Lies, Open Rates, Click-thru Rates, Conversion Statistics

Wow, I've never managed a list quite that size before... maybe about 1/4 of that though

I agree about needing large numbers to get anything statistically significant, and also about the importance of new methods like snail mail, fax lists, etc. Funny, all the stuff that was going out of style is now becoming lucrative again due to lack of competition

Hi Willie,
This is a timely thread for me..

I've been analyzing statistical data forever, and recently my own data, and analyzing the latter against the former...

Here's what I've found:
My list is 50% buyers 50% freebie offers.

The people who opted in for my freebies buy the stuff I send them affiliate links to (which oddly, never had a thing to do with the freebie I offered them in the first place.)

I've been told that an industry standard open rate is 2%, mine is 4%.
I've been told that an industry standard click through rate is 1%, mine is 1.8%

My list is small, under 1,000, but they are loyal, and 'rabid' about one particular niche, which I only market products as an affiliate.

I've not tested texting just yet, and my social media campaigns are too small to really receive enough data to even analyze.

-Dani

My list doesn't buy readily, since they're largely intermediate to advanced level full-time internet marketers in the over-40 age bracket. They can afford to buy stuff; they just honestly don't need a lot of stuff, don't tend to buy what they don't need, and have high standards for what they do need.

I have high open and click-thru rates, though. They'll read my emails, and they'll read your sales page, but conversion from a mailing tends to be in the low single-digits simply because they're not "I MUST HAVE THAT" sort of people.

Consequently, I know better than to mail them every offer that comes out. In general, I get the best results from sending offers I've personally created or bought.

This is what the industry often calls a "crap" list, because it's not a profit centre. I tend to think it's a pretty awesome list, because my list members behave more or less like I do myself.

My list is around 10K and my typical open rates are 3-6% with 5% seeming to be the average with click through rates often being 2-5% of the total list...

I thought this to be a little low and have been working to increase it and it is a pretty steady 5% open rate now with the CTR improving as well...

I found that making my subjects less "hypey" and more "normal" I got better open rates (likely due to not hitting the spam box) and that offering them free videos every week along with other freebies has really helped to drive the responsiveness up...

Of course I also don't adswap a lot or do a whole lot of promos so that might help as well...

I think text messaging will definitely help to boost the results...

Thanks Willy for the great post. Is it possible you share the stats when your email campaign is finished?
That would be awesome!

My list is 100% buyers from my various WSO's and webinars, and my average open rate is 30 - 40% with about 25% clicking through to the offer / freebie / whatever.

I always follow these rules:

• I never promote something to my list unless I'm currently using it myself.
• I never promote something to my list unless I would promote it to my kid brother or my girlfriend.
• I do EVERYTHING I can to give my list quality free content, usually delivered through my blog.

People are sophisticated. They can sense when you're looking out for them. I REALLY want to help everyone on my list succeed and get some real freedom in their lives. I think that kind of attitude is something that comes through in your mailings. Hopefully, it's contagious as well!

Russ

Gday Willie, glad to see you didn't forget to mention good ol' direct mail...the forgotten weapon of Internet Marketing

Unbelievably, I just recently started doing a list that I could market to directly.

With about 400 subscribers, 80% proven buyers, I see 30-40% open rate, 10% click through rate (based on all subscrbers), and a conversion rate average below 3% (on total mailed).

I mix information with pitches, and I believe that keeps my open rates decently strong. But I am only guessing at what I think the open rates are that others are getting.

I'm subscribed to over 200 lists in 3-4 markets. I want to keep a pulse on what competitors do and how they do it. It's a free education although some of my mailboxes get kind of plugged up quickly.

For people who say that you can't compete with the big guys, especially in the IM niche--I don't think that's true. I often wonder what kind of mentality some of the subscribers to IM related lists have. Most IM related emails treat subscribers like imbeciles. Maybe they are in some cases. Mine are not.

But if you provide some kind (any kind) of value to your subscribers on a regular basis they will open. If I can't get a 18-24% open rate on an email I did something wrong.

And I understand Russ's comments about his WSO buyers being worth 10x what freebie seekers are worth. I agree. But even the freebie seekers from, opt-in pages can be turned into loyal subscribers if you can prove to them they will get something of value from you on a regular basis.

Another thing is that good subscribers can (should) be thought of as an asset. They can function as advance sales agents for your products or services.

I'll give you a little case study, and this may seem a little outdated, but it proves the point of having your subscribers promote for you. The exact technique isn't important, it's the concept of leveraging the assets of your subscribers to earn for you. Really, study this because the concept, although "old school" still works today.

