26 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
26 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

The $1 Per Subscriber Earner

by TakenAction
20 replies
What do you think are the major differences between:

The $1 Per Subscriber Earner VS $10 Per Subscriber Earner [As an example]

I'm sure many of you will say relationship building [which is correct]
but I want to to get down to the specifics.

What do you do to go above and beyond for your list?
#earner #subscriber
  • Profile picture of the author Lucian Lada
    There are a lot of things. From the top of my head I can think of this:

    a) Choosing a product that converts well and has a good payout. I know it sounds easy, but most people don't know how to do this, especially with ClickBank product where people focus on high-gravity products.

    b) Maintaining good open-rates, which is another way of saying developing a strong relationship with your list.

    To be honest, I was thinking of a lot of other things, but it hit me that they mostly fall under the "building a strong relationship" umbrella. Here they are:
    • Offering advice your subscribers are likely to have never seen before. If you're sending them the same emails all the others are saying, you're going to get the results others are getting - mediocre at best.

    • Setting your subscribers expectations, and meeting them every single time. Most people don't even know what that is, let alone do it.

    • Writing in a fun and engaging manner, because let's not hide around the bush (the plant, not the president), people love to get captivated when reading their emails so much, they nearly get hit by a car because they didn't see the red light. (For more than one reason.)

    • Staying well away from tricks to increase sales, like fake countdowns on sales pages, using your subscriber's name in the emails, saying all you care is them to solve their problems (yeah, right.), etc.

    • Generally, treating your subscribers like real people, not just lines of emails in a database. This means 100% honesty regarding everything: promoted product features and the fact that you're earning money if they buy it, claims you make in your emails, etc. Honesty really is the way to go, especially in today's IM world where deceiving is called "increasing ROI".

    It's a lot of hard work, at least in the beginning, so it's not everyone's cup of tea.

    To be honest, I think there's a larger gap between $0,10/subscriber/month and $1/subscriber/month, than between the two figures you mentioned ($1 and $10). In other words, it's much easier to get to $10/subscriber/month if you already know how to make $1, than getting to $1 if you can only make $0,10.
    Signature
    Professional autoresponder email writer.
    I also write premium quality articles, e-books, etc.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9506589].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
    Originally Posted by TakenAction View Post

    What do you think are the major differences between:

    The $1 Per Subscriber Earner VS $10 Per Subscriber Earner [As an example]

    I'm sure many of you will say relationship building [which is correct]
    but I want to to get down to the specifics.

    What do you do to go above and beyond for your list?
    To go beyond the $1/subscriber/month figure, you need to
    purposely engineer strong economics into your business.

    This includes having a well-developed funnel of products and
    services at ever increasing price-points.

    E.g. From free, $1 trial (to quickly convert new subscribers into
    buyers), basic entry product (e.g. $7), intermediate product (e.g. $97),
    continuity program (e.g. $47/month), home study program (e.g. $297),
    advanced training course (e.g. $997+), mentoring program (e.g. $5k+),
    etc.

    You can sell your own products and services and/or add some
    affiliate offers to your mix.

    However, you need to have the persuasion chops to be able
    to get your subscribers to know, like and trust you and continue
    to buy many of your recommendations over a long period of
    time.

    Part of this involves providing great content and relevant offers,
    but you need to have another factor too: a distinctive personality
    to differentiate yourself from competitors and help you to build a
    strong bond with your subscribers.

    I hope this helps you.

    Shaun
    Signature

    .

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9506716].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Lucian Lada
    Great to see you back, Shaun. Was it the procrastination problem that kept you away from the forum?

    On topic: I can't believe I forgot about offering increasingly higher-priced products/services to subscribers. Thanks for reminding us.
    Signature
    Professional autoresponder email writer.
    I also write premium quality articles, e-books, etc.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9506827].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      My first reaction was "$9."

      All else being equal, Shaun nailed it.

      If the only item in your funnel is a $10 widget, and you convert 10%, you're at $1/sub.

      If the only item in your funnel is a $100 widget, at the same 10% conversion, you're at $10/sub.

      Lucian also made a good point. The jump from "free" to $1 is a lot further than from $1 to $10. If you build your list from people who just refuse to spend money on what you want to sell, you're out of luck.

      Everybody has something that, if they had the means, they would spend almost without limit to get. Dan Kennedy tells a story about a woman who parks her $70k Mercedes-Benz behind the thrift store and goes in to buy day old bread. He tells another about a college football fan that spent over $100k on an RV in his school colors to go to road games, yet bought most of his clothes at Walmart.

