I love UNSUBSCRIBES

[Alex Sol]

Hello Warriors!

About a year ago I started building an IM relateded list, using free traffic only, I am at almost 3,000 subscribers.

Of course I promote stuff to that list, but only services/products I used to grow my business, so only the good stuff. However, every time I made a reference to a paid service I also mentioned a similar free service.
(Let's say I recommend HOSTGATOR, I also explain that they could use Weebly or Blogger) - I offered videos on how to make websites with Weebly and so on...

However, every now and than I get e-mails from pissed off subscribers : "WTF, YOU SAID THE COURSE WAS FREE NOW YOU ARE CHARGING ME!"

Every time I get these e-mails I laugh... I usually don't bother replying and explaining, sometimes I even unsubscribe them myself, but I do not understand WHY these people can't unsubscribe? Why do they keep reading my e-mails then complain how I am trying to steal their money... complaining how a FREE course is not to their liking...

I laugh at these poor souls... when I do bother to reply, here is what I usually say:

"Dear ...
Thank You for following this FREE course.
Unfortunately running a business and being financially free is not for everyone. I would like to make one more suggestion for you. Please stop wasting your time reading my useless e-mails and get a second job - that's a real money maker.

Please look at the bottom of this e-mail, there is a link (blue text) which allows you to unsubscribe from my course. Click on it and I will never help you again.

Have a great life,

Alex"

....

How do you react to such people?

[vbkid]

Hey,

Usually mine look like this:


Hello $Name

I have taken you off our mailing list, I apologize for any inconvenience my
FREE course has caused you.

- Management

[Alex Sol]

Originally Posted by vbkid

Hey,

Usually mine look like this:


Hello

I have taken you off our mailing list, I apologize for any inconvenience my
FREE course has caused you.

- Management

Short and to the point... but not sweet enough

[myob]

I don't even wait for free loaders to unsubscribe. If they don't buy anything within 90 days, they get automatically purged. That way, I figure we're not wasting each other's time. No cutsies nor apologies needed.

[Alex Sol]

Originally Posted by myob

I don't even wait for free loaders to unsubscribe. If they don't buy anything within 90 days, they get automatically purged. That way, I figure we're not wasting each other's time. No cutsies nor apologies needed.

Filtering after a while is a great idea!

[Writing Pete]

Good ideas, guys. Just wondering: how to you automatically purge (I'm using Aweber)?

[Kurt Henninger]

Yes, i get questions like that all the time. "Why are you offering something for me to buy? I am sick of people offering things for me to buy online!" are two common retorts.

I usually just tell them its just a reality that eventually when you run a business, you are going to need to buy some useful tools, which is what I recommend to them.

Then I usually unsubscribe them personally when I get a message like that.

[Alex Sol]

Originally Posted by Writing Pete

Good ideas, guys. Just wondering: how to you automatically purge (I'm using Aweber)?

I would like to know that as well

[write-stuff]

Hehe... Pretty funny persepectives. It did make me think about unsubscribers in a different way. Actually, they're a very good thing since they help keep my list clean with people who are interested in what I offer.

Regarding how to purge in aweber, it's very easy. Just log in to your account, pick the list, search for the area in the list where the baddies are, then put a check mark to the right and save.

- Russ

[ccmusicman]

I'm confused on this...Aweber can't keep track of sales, so how do you go about purging a list without doing it manually?

[Steven Carl Kelly]

Originally Posted by Alex Sol

"Dear ...
Thank You for following this FREE course.
Unfortunately running a business and being financially free is not for everyone. I would like to make one more suggestion for you. Please stop wasting your time reading my useless e-mails and get a second job - that's a real money maker.

Please look at the bottom of this e-mail, there is a link (blue text) which allows you to unsubscribe from my course. Click on it and I will never help you again.

Have a great life,

Alex"

Wow. I don't know exactly what to say to that one.

Originally Posted by Alex Sol

How do you react to such people?

I politely offer to manually unsubscribe them and I thank them very much for their patience. I hope one day they'll be a paying customer, so I'd rather not burn that bridge because of a free offer.

