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How many subscribers should you have before you attempt to market a product?

by vick2011
19 replies
Hi,

I've got basic experience in list building, but I'm curious. What's a good amount of subscribers to have before you start emailing them product information, freebies, products to purchase, etc.
#attempt #market #product #subscribers
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by vick2011 View Post

    What's a good amount of subscribers to have before you start emailing them product information, freebies, products to purchase, etc.
    One. (Why should it be more than one?)
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    • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      One. (Why should it be more than one?)
      True. And determining the effectiveness of your campaigns is really easy.
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    Yes, the real answer is 1 person. To develop a good relationship with your list it has to start at day 1. That is the day they first join your list and that is the day the relationship starts. So you can't have people joining your list and then just expect to wait until you have 100 or 200 or 500 people before you start treating them like a real list. It has to start from day 1 or it won't work. So that means it really should start with your first subscriber.
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    • Profile picture of the author Malcolm Thomas
      Originally Posted by WillR View Post

      Yes, the real answer is 1 person. To develop a good relationship with your list it has to start at day 1. That is the day they first join your list and that is the day the relationship starts. So you can't have people joining your list and then just expect to wait until you have 100 or 200 or 500 people before you start treating them like a real list. It has to start from day 1 or it won't work. So that means it really should start with your first subscriber.
      This. If you wait too long before you begin emailing your subscribers they could end up forgetting about you.
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  • Profile picture of the author vick2011
    Make's sense. Which one of you is going to write a WSO/Guide on "Building a stronger relationship with your subscribers!"?
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by vick2011 View Post

      Which one of you is going to write a WSO/Guide on "Building a stronger relationship with your subscribers!"?
      They don't sell. You'd need to call it "Earn a guaranteed minimum of $200 per day from your subscribers".
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    • Profile picture of the author Martin Avis
      Originally Posted by vick2011 View Post

      Make's sense. Which one of you is going to write a WSO/Guide on "Building a stronger relationship with your subscribers!"?
      I have written it, and it does sell. But at $147 it is not really WSO material!
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  • Profile picture of the author Martin Avis
    A lot of people are saying that you should have one subscriber before you start selling anything, but I beg to differ.

    It depends on the real question.

    If the question is how many subscribers do you need before you can start making sales, the answer is most definitely one. But if the question is how many do you need before you can start writing newsletters and reviews, then that's quite different.

    When I started my first newsletter I had zero subscribers. If we are honest, we almost all start out with nothing. But for the first three weeks before I starting attracting subscribers I still wrote full newsletters, including product reviews and recommendations even though I had nobody to send them out to.

    I felt then - and strongly believe now - that successful newsletter publishers have to learn how to write, and to find out if writing is actually something they can do. That it is somehow easier to do as a dry run.

    So my answer is zero. Don't wait. Start writing today and learn how to do it. When subscribers do start to sign up you'll be far better prepared.
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    • Profile picture of the author WillR
      Originally Posted by Martin.Avis View Post

      So my answer is zero. Don't wait. Start writing today and learn how to do it. When subscribers do start to sign up you'll be far better prepared.
      I'm not sure I agree with that.

      There is no way to tell how well your writing is doing unless you have people to send those newsletters to and you get direct feedback.

      There's no point sitting there and writing out 10-20 newsletters if you haven't even tested your writing skills and style once. You may be on the complete wrong track and there's no way to know that until you put your work infront of real subscribers. The sooner you do that the less time you will waste creating content you 'think' people want.
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      • Profile picture of the author tpw
        Originally Posted by Martin.Avis View Post

        So my answer is zero. Don't wait. Start writing today and learn how to do it. When subscribers do start to sign up you'll be far better prepared.

        I was going to say one, but as soon as you said zero, I realized that I build many of my autoresponder sequences, before I find my first subscriber.


        Originally Posted by WillR View Post

        I'm not sure I agree with that.

        There is no way to tell how well your writing is doing unless you have people to send those newsletters to and you get direct feedback.

        There's no point sitting there and writing out 10-20 newsletters if you haven't even tested your writing skills and style once. You may be on the complete wrong track and there's no way to know that until you put your work infront of real subscribers. The sooner you do that the less time you will waste creating content you 'think' people want.

        I see your point Will, but I disagree.

        If you know who your subscribers should be, then if you can actually bring that target market into your list, you should have some advanced knowledge based on your experience that will let you start building your content, before you actually have feedback from your readers.

