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Re-emailing neglected list?

by abundantlife085
11 replies
I have an email list of 6000+ that I've neglected for nearly a year while I've been busy with other things.

Any tips for starting up mailing them again?
#list #neglected #reemailing
  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    How long had you been emailing them before you quit?

    One thing I wouldn't do is to just start sending them promotions. What I'd do is send them an email explaining your absence, then offer them a bribe for giving you another try (rather than immediately unsubscribing or reporting you for spam because they've forgotten about you).
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  • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
    Remind them of how they got on your list first thing. That will help reduce spam complaints. Then I would avoid pitching any paid products for at least a couple of emails. That will probably help avoid too many unsubs.

    Spend a little time researching (if you need to) and putting together some really good free info for those first couple of emails. Knock their socks off with value and you'll start to win them back.

    And establish a consistent pattern when it comes to mailing the list once you start again. Others may tell you different, but I find that 3 emails/week is the "sweet spot."

    Good luck!
    John
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  • Profile picture of the author Confined To Life
    I agree with Zeus. Perhaps offer them a welcome-back gift of sorts.
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  • Profile picture of the author Evocess
    Great thread!

    It is nice to see your guys sharing thoughts.
    I have experienced being neglected with the list I have.

    I know it is always a trial and error.

    I will definitely apply the suggestions that are mentioned above.

    Thanks for posting guys.
    -Justin Durano
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    Do a video, explaining why they havent heard from you, and apologize. Tell them you have great stuff coming up, and let them know that they are free to either stay on the list or leave.

    Dont just send a cold email.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dmarcotte
      Originally Posted by John Romaine View Post

      Do a video, explaining why they havent heard from you, and apologize. Tell them you have great stuff coming up, and let them know that they are free to either stay on the list or leave.

      Dont just send a cold email.
      I really like the idea of a video - I don't see a lot of that being done and it would make you stand out. I would also suggest asking them if there is anything they would like to see from you as far as information etc. I would definitely avoid selling anything for at least the first 4 or 5 emails. You need to earn their trust again.

      Good Luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Micheal
    Reintroduce yourself and give them some valuable information.
    Use catchy title, so you can get high open rate.
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  • Profile picture of the author shawoon98
    Buddy,

    A LIST OF 6000+!!!???

    Whoever builds list for his business, knows how hard it is to build a list. If it's a list of REAL subscribers, I can't believe somebody has built a list and neglected all these efforts for about 365 days???:confused:

    Did you get/purchase the list from somewhere or you've built it yourself?

    Originally Posted by itsliz View Post

    I have an email list of 6000+ that I've neglected for nearly a year while I've been busy with other things.

    Any tips for starting up mailing them again?
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    • Profile picture of the author JimDucharme
      Originally Posted by shawoon98 View Post

      Buddy,

      A LIST OF 6000+!!!???

      Whoever builds list for his business, knows how hard it is to build a list. If it's a list of REAL subscribers, I can't believe somebody has built a list and neglected all these efforts for about 365 days???:confused:

      Did you get/purchase the list from somewhere or you've built it yourself?
      Don't be so hard on the OP. Two years ago at a conference I was approached by an organization which claimed to have a list of several million which had not been contacted in almost 5 years. It happens, people and orginizations get distracted and orginizations (especially) can fall into a trap of taking a list for granted. It shouldn't happen, but unfortunately it does. I would think this example is an extreme case however.

      In the case of the list I mentioned above, I advised them that it was unlikely it would be viable now. Of course they could try having it cleaned, but I wouldn't want to guess how small a percentage they would recover from it.

      Itsliz, your biggest challenge may be getting the list imported or if you kept your autoresponder account active during your lack of sends, then the problem may be complaints and or high bounce rates. I would suggest you contact your AR before sending to the list and let them know. I would do this via phone directly. OK, I'm probably being over cautious, but...

      Regards,
      jim
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  • Profile picture of the author abundantlife085
    Thanks for the tips :-)

    I'm thinking what I'll do is send an email explaining the absence, and perhaps set up a short survey asking what their current issues are and let them know I'll be sending over valuable content for them.

    Do you think if I offer a free download of my new kindle book within a few emails that it would be considered a free bribe they'd be happy about? Or do you think it'd be more likely to be seen as an offer and turn them off?

    And yes shawoon98 it is my own list that I built myself. It's crazy & stupid, I know. Call it a bad case of ADD. I also built up a site to over 40,000 visitors per month then neglected that too. I have serious issues with building something up and making it successful then getting bored and abandoning it for something new.

    If anyone has some catchy headline ideas for this please share!

    Thanks again for the advice :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author jasonl70
    I had a list like this.. I had pretty much given up hopes of turning things around with it, so I just said wtf - put a few sentences at the top about how it had been a while since I mailed them, but I came across something pretty cool..** insert promo here **..

    That actually was all it took to bring it back to life. Yes, there was a lot of bounces, etc - but there wasn't enough "badness" to cause any issues with aweber.

    so I say don't sweat it..
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    -Jason

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