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Breaking even on list building

by Harry B
9 replies
Has anyone been able to

1) collect opt ins for email leads in different niches
2) redirect subscribers to an affiliate offer (such as clickbank)
3) made enough sales to cover the cost of building the list?

My problem isn't capturing leads, I can do so at relatively low cost ($1-1.5) but I need to cover the expenses somehow....this is the biggest thing standing between me and a XX,XXX list
#breaking #building #list
  • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
    I mainly buy data and I monetize it with multiple PPL (pay per lead) offers. So my costs to acquire a recipient is a fraction of the cost and I'm promoting free offers, but they still pay well. The responsiveness is nothing compared to an opt-in, so I have to segment the responsive from the non-responsive, but because of the extremely low cost, I can still break-even fairly quickly.

    I also generate real-time co-reg and my cost is typically .45 per user, which is closer to what you are doing, considering that an opt-in is still going to be more responsive than co-reg. The advantage I have is I can get volume really fast. The biggest factor I have found on breaking even is the offer...finding the ones that work best on the font-end and aggressively following up.

    Even with the co-reg, I'm still promoting a PPL offer. I never promote and offer that require a purchase on the front-end. Because then it will certainly take longer to get to break-even.

    The only times that I build build an opt-in list ($1-1.5 cost), is if I was promoting my own offer that is med-high priced. However, I have always purchased data, been doing it for 16+ years and I'm just adverse to paying to pay $1+ for affiliate/cpa promotions.
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    • Profile picture of the author ChantalVanderlaan
      Originally Posted by DIABL0 View Post

      I mainly buy data and I monetize it with multiple PPL (pay per lead) offers. So my costs to acquire a recipient is a fraction of the cost and I'm promoting free offers, but they still pay well.
      What do you mean you buy data? What kind of data?
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      • Profile picture of the author Harry B
        Originally Posted by ChantalVanderlaan View Post

        What do you mean you buy data? What kind of data?

        Yeah, id be interested to know too
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      • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
        Originally Posted by ChantalVanderlaan View Post

        What do you mean you buy data? What kind of data?
        I buy email lists.

        I buy fresh / targeted data that I know what the users are interested in and that a PPL offer exists that matches their interest. I also buy aged data, but it's a bit more involved and requires some additional tools/resources to do.

        I know many will say to never buy a list and for many that may well be good advice. However, there is a big difference between buying a list that you plan to use to try and sell a single product or service (especially if you overpay for it). Compared to buying a list that you promote many free offers (PPL), that have mass appeal and pay/convert well. This is what I have been doing for 16+ years.

        The key to buying data is to always buy a sample before spending a bunch of money and test it. I do this anytime I'm working with a new source or it's a large amount. The only exception is if I'm getting it for such a great deal, that I know it's next to impossible to to go wrong with it. That way I get an idea of how long it's going to take to break-even on it and then based on the results, I know basically what it is worth to me and can try and negotiate the price if necessary.

        With any data you buy, it's never going to be as responsive as an opt-in list you build your self, so you have to make up for this with volume. Which isn't a problem, because you can buy data much faster / cheaper than you could ever build a list. However, you have clean it and then over time, segment the responsive users from the non responsive. Then eventually you get to the point where you are mailing less, but the responsive subset and making far more for the amount sent.

        You repeat the above over and over and in time, you can have a very large responsive list(s) that you can generate massive cost effective traffic.

        While it really does work, it's not a business that's for everyone. It takes money to make money and to get started there are tools, resources and of course data, that you need to buy and it all adds up.

        For those that don't have the budget to get started, I would consider thinking about developing your own PPL offer, as you can do it over time and with a more limited budget. if you develop an offer that converts really well, there are plenty of large affiliates that can produce $10K-$100K+ per month in commission, that are always looking for good offers to run.
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  • Profile picture of the author getbread
    You might have more success creating a product that you can sell for $10 or less. Most clickbank products sell for $37 or $47. It will be difficult to get people to spend that much immediately.
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    • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
      Originally Posted by getbread View Post

      You might have more success creating a product that you can sell for $10 or less. Most clickbank products sell for $37 or $47. It will be difficult to get people to spend that much immediately.
      This is why I promote PPL offers. There is no credit card requires, all a user has to do is fill out a form to make money. So conversion rates are typically much higher than offers that require a purchase.

      I favor offers that have make, get or save money angle to them, as that have been what has overall worked the best for me. They tend to have the greatest mass appeal, so the potential to produce high volume exists. That's not to say that I won't promote an offer that doesn't have some type of money angle to it or even offers that require a purchase. But with them, they still need to have mass appeal. That's always the starting point, when considering what offers to promote.

      There are many PPL offers that pay $20-$60 each (some higher depending on the vertical) that work well on front-end campaigns. Offers that pay much less or even those that require a purchase, I will promote on the back-end.

      However, price alone is not always the most important factor. You could have an offer that pays $9, but it's converts substantially higher, so it could be just as profitable a much higher paying offer. At the same time you could have an offer that pays $90, but if it converts very low, it may not even be worth running.
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  • Profile picture of the author john01a
    If you're building a list of solid leads, wouldn't it be easier to recover your costs over time as you build a relationship with them, rather than as soon as they sign up.

    Or, are you trying to recover your costs of building your list as soon as they sign up?

    If so, maybe something like an OTO/Discount offer work. Although, if it's not your product but an affiliate product, then you'd have to either arrange a discount with the product vendor, or pick a vendor that's already offering a discount deal.
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  • Profile picture of the author mikeplan87
    Where do you get your ppl offers?
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    • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
      Originally Posted by mikeplan87 View Post

      Where do you get your ppl offers?
      The easiest way is to get them is trough CPA networks.

      You can also get them directly from the advertiser. You can get a higher payout and if you can produce volume, you can often get your own unique landing page.

      You can also develop your on PPL offers. To do this you will need to get your own buyers for the leads. I'm sure most people think that getting buyers is going to be difficult, but it's really not that hard. There are tons of companies rely heavily on leads to generate new business. In this case you get 100% of the money, plus you get to monetize all the thank you page traffic and if you can build a goof converting offer, you can get affiliates to run it and you get to keep a copy of all the leads and monetize them. There are big affiliates in PPL that consistently produce $10K-$100K+ per month in PPL commissions and they are always looking for high converting offers to run. While this route is the most work, it can be the most profitable. This is how I got started in the business, as there where no CPA networks back then or none that I knew of at least. So I started building my own offers out of necessity.
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