Do You Appreciate Your Readers? List Management 101

by tpw

Posted: 12 years ago 11 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

They say that "the money is in the list."

And it is... For some folks...

In the right hands, a list is made of GOLD.

In the wrong hands, a list is doo-doo.

I know someone who sent two emails over the weekend and created $1400 from thin air. What is amazing about that is that this person created $1400 for the vendor and $1400 the person to whom I speak. So, in reality, those two emails created $2800 in one day.

How many businesses can actually do that?

Many people will argue that they do not want sales pitches in their mail box, but at $10 per copy sold, 280 people were happy to receive that email from the person I speak of.

280 people were so happy to receive the email they received that they hit the BUY button as a result.

So, this experience begs the following questions to be answered:

Do people really not want to be sold to in emails?

OR, do they want to be told about products that they might want to purchase?

I suspect that people want to be on your list to learn from you. They don't care whether it is YOU sending them content, or if it is YOU sending them to other people's content.

If you refuse to send people the content that they want to consume, just because you might make an affiliate commission on it, will folks be more happy to be on your list or less happy?

NEWS FLASH!!!

If people don't want to buy what you are presenting to them, they will unsubscribe...

If people don't want to buy offers that you make available to them, they will not buy those items...

You cannot please all of the people all of the time...

I know that this is not something you are going to want to hear, but it needs to be said...

Just because you don't want to spend money on your business does not mean that everyone is just like you are...

I share with my readers offers that I believe will help them with their business...

If my readers disagree, they will unsubscribe... And that is a good thing... Because if they don't want to listen to me, then I don't want to have to pay Aweber or GetResponse to send them email that they don't want to read...

Email Marketing works, pure and simple...

But it only works as well as the person who manages the list wants it to work.

People want list owners to help them achieve a goal they have...

People want the list owners to either give them content or point them to content that will help the reader accomplish their goals...

So, let me return now to the headline of this post...

Do you appreciate your readers enough to give them what they want, OR do you think that you are so special that your readers will only want to learn from you?

So tell us, where do you stand on this issue?
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#email marketing #list management #money is in the list #readers #subscribers

Robert Michael 12 years ago

Definitely agree, I actually just got done adding an opt-in to my blog (LOL I've been meaning to do it for like 2 months, but I procrastinate sometimes.. oh well) and writing some decent followups to kind of introduce myself & what not, before I start sending any links to buy anything.

Now I should probably write a few new blog posts, eh? haha

All in all, I think it will be fun

I doubt I'll maintain my 0 unsubscribe stats for long, but hey, its a completely new list & different site.. So whatever. lol I'll still have 2 lists with 0 unsubs!
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Fernando Veloso 12 years ago

Originally Posted by tpw

So tell us, where do you stand on this issue?
.

You know Bill, sometimes it's hard to be rational with "what I know it's good for them" and "what I know they want to get..."

Clearly, for me, it's a 50-50 dilemma, and very often I choose to lose readers as I hammer them with my personal choices. But isn't this the basic rule of having a list? Share our knowledge with them?

Maybe I am the wrong one here, and simply turning it into a "cashcow" is the way to go...
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- tpw 12 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Fernando Veloso
  
  You know Bill, sometimes it's hard to be rational with "what I know it's good for them" and "what I know they want to get..."
  
  I have heard some copy writers say that we should sell them what they want and give them what they need.
  
  There is a very fine line we must walk with that approach, in that we don't want to be deceptive in our copy, but we do want to give folks what they really need.
  
  [ 2 ] Thanks
  
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  Fernando Veloso 12 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by tpw
  
  sell them what they want and give them what they need.
  
  Swiped.
  
  [ 1 ] Thanks
  
  Signature
  
  People make good money selling to the rich. But the rich got rich selling to the masses.
  
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Shaun OReilly 12 years ago

Originally Posted by tpw

Do people really not want to be sold to in emails?

People don't want to be sold BADLY in e-mails.

Too many e-mail 'marketers' have poor sales skills and
come across as only interested in themselves and the
commission, rather than the subscriber.

Originally Posted by tpw

OR, do they want to be told about products that they might want to purchase?

People want to be told about products that help them
to get what they want.

They don't want to hear about products that are
irrelevant to them and that they feel are only being
pimped by the list owner because of the commission
cheque.

It's possible to send content AND offers to your list
if you keep them both relevant and use the proven
principles of good salesmanship.

Dedicated to mutual success,

Shaun
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sanwacik 12 years ago

I certainly agree with you wholeheartedly.

I believe that you need more educational follow ups than promotional. However -

It's important to have promotional emails every so often because we need to
feed our families.

With that said - I always try to send my list content thatI feel may be of interest to them and leave them the option of buying if they wish. And like you said - if they don't like these types of emails - they can just unsubscribe. We all want a targeted list anyway.

I truly believe that it's all in how you treat your list. It's called relationship marketing and people tend to have more respect for those marketers who treat them like they are a person and not a credit card.

A little TLC along with educational content and a pinch of promotional content is in my opinion a pretty good balance for everyone all the way around.
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JimDucharme 12 years ago

Hi Bill,

TY for sharing some good info!

You're right about a list being gold. Email marketing can return on average, 38 dollars for every one dollar invested into it.

I agree that if all you want to do is sell to your list, you're missing out on really reaping the rewards from email marketing. Yes, it's about the conversion in the end, but it's also about the conversation - the relationship and that takes some effort to manage and build. You don't want to get all touchy feely about this, because we are in the business of marketing, but relationship management (list management) is key. You might be able to boil it down to one sentence even: Don't send crap.

Basically I like to say that people don't care what your product or service does -- they care what they can do with it. So, show me how your product or service adds value to my day. Use examples of how others are using your product to add value to their day.

There's an old mantra in the print biz which might be helpful for people trying to decide on what content has value and what doesn't: "Does it serve the reader?" Or to put it another way: "Does this add value to my subscriber's day?"

Regards,
jim
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NinjaTech 12 years ago

I agree People in general will unsubscribe if they dont like what you have to offer them. More likely than most though they will be just curious enough to read what you have to offer and if you educate them along the way they will be more willing to buy what you offer.
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Shaun OReilly 12 years ago

Originally Posted by tpw

Do you appreciate your readers enough to give them what they want?

I just wanted to highlight an important distinction
on giving readers what they want.

Most of the time I give my readers what they want.

However...

Sometimes, what they want is NOT good for them.

What they THINK they want may not serve them
- especially in the long-term.

Therefore, there will be times when I take on more
of a leadership role and NOT give them what they
want if I know it's not in their best interests to do
so.

Dedicated to mutual success,

Shaun
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Rob Howard 12 years ago

What the hell are you talking about, Bill?

Email marketing is dead.

Rob
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- JimDucharme 12 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Rob Howard
  
  What the hell are you talking about, Bill?
  
  Email marketing is dead.
  
  Rob
  
  I'd like to thank the Wall Street Journal for contributing to this thread .
  
  Regards,
  jim
  
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