone else's list.

      Now...you have to keep in mind while you are trying your best to give away killer content all the time so they keep listening to you, someone else is selling them stuff anyway. There's only so much someone is willing to spend on products, which is why I think it's a bad idea to only promote occasionally and give free content away the rest of the time.

      Eventually they start seeing you as a source of free content because you are giving it away all the time, and stop buying your stuff or affiliate offers.

      I know I'm going to get plenty of sh*t for saying this, but at the end of your day you build a list to make money. Anyone who says otherwise isn't doing the right thing, or is in denial of their true motives so they are perceived as "a good guy" so you join their list. Now of course there is a relation between the value you provide to your list and the money you make, but if you go too far with delivering free stuff you start making less money if you cross the line.

      It's common to hear on the WF that you need to give away insane amounts of value in order to keep people on your list... which is true to WF subscribers... but WF subscribers only.

      I'll let you all in on a little secret here...

      Warrior Forum subscribers are the least profitable ones out of the alternative sources of subscribers I've targeted (I'm not dissing anyone here, just saying this is what I've found). You'll find that with a WF oriented list, the only thing you can sell is your own products to them. When you start pushing affiliate offers, your response drops dramatically regardless of what you push.

      Don't get me wrong, WF is a great way to start building your lists and stuff, but you gotta be careful you don't trap yourself on the WF by being afraid of your list - a lot of marketers here have painted themselves into a box because of this.

      And on a side note, using Frank Kern as your case study is scewed. There isn't a single one of us on this forum that can do what Frank can do with his list because we aren't positioned like him. You can't mimic his marketing and think it will work for you just because "Frank does it"
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      • Profile picture of the author ruch1v
        Originally Posted by Daniel Brock View Post

        I think a lot of you fail to realize one crucial flaw with this principle...

        (I did too until a couple weeks ago)

        The majority of your subscriber base will lose interest within 6 months regardless of what you do. They either get bored of IM, they've spent all the money they want to spend on products, or they've made themselves successful to the point where they dont need new products to succeed.

        The other thing you have to understand is that no one has an exclusive list. You can train them to not respond to this, that, and the other, but that won't stop your subscribers from signing up for someone else's list.

        Now...you have to keep in mind while you are trying your best to give away killer content all the time so they keep listening to you, someone else is selling them stuff anyway. There's only so much someone is willing to spend on products, which is why I think it's a bad idea to only promote occasionally and give free content away the rest of the time.

        Eventually they start seeing you as a source of free content because you are giving it away all the time, and stop buying your stuff or affiliate offers.

        I know I'm going to get plenty of sh*t for saying this, but at the end of your day you build a list to make money. Anyone who says otherwise isn't doing the right thing, or is in denial of their true motives so they are perceived as "a good guy" so you join their list. Now of course there is a relation between the value you provide to your list and the money you make, but if you go too far with delivering free stuff you start making less money if you cross the line.

        It's common to hear on the WF that you need to give away insane amounts of value in order to keep people on your list... which is true to WF subscribers... but WF subscribers only.

        I'll let you all in on a little secret here...

        Warrior Forum subscribers are the least profitable ones out of the alternative sources of subscribers I've targeted (I'm not dissing anyone here, just saying this is what I've found). You'll find that with a WF oriented list, the only thing you can sell is your own products to them. When you start pushing affiliate offers, your response drops dramatically regardless of what you push.

        Don't get me wrong, WF is a great way to start building your lists and stuff, but you gotta be careful you don't trap yourself on the WF by being afraid of your list - a lot of marketers here have painted themselves into a box because of this.

        And on a side note, using Frank Kern as your case study is scewed. There isn't a single one of us on this forum that can do what Frank can do with his list because we aren't positioned like him. You can't mimic his marketing and think it will work for you just because "Frank does it"

        Interesting prespective Dan, but I don't necessarily agree, there are certain affiliates out there who will push every other product under the sun out to their list, whilst there are others who provide content aswell as promote, with these marketers (some, not all), you usually know that they are promoting something because they've reviewed it and truly believe in the product, and not just because of the EPCs or whatever. Mark Ling is a great example of this, and he's usually the number 1/top 3 affiliate for everything he promotes.