I was an inner-city high school chemistry teacher for 14 years before I quit to write full-time. Even before I quit teaching I had a list of 40,000 chem/bio/physics teachers I was mailing to twice a year. And by mailing, I mean mailing physical, printed catalogs of my books and instructional aids to. The prices of my products ranged from $11.95 up to $1,195.

Below is a bad photo of one of my old catalogs. I sold he company years ago--don't want you to think I'm promoting something here. Just want you to know I'm not blowing hot air out my *ss about this.

(Yes, that's a much younger, thinner me at the bottom of the photo pulling a live rabbit out of a top hat--don't ask.)



Okay, to the right of the catalog is one of the interior pages. All science teachers use the periodic table, especially chemistry teachers. And their students all need them too. So I designed my own periodic table that had a functionality far beyond the classic type sold in most science catalogs. It was printed inside my catalogs and teachers were told they could photocopy them and pass them out to students.

The only different thing about this table was where the red arrow is above. This is the key point. There was a very short blurb addressed to students. I gave my business address and offered a cassette audio tape and 20 page booklet explaining how to solve some of the most difficult types of chemistry problems with ease.

I won't play games with numbers, but I mailed to 40,000 teachers. Each teacher had, let's say, a total of about 120 students all together. Run the numbers in your head. As with all promotions only a certain percentage of readers will buy.

But what was happening was that my subscribers (teachers) had indeed become advance sales agents promoting one of my products to their students. I cannot tell you how many thousands of envelopes I received with ten dollar bills or a check from mommy or daddy ordering the simple product.

You can't get rich selling a $10 product?, Newsflash: You can if you sell enough of them! I bought a Sony high-speed tape duplicator that could copy both sides of a blank audio tape (and copied 7 tapes at a time) in under 30 seconds. I made a butt-whack of money from this and my subscribers (teachers on my list) did the de facto selling for me. My proxy sales force.

Yes, this is old school stuff. I'm an old school guy. But this exact same technique can be applied to getting subscribers to promote digital products for you online. Sit in a dark, quite room--close your eyes--and think of how you could do this. Ideas will come to you. These ideas will whisper softly to you. Listen to them.

Open rates and click rates of your subscribers is important. I'm not suggesting they aren't. But your subscribers should be thought of as more than just walking credit cards who sometimes buy from you.

Turn them into an army of affiliates promoting for you and even if you only get a 1% open rate (yikes!), you could make a killing if you look at them as assets you can leverage to make more sales for you.

I'm not a guru or the very best at what I do, but what I've told you is likely worth many times what you learned in the last $67 product you bought online. Read it once. Read it twice. Sit in the dark and think about it. Then go make some money. Really! --Mike

P.S. Willie, I didn't mean or try to hijack your thread. Apologies. I just love this stuff and tried to help. --Mike

I do NOT monitor "open rates" (because I don't
think they indicate much of value - my opinion)

Here's composite data from my last 10 days of
email marketing:

834 clicks from 17,220 emails sent = 4.8% CTR

It's fairly typical of rates these days, way
down from the heydays of 3 years back, when I'd
consider a mailing that had less than 20% CTR
a "failure".

Buying behavior of my list has remained pretty
constant, however.

From a recent affiliate promotion:

203 clicks, 55 sales, $2.38 per click

Conversion rate computed on sales/clicks was 27%

So highly motivated prospects click - and then
they end up buying

All success
Dr.Mani

P.S. -

The only downside with this is that WHEN you offer
a product to this list at $497, they'll say "What?!
I EXPECT to get this for $7 - or LESS!"



Over-delivering is better done by way of client
support, relevant messaging, encouraging consumption
of what they purchased, answering questions and
clearing up doubts - rather than simply giving
more in product value than they paid for.

Just my 2 cents

P.P.S. -

I don't think Willie answered this, but he's going
to share results of his 800k campaign with members
of his 'Inner Circle' (TIMIC)

@mikemcmillan - While I can't buy in to the subscribing to 200 or more lists (That would KILL my time!) I LOVED your post.

The idea of having teachers basically hand out marketing materials for you was BRILLIANT.

I'm pretty new to the list-building game, but hope I can find more interesting posts like this as I continue to learn more. My approach so far has been to NOT sell subscribers. I figure that whatever I lose in sales or $$ in the short-term I build up in trust-equity by providing useful content and not charging for it. We make our money through other ways, fortunately, (outsourcing, niche sites, etc.) and think it's worth it. We've got a ton of ideas and feedback this way.

Great post. I have a new list of a little more than 1,000 buyers. When I sent out an email I usually get close to 900,000 click through rate and around 80 million sales.

Is that good?