        You can always adapt your content later based on feedback, but from a list of 3k, I typically only see a dozen people who ever give feedback.

        At a certain level, you must have confidence enough in what you are doing to build your content without fear of doing it wrong.
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        • Profile picture of the author WillR
          Originally Posted by tpw View Post

          I see your point Will, but I disagree.

          If you know who your subscribers should be, then if you can actually bring that target market into your list, you should have some advanced knowledge based on your experience that will let you start building your content, before you actually have feedback from your readers.

          You can always adapt your content later based on feedback, but from a list of 3k, I typically only see a dozen people who ever give feedback.

          At a certain level, you must have confidence enough in what you are doing to build your content without fear of doing it wrong.
          Fair call. We will have to agree to disagree then.

          It's not even about the knowledge you have. The same knowledge can be presented in very different ways -- some ways will work better than others. The only true test for that is getting your messages out there infront of real people. Until you do that it's nothing more than just an educated guess.

          I would never sit there and write out a huge bunch of autoresponder messages or newsletters unless I have sent out my first one. Never assume anything in marketing. I've had plenty of autoresponder messages that have bombed in the past. Everytime they have I have learnt something else about my market and it shapes the way I write future messages for that market.
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          • Profile picture of the author tpw
            Originally Posted by WillR View Post

            Fair call. We will have to agree to disagree then.

            It's not even about the knowledge you have. The same knowledge can be presented in very different ways -- some ways will work better than others. The only true test for that is getting your messages out there infront of real people. Until you do that it's nothing more than just an educated guess.

            I would never sit there and write out a huge bunch of autoresponder messages or newsletters unless I have sent out my first one. Never assume anything in marketing.

            The most I ever write in advance is 7 messages. Then I follow open rates and unsubscribes closely.

            Since most people will not hit reply, you have to follow your stats closely to see if your messages are on track.

            If people read, continue reading, and don't unsubscribe, then chances are that your content is to their satisfaction.

            Another measure is that I usually drop an offer on days 4 & 5. If people buy those offers, then they are reading my sequence and finding value.
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            Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
            Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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    • Profile picture of the author OnlineStoreHelp
      Originally Posted by Martin.Avis View Post

      A lot of people are saying that you should have one subscriber before you start selling anything, but I beg to differ.

      It depends on the real question.

      If the question is how many subscribers do you need before you can start making sales, the answer is most definitely one. But if the question is how many do you need before you can start writing newsletters and reviews, then that's quite different.

      When I started my first newsletter I had zero subscribers. If we are honest, we almost all start out with nothing. But for the first three weeks before I starting attracting subscribers I still wrote full newsletters, including product reviews and recommendations even though I had nobody to send them out to.

      I felt then - and strongly believe now - that successful newsletter publishers have to learn how to write, and to find out if writing is actually something they can do. That it is somehow easier to do as a dry run.

      So my answer is zero. Don't wait. Start writing today and learn how to do it. When subscribers do start to sign up you'll be far better prepared.
      Or for some of us, thats how we built our list, we created a product and sold it on the Warrior Forum.
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      Not sure what ecommerce solution to use? Watch my video walk through of popular shopping carts.
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  • Profile picture of the author AndrewStark
    Personally I try to get my personality and knowledge across by making regular posts.

    You have to get your list to know, like, and trust you from day one. It's also worth making sure that you actually trust the products you choose to promote. If I buy on your recommendation and the product is a lemon then I'm going to remember you for all the wrong reasons.

    If I buy something and generate a brilliant return on investment I be marking your messages as important and taking the time to check out your stuff.

    Lastly we're in the social media age, so make sure you tell people which sites you use, encouraging interaction and helping people takes time but results in loyalty and more value per subscriber.
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  • Profile picture of the author thedanbrown
    Yaa successfuly email marketing is highly dependent on testing so I would say you should write 1 or 2 messages and then start building your list and add more/test your emails as you continue to get more and more subs.
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  • Profile picture of the author wesawu
    If your goal is to sell products than you need to have an autoresponder series set up and ready to go before you get your first subscriber. Your first subscriber could be you your first sale! So the answer to your question is ONE!
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    One. Start the marketing process as soon as you get your first lead. Do the same thing with your backend list... this list is more valuable anyway, and will give you higher conversions than from a freebie list.
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  • Profile picture of the author Carolyn Webb
    I was taught to start "marketing to my list" before I even had the list built...

    I struggled with this also - and was taught to start your marketing from day one.

    You will be conditioning both yourself and your list to your emails and your emailing habits.
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