[Alex Sol]

Originally Posted by faxinator

Wow. I don't know exactly what to say to that one.

I am just being honest, that's all

I like unsubscribes because it let's me know that I might possibly be doing something wrong.

If I can spot the problem... I can fix it.

Now, if an unsubscriber is rude during their departure, I'm thankful because I know that my list has become that much more targeted.

[Alex Sol]

Originally Posted by marcanthony

I like unsubscribes because it let's me know that I might possibly be doing something wrong.

If I can spot the problem... I can fix it.

Now, if an unsubscriber is rude during their departure, I'm thankful because I know that my list has become that much more targeted.

I think this is why I always smile when I get an unsubscribe. This person obviously does not want to pay for ANYTHING, I certainly wouldn't want to waste my time on such subscriber.

Originally Posted by Alex Sol

This person obviously does not want to pay for ANYTHING, I certainly wouldn't want to waste my time on such subscriber.

I hear you... I definitely don't want people on my list against their will.

However, I usually place the blame on myself when someone unsubscribes from my list... I believe that is where the problem is born.

If I offered more, maybe they would not have unsubscribed.

Unfortunately, you can't please everyone though.

Overall, I would rather my list stay in tact...

Peace

[ptone]

Yeah it's funny how much a pain in the a$$ potential customers can be. What's really great is when you keep unsubscribing your members and your list grows to zero! Now they won't be bothering you anymore.

[Mark Hess]

If you are getting that many unsubscribes and angry comments that means you are doing more spamming than e-mail marketing

[lstoops]

I don't take it personally and move on knowing there are people out there who DO like what I have to offer. It's better they're gone!

But that's a good idea about purging the non buyers although that would be a very manual process.

[bhuff85]

Originally Posted by ccmusicman

I'm confused on this...Aweber can't keep track of sales, so how do you go about purging a list without doing it manually?

It's fairly simple. Here's an example:

You have list A, which is the first list people subscribe to and a list B, which is where your subscribers who've bought products from you are.

When a person causes an action (purchases a product) from list A, you have them enter their e-mail address to get their product download. They will be entering their e-mail to actually subscribe to list B.

So, you setup an automation action on Aweber, so when they subscribe to list B, it will remove them from list A.

After awhile, you'll easily be able to see who your buyers are. And, if a person doesn't buy within a certain timeframe, then you can just delete them out of your list.

Hope that makes a little sense. Not the easiest thing in the world, but it helps.

[Thomas Belknap]

I got out of the habit of building lists with freebies.

[MikeA]

When someone emails me and asks me to unsubscribe them (rather than clicking on the unsubscribe link), I generally just unsubscribe them and send a really quick reply, "You have been unsubscribed, as requested."

If they are rude or crazy, I just unsubscribe them and don't reply at all. If you reply, it's just one more chance for them to go more crazy and report you for spam or something, even though they subscribed. It's not worth wasting any more time on them. They have already wasted time by not just clicking the unsubscribe link.

I do find the unsubscribe reasons people sometimes fill in at Aweber or send by email to be instructive.

Sometimes they tell you what you are doing wrong.

For example, "Too much email," likely means your newsletter is not providing as much value as someone else's that they didn't unsubscribe from.

Other times it gives you some insight into why many don't succeed online.

The other day I put together a package of products with Master Resale Rights or Private Label Rights with a nice new sales page (which they would also receive) and sent the offer to my list of people interested in MRR and PLR.

One person unsubscribed and said it was because some of the products weren't new and they had even seen some of them for free (probably in giveaways).

That may be, but it's one of the hazards of almost all PLR and MRR products. Despite this, I made hundreds of dollars from that email, and they probably could have too.

Still, I did note in my next ad that even though some of the products had been around, the new offer was selling well for me and should for others too!

Mike

[Alex Sol]

Originally Posted by MikeA

When someone emails me and asks me to unsubscribe them (rather than clicking on the unsubscribe link), I generally just unsubscribe them and send a really quick reply, "You have been unsubscribed, as requested."