        I'm interested to hear what your email strategy is then, as I'm on your list, so I know you do give your subscribers great content

        Ruchi
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        • Profile picture of the author Daniel Brock
          Originally Posted by ruch1v View Post

          Interesting prespective Dan, but I don't necessarily agree, there are certain affiliates out there who will push every other product under the sun out to their list, whilst there are others who provide content aswell as promote, with these marketers (some, not all), you usually know that they are promoting something because they've reviewed it and truly believe in the product, and not just because of the EPCs or whatever. Mark Ling is a great example of this, and he's usually the number 1/top 3 affiliate for everything he promotes.

          I'm interested to hear what your email strategy is then, as I'm on your list, so I know you do give your subscribers great content

          Ruchi
          Oh by all means I'm not saying don't provide free stuff.... just that you should be careful with giving out a ton of free content and only doing one affiliate promotion per month.

          If you are on my list, where I am at with free content per promotion is about where the line is - ive probably even passed the line a bit to be honest. I would say free stuff to promotion ratio should be about 40:60, or 30:70. Even 20:80 would be good if you are fun with your promotions.

          Dan
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          • Profile picture of the author ruch1v
            Originally Posted by Daniel Brock View Post

            Oh by all means I'm not saying don't provide free stuff.... just that you should be careful with giving out a ton of free content and only doing one affiliate promotion per month.

            If you are on my list, where I am at with free content per promotion is about where the line is - ive probably even passed the line a bit to be honest. I would say free stuff to promotion ratio should be about 40:60, or 30:70. Even 20:80 would be good if you are fun with your promotions.

            Dan
            Oh ok, good answer, I just don't think your list should be used as an ATM machine which you tap into every few days without giving anything back (which I know is not what you're saying, but I just really hate those kind of marketers). I know I don't monetize my list anywhere near as enough as I give more free stuff than content, but I'm aware that I'm not doing it the right way either.

            If we go back to the Frank Kern example, I think he goes about it the right way, maybe it's not the quantity of free content but the quality that has generated enough good will from his list, that people don't get pissed when he promotes, and yet still buy these 2k products through his link even though he isn't even offering a bonus. Another person I see do this well and still have raving fan subscribers is Lee McIntrye

            Ruchi
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      • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
        Originally Posted by Daniel Brock View Post

        I'll let you all in on a little secret here...

        Warrior Forum subscribers are the least profitable ones out of the alternative sources of subscribers I've targeted (I'm not dissing anyone here, just saying this is what I've found). You'll find that with a WF oriented list, the only thing you can sell is your own products to them. When you start pushing affiliate offers, your response drops dramatically regardless of what you push.
        I love ya, Dan. You're one of my all-time favorite Warriors, but this is so so so wrong! If you're not making good money sending promotions for other people's stuff to your list, you're doing something wrong.

        The key is to provide good content and ideas in the midst of the sales pitch. Talk about your own experiences that relate to the topic of the product you're pitching. Tie it in, transition (thank you Eric Louviere for this concept!). You can regularly send your list affiliate promotions and make good money. But you have to not only use tie-ins to your own experiences and transition smoothly to the sales pitch, you also have to provide real value in some of your other emails.

        Just as an example (not tooting my own horn here because the idea was not mine originally)... last weekend I spent all day Sunday just coming up with a new info product about using Press Releases to build a list. It will never be released as a WSO or sold to the public. It was 100% intended for my list members. The good will that one gesture will engender is worth more than any 5 promotional emails I'll ever send.

        The other point here is to always vet what you promote. Never take a shortcut on this! Be 100% certain that the product is top quality and useful for your list members. Get this wrong one time and you'll know it by the way your list tunes out, drops out, and starts to ignore your emails.

        John
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        • Profile picture of the author myob
          Originally Posted by Daniel Brock View Post

          ...at the end of your day you build a list to make money. Anyone who says otherwise isn't doing the right thing, or is in denial of their true motives so they are perceived as "a good guy" so you join their list...

          ... using Frank Kern as your case study is scewed. There isn't a single one of us on this forum that can do what Frank can do with his list because we aren't positioned like him. You can't mimic his marketing and think it will work for you just because "Frank does it"

          Dan is the man! And much like his, my lists are for marketing and making money; not just to be a nice guy giving away free stuff. Massive amounts of leads get dumped into a huge processing vat with a sales funnel.

