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Do You Ask Your Readers What They Want?

by Shaolinsteve
12 replies
As the title states:

"Do You Ask Your Readers What They Want?"

I have been signed up to many lists in the past and I rarely get that kind of response from any list. The closest I have been, is being asked to fill in a survey but even still, today those are not used often as much as it should.

Are many people writing content for the search engines or to write content that provides information viewers ask for and possibly improve the likelihood of socially sharing that content?
#readers
  • Profile picture of the author Confined To Life
    When I send emails out to my list, they're usually related to a topic. I try to make sure they learn something about email marketing each and every email. If I were to write an email asking them for feedback, they may respond negatively. That's what's stopping me from doing it. :/
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    • Profile picture of the author Shaolinsteve
      Originally Posted by Confined To Life View Post

      When I send emails out to my list, they're usually related to a topic. I try to make sure they learn something about email marketing each and every email. If I were to write an email asking them for feedback, they may respond negatively. That's what's stopping me from doing it. :/
      I don't think you have to personally ask for feedback, you could always ask them if there is anything they have always wanted to learn about or want to know more about, then make a video or something that goes into more detail for them. I think the key to surveys is keeping it dead simple, I was quite surprised how many people react to answering a survey that is only 2 questions.

      Those questions can save your a** big time to ensure you are on the right track and what you may need to do for future content.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnTimmins
    Originally Posted by Shaolinsteve View Post

    As the title states:

    "Do You Ask Your Readers What They Want?"

    I have been signed up to many lists in the past and I rarely get that kind of response from any list. The closest I have been, is being asked to fill in a survey but even still, today those are not used often as much as it should.

    Are many people writing content for the search engines or to write content that provides information viewers ask for and possibly improve the likelihood of socially sharing that content?
    I also signed up to various email list expecting to learn my own system that works for me and for FREE. But unfortunately, most of the newsletters are just sent to build trust and eventually persuade to to buy their products or affiliate products. I guess it's pretty common today.

    But I think asking the readers what they want to learn is a must.
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    • Profile picture of the author Shaolinsteve
      Originally Posted by JohnTimmins View Post

      I also signed up to various email list expecting to learn my own system that works for me and for FREE. But unfortunately, most of the newsletters are just sent to build trust and eventually persuade to to buy their products or affiliate products. I guess it's pretty common today.

      But I think asking the readers what they want to learn is a must.
      Agreed,

      I have been on lists where I get a free ebook (TY KINDLY) then within the hour I get an Ad Swap, then following 2 or 3 a day just constantly day after day. Fair enough, the guy is making a ton of money with his huge lists but it's annoying as hell for anyone to be on a list where your just being fed product after product.

      I would prefer to keep my traffic, build steadily and build trust as opposed to always looking for traffic and feeding products to everyone. Maybe that's the secret to success? If it is I don't think I have the bottle to treat my list like that at all.
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  • Profile picture of the author M Thompson
    Originally Posted by Shaolinsteve View Post

    As the title states:

    "Do You Ask Your Readers What They Want?"

    I have been signed up to many lists in the past and I rarely get that kind of response from any list. The closest I have been, is being asked to fill in a survey but even still, today those are not used often as much as it should.

    Are many people writing content for the search engines or to write content that provides information viewers ask for and possibly improve the likelihood of socially sharing that content?

    Email number 2 or 3 in every AR sequence asks the subscriber what they are looking for and what they want to know and what they feel is holding them back..

    How else can you know what your subscribers need... they often get surprised when i reply!
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  • Profile picture of the author Bill Hugall
    I ask my readers what they want. They are the ones who pay the bills. I also do major blast of social signals when I send an email and it helps with my site ranking.
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  • Profile picture of the author cre8ifwealth
    Hi, you can do a survey and offer the subscribers a free gift if they complete the survey.

    By giving out something for free, you will have more subscribers willing to participate in the survey.
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  • Profile picture of the author kb24
    I have a question:

    I am about to start building a list. I do have a autoresponse sequence after they op in to get the free gift does my autoresponse series have to be relavant to what that free gift is about? I would rather start out asking my subscribers what they want and go from there.. but I have been doing research on this and they say its better to be relevant in your autoresponse series.. I don't know which way to go.. any suggestions? Thanks..
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  • Profile picture of the author paul nicholls
    I tend to see what my lists react to the best

    I do this by open rates, click through rates, the engagement of certain topics on my blog and of course how many sales i make on affiliate promotions

    By all means you can survey your list but you need to have a good incentive to give people for completing your survey because otherwise hardly no one will bother
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      I invite feedback from my readers, on all of my lists, to a small range of specific questions, and always get more response than I expect. (I do this only occasionally, and interspersed throughout my long, automated autoresponder series, so I'm effectively almost never asking thousands and thousands of people all at exactly the same time, which would rapidly become unmanageable).

      I have learned some valuable things, this way, and am sure I've benefitted from some small changes I've made in response to subscriber feedback.

      Most (not all!) of them can be acknowledged with a simple, pre-written "thanks very much for your helpful feedback" sort of email, or just a general comment in the next email in the series thanking "the people who kindly replied to the previous message". It's still somewhat time-consuming to do, of course, but I find it worthwhile, overall. I wouldn't presume to try it on the basis of anything like a "formal survey".
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