If they are rude or crazy, I just unsubscribe them and don't reply at all. If you reply, it's just one more chance for them to go more crazy and report you for spam or something, even though they subscribed. It's not worth wasting any more time on them. They have already wasted time by not just clicking the unsubscribe link.

I do find the unsubscribe reasons people sometimes fill in at Aweber or send by email to be instructive.

Sometimes they tell you what you are doing wrong.

For example, "Too much email," likely means your newsletter is not providing as much value as someone else's that they didn't unsubscribe from.

Other times it gives you some insight into why many don't succeed online.

The other day I put together a package of products with Master Resale Rights or Private Label Rights with a nice new sales page (which they would also receive) and sent the offer to my list of people interested in MRR and PLR.

One person unsubscribed and said it was because some of the products weren't new and they had even seen some of them for free (probably in giveaways).

That may be, but it's one of the hazards of almost all PLR and MRR products. Despite this, I made hundreds of dollars from that email, and they probably could have too.

Still, I did note in my next ad that even though some of the products had been around, the new offer was selling well for me and should for others too!

Mike

Thanks for a great reply, Mike.

I don't usually waste my time on these folks either, as they make less then 0.01% of my list but sometimes I feel like having a little fun

I've got 100's of "Thank You" e-mails from my subscribers, those people deserve my attention

[AndyCamden]

I love unsubscribes as well! Might as well decide to be positive about it. Its going to happen no matter what. Thanks for sharing!

[Daniel Scott]

I had someone try and scam me the other day, saying they bought my product and never received it.

I asked for a receipt and the sent me a completely bull**** "receipt number".

I unsubscribed them and emailed them, saying:

"Hi,

Nice try, but I'm not a moron. You've been unsubscribed from the list. I don't take kindly to spammers."

[Nick Brighton]

Sadly, you can't please them all.

I'll clean my list when they complain or ask to
be removed because they don't know how to
remove themselves.

But I wouldn't be rude about it, because the
internet has communities and people talk to
each other...and it's human nature to be drawn
to negativity, so a rant or slate of you and your
website in one major forum and your reputation
is down the pan.

Not smart at all.

I understand your point, particularly when
you see people want to start and run a wildly
successful business for FREE.

The people who think that is possible will never see
the value in anything you offer them, because they
have a seriously misguided and distorted view of
business and life in general.

In other words, you will NEVER succeed without
paying for education, outsourcing, tools and/or
your own time.

[Louis Raven]

Originally Posted by myob

I don't even wait for free loaders to unsubscribe. If they don't buy anything within 90 days, they get automatically purged. That way, I figure we're not wasting each other's time. No cutsies nor apologies needed.

What the..???

You get rid of people if they don't buy within 90 days?

For your own benefit please reconsider what you're doing lol.

In 8 years time I don't even want to calculate how much money you'll be missing from them. Can you imagine Allen Says banning us for lurking too long .

Louis

[JustinPremick]

Originally Posted by ccmusicman

Aweber can't keep track of sales

Actually, this is not correct.

Sale tracking is one of the features of our Email Web Analytics tools. You
can pass sale data automatically to your AWeber account and associate
it with the purchasing subscriber. We call it "Goal Tracking."

In fact, if you sell different products at different price points, you can
even track which product/s each subscriber is buying and how much s/he
is spending.

More on setting up Goal Tracking.

You can also use other criteria to identify non-responsive subscribers
(example: search for people who have not opened a message within the
past X number of months).

I've written a few articles on activity-based email segmentation on the
AWeber blog - here's one example.

Of course, you have to decide how long is long enough to judge a
subscriber as non-responsive, and that time frame will likely vary from
campaign to campaign based on (among other factors) how often you send.

Make no mistake, though - cutting dead weight from your list is smart thinking.

Subscribers can do 4 things with your emails:

1. What you want them to do (whether that's open, click, buy, whatever)
2. Unsubscribe
3. Nothing at all - in other words, just delete the email
4. Report the email as spam

The longer they're doing #3, the more likely they are to eventually do #4.
And that's bad for your deliverability.