Building a Relationship with Your List?

To really get the most amount of trust with your list, I would recommend that you email them no more than twice per week, and offer them some free advice, a free report or ebook that will genuinely help them.

This way, you will be able to send them the occasional promotional email, and you will be more likely to make money.

Sadly without knowing what niche you are involved in, I do not have a clue as to what information or free gifts you could offer.

I'm not sure what kind of WSO's are out there, but I really don't think you need a product to do it. What you need to focus on is providing your list with information that they can actually use. Sure, you're obviously going to try to sell some products along the way, but don't make every single email a sales pitch. Simply by emailing your list to let them know about a new development in your niche - without any kind of sales offer - shows your subscribers that you're really looking out for them and that you see them as more than glorified credit card swipers. That alone will earn you some trust and respect.

Why not go through your own inbox and see what kind of emails you get from various lists? I'm sure you have some that you like more than others. Take a hard look at all of them and see what people are doing to catch your attention and earn your trust - as well as looking for what people are doing wrong. What are people doing that keeps you as a subscriber? What are people doing that makes you dive for the "unsubscribe" button?

Really what you want to do is to give your list good valuable content when you email your list. In fact, you want to give your list stuff that helps them for free more than you want to send them product offers.

As you send them valuable content, this will help build the relationship. Your list will trust you and then when you do have a paid offer, they will purchase.

This is a huge topic for debate and one in which I have researched immensely along with sales funnels.

Ok, I have tested tracked and tweaked my list since day 1.. I'm an e mail marketer and 90% of my revenue comes from my list, so I will share a couple of points from my own short but very much split tested campaigns.

Firstly before even thinkng about building a new list.. you need to consider "how qualified your subscribers are".. basically how likely are they to spend money with you!

This will vary from traffic sources.. i.e I set up a list to just track the responsiveness of the subscribers I added through JV Giveaways..
The open rate was 6% at best.. That's because they aren't interested in spending money in their niche only gaining free content.

Building what is called a buyers list is the best approach.. this means someone has purchased a product or something and you have added them to your list that way.

This is the best type of list to build as they have proven they are serious about their niche and willing to spend money to learn (make sure your product is kick ass value and quality as they will be more likely to buy from you again).

OK.. Building relationships..

Here's my tested formula (although what might work for me may not for others!!)

Firstly I provide my list with a newsletter series that is hosted online and packed full of content and video training.

My list receive 1 copy every day for the first seven days where I show them the basics of setting up a web business and building a list.
>>NOTE: I DO NOT PROMOTE ANY PRODUCTS IN THIS PERIOD!

After seven days they receive 1 copy every week.

During this seven days I have also 1 e mail which gives my subscriber an insight into me and my personal life.. I also have a link which will direct them to my blog-about me page where they can learn more about me.
(This is IMPORTANT for building a relationship with your list).

After 7 days I incorporate my first promo e mail which is three e mails over 1 week promoting the same product.

I then promote to my list every 3-4 weeks (same routing 3 e mails in 1 week promoting the same product...)

My list receive far more content than promo based e mails (again this is important, don't abuse the privilage of the trust your subscriber has placed with you)...

If you put the needs of your list before your own then you will do well as an e mail marketer..

Also track your campaigns and split test and tweak.

I see far to many people thinking that need to double their traffic in order to gain leads to double their revenue.
The key is improving what you already have till you know that your backend funnel cant convert any better.

Building a relationship with your list is a surefire way to improve your conversions and boost your revenue

Remember these are people with real needs and problems, help them achieve their goals and they will reward greatly by opening, reading and clicking the links in your e mails

Hope that helps

P.S Check out Michael Rasmussens "E Mail Promos Exposed".. It is a free course on writing, formatting e mails e.t.c
It covers in great detail some important points in e mail marketing

As others have mentioned this is a BIG topic for email marketers. I can offer you some general advice...

- Don't talk about what your product or service can do, talk about what people can do with it. What value does it add to their lives? Show them how it will do that!

- Curate information from other sources when it's relevant and valuable to your list.

- Give your subscribers information which they can act on to enrich their day.

- As mentioned, offer people some incentives for being subscribers such as reports or white papers or ecoupons.

- Have something to say when you email your list which is relevant and timely. An inox is like a person's front door, respect it.

Shaun had some great points! I like the one about getting personal. In today's world, you have to be ready to share a bit of yourself with honesty and sincerity. I believe Jay Baer described it as "opening the kimono a bit." It's something that good writers know all too well and I've found it to be true just as Shaun mentioned.

In my experience there are two question people ask about new people they encounter:

- Can you hurt me?
(and if the answer is no)
- Can you help me?

Handle those two questions right and you are on your way IMHO.

Regards,
jim

Building a relationship with your list is about being more than just a salesperson who pitches affiliate offers to them everyday.

It's about being a teacher, a friend, a mentor, someone who provides valuable information that makes people want to open your emails instead of hitting spam or delete.

Find out what your list wants and connect with them. Be real, be human and not just some person behind the scenes pushing things on them.

1) Email them no more than twice a week.
2) Give away lots of free, valuable information BEFOR you try to sell them something

It’s important to treat your list with respect!!

You've received some excellent advice from other posters, Exire. Follow it. :-)

Here's my two cents on building a list: remember that your list is people -- individuals. You need to connect with them, both mentally, and emotionally.

Therefore, before you create your list, think carefully about the personas of your members.

For example, if you're creating an IM list, you'd have people at various stages of making money with Internet marketing -- beginners, people who are making $1000 a month, people who are making six figures.

Your list could be further divided, of course, into the various business models that marketers use: affiliate marketing, product creation etc.

You might decide (I would) that this is too amorphous. There's no way you could connect with all these people, because although they're all Internet marketers, they have different challenges and interests.

If I were setting up a new list I'd focus on just beginners to IM (or on beginners in other markets, beginners to weight loss or whatever), because there are more of them, and you'd have more to share with them too.

In a nutshell, creating a relationship STARTS when you understand who your list members are. Then you have a basis for understanding, and you can learn more about them by asking them. Learning about your list never stops. :-)

You also need to consider YOU...

Your list develops a relationship with you, so you need to understand yourself, in relationship to the list. This helps you to set boundaries; things you'll do, and things you won't.

Are you:

* A friend?

* A teacher?

* A companion on the journey?

Developing a list is a lot of fun. You get to know them, and they get to know you. :-)

Angela

thats easy,

if you just bombard with sales offers they will just unsubscribe.

you need to be emailing good quality free info and even free products every week!

that way they will look forward to opening your emails and truct what you say

thanks

TheKaver