          Through this precision and well-oiled lean mean marketing machine my leads get screened, qualified, sorted, filtered, squeezed, hammered, rammed, and extruded until they buy. Non-buying freeloaders get squirted out the back end, but all of my regular buyers are extremely well taken care of and handled with the utmost in customer service and great sensitivity.

          This happens to work exceptionally well for me, but as with everything else, each marketer needs to develop his/her own unique style with clear objectives, and of course continous measuring and testing.
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      • Profile picture of the author eibhlin
        Originally Posted by Daniel Brock View Post

        I'll let you all in on a little secret here...

        Warrior Forum subscribers are the least profitable ones out of the alternative sources of subscribers I've targeted (I'm not dissing anyone here, just saying this is what I've found). You'll find that with a WF oriented list, the only thing you can sell is your own products to them. When you start pushing affiliate offers, your response drops dramatically regardless of what you push.
        Dan, your viewpoint may be slightly skewed. I'm on your list, and I enjoyed one someone else's video pitch you linked to last week, but I didn't order his product.

        The reason is simple, and it may be unique to your list and just a few others' lists: Your products are so good, we're spoiled. It's going to take one heck of a good offer to get us to part with money since we're used to how much you deliver.

        Sure, I'm on a couple of lists where, if they recommend something, it's generally worth buying. In their price range -- usually under $20 -- if a few products are duds, it's okay. (Their own products are often ho-hum. I'm on their lists for their recommendations.)

        Generally, I don't stay on lists that are chatty. Link to a blog post, or tell me straight-out why I should be interested in the product. Transitions? I skip them and scan emails for the steak, not the sizzle.

        I stay on your list (and leave many others) because I'm interested in your products. So far, most of your recommendations haven't been that appealing once I got to the sales page, or it was for a business model with little application to what I'm doing. (Admittedly, mine is a quirky model.)

        If others are like me, that may be why your WF lists don't produce strong results unless you're talking about a product you've created. A lot of the others' products sound too much like clones, and -- spending time at WF -- we recognize them for what they are.

        You're an original. That's what we're looking for: Products that are fresh, new, useful and worth buying.

        IMO, that's why your own products sell far better than your recommendations do.
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  • Profile picture of the author NateC
    I am on lists of some pretty big names, and most I open occasionally to get pointers and see their sequence. It is too bad that most just spam my inbox with offers, some have done it 3 times a day. You have to send them valuable content and when they see that you want to actually help them instead of must pitching the next product they will open and respond. Most people neglect their list and then they wonder why their sales aren't higher...
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  • Profile picture of the author Lilach
    Dan

    I loved your post and completely agree

    I had someone unsubscribe from my list this morning and their response was "I'm not interested in buying anything, I just want to receive information".

    Well that's fine, because I'm only interested in people buying from me!!! Now of course that's rather ruthless me saying that and I give loads of value away, loads of free stuff too. But I'm in business and I'm in business to make money. I don't want people on my list who are purely free loaders and will never ever buy. Of course you get them and that's fine, at the back of our minds we always hope we can change their mind and make them buy one day....

    Frank Kern is an interesting example, whilst he is incredibly well respected in the industry he also sends a hell of a lot of emails and most people, just can't get away with that. If you're sending emails out daily you're going to get a high ratio of unsubscribers which means you have to be able to generate a higher sign up rate which is great if you are Frank Kern but not necessarily for the likes of us who are lucky if we generate 100 sign up's a day.
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  • Profile picture of the author celente
    i am a true belivers and actually done tests on treating your list well.

    1) I had one list and treated them ok, but it was my control measure.

    2) the next list was exactly the same size, but I bent over backwards for them, free videos, pdfs, reports little tidbits and sort of treated them like a gmail pen pal.

    It was just an experiment.

    which one did the best /????

    2) by about 800%, I nurtured them and even answered emails if they came. But it was a test for me and proof, that the money is not really in the list, but how well you can communicate and related to the people on there.

    Because their humble hero and you will have a buying customer for life. That was what I figured out.
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