      If you want a $10/subscriber list, you need to attract people with a demonstrated willingness and ability to pay $10 for what you offer, while at the same time filtering out those who won't.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9507143].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        If you want a $10/subscriber list, you need to attract people with a demonstrated willingness and ability to pay $10 for what you offer, while at the same time filtering out those who won't.
        Obviously I like and agree with all the rest of John's post, too, but I just wanted to highlight this part. Especially the words "while at the same time filtering out those who won't".

        Some marketers treat "the opt-in" purely quantitatively and try to build the biggest lists they can, on the (often deeply mistaken) principle that "the biggest list" and "the biggest income" are closely related. Others deliberately use their opt-in method/page/box/process as a "filter" to put some people off. You can guess which group is more likely to build a "$10/subscriber list".

        .
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9507639].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Aaron Autrey
          Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

          Obviously I like and agree with all the rest of John's post, too, but I just wanted to highlight this part. Especially the words "while at the same time filtering out those who won't".

          Some marketers treat "the opt-in" purely quantitatively and try to build the biggest lists they can, on the (often deeply mistaken) principle that "the biggest list" and "the biggest income" are closely related. Others deliberately use their opt-in method/page/box/process as a "filter" to put some people off. You can guess which group is more likely to build a "$10/subscriber list".

          .
          And to your point... 80-90% of the marketers and their squeeze pages here on the WF are trying for the opt-in, not the filter.

          I think an informative (usually 400-800 words-ish) yet catchy squeeze page usually attracts a better customer and buyer than just those trying to get opt-ins. Not the ones (like you explained) with 10 words and half of the words are "Click here to opt in"...

          Sad.

          I'll take a lower opt-in rate any day if I know I can get quality subs and potential customers.
          Signature

          The good thing about this business is that "People don't succeed cause they aim too high and miss, no, they aim too low... and hit. Most people don't aim at all." (Les Brown)

          Not us... Not marketers. We live far above mediocrity. Always keep this in mind at all times..

          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9507779].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
            Originally Posted by marketforus1 View Post

            I'll take a lower opt-in rate any day if I know I can get quality subs and potential customers.
            Amen. I've yet to visit a restaurant that would let me pay the tab with opt-ins. For some reason, they all want money.
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9508307].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
            Banned
            Originally Posted by marketforus1 View Post

            I'll take a lower opt-in rate any day if I know I can get quality subs and potential customers.
            Absolutely - I agree unreservedly.

            It can be quite a difficult thing to appreciate, I think. I remember being very surprised indeed by some of my earlier split-test results, on this issue. (I didn't at the time understand the reasons - worked them out only later as "results" built up and seemed simply irrefutable).

            When I start a new niche-site/list to promote (mostly) ClickBank-type products, I expect to earn more from a list built by opting in 15% of the visitors to a content-rich little site than I can earn from a list built by opting in 45% of the visitors to a squeeze page. My traffic demographics are broadly similar in all my niches (mostly because I generate the bulk of my traffic in the same way, in accordance with own limited traffic-generation skill-set), and in the long run the inescapable conclusion is that my optimal subscribers, who are most likely to buy repeatedly, include people who simply won't opt in via a squeeze page. "Strange", perhaps, that capturing 15% of the traffic works out better than capturing 45% it, but they really are different people (or, at least, a significant enough number of them are, to "make all the difference".)

            .
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9508364].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Autrey
    Yeah the more informative the "content-rich little site" (with an opt-in form at the bottom of course) as you put it, the better.

    I'd rather learn about HOW to decorate my son's bedroom ceiling, and WHY I should use the product or service you're offering me... I need information first.

    As opposed to "How I made $325,527.68 the last 9 months, Put your email address Here"
    Signature

    The good thing about this business is that "People don't succeed cause they aim too high and miss, no, they aim too low... and hit. Most people don't aim at all." (Les Brown)

    Not us... Not marketers. We live far above mediocrity. Always keep this in mind at all times..

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9508569].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author JensSteyaert
      Originally Posted by marketforus1 View Post

      Yeah the more informative the "content-rich little site" (with an opt-in form at the bottom of course) as you put it, the better.

      I'd rather learn about HOW to decorate my son's bedroom ceiling, and WHY I should use the product or service you're offering me... I need information first.

      As opposed to "How I made $325,527.68 the last 9 months, Put your email address Here"
      I understand what you are saying, this topic has been brought up a lot. However if you look at some of the biggest marketers, most of the time they use the squeeze pages you don't like.

      Example: check out 2 squeeze pages Frank Kern used to promote his "mass conversion" program:
      Video 2
      Video 3 (just for example purposes ofcouse)

      He's probably one of the most successful IM's around and he uses these simple squeeze pages to get people in his funnel. What's the difference with 90% of other marketers?
      He provides tons of value after people opt in before he sells his product(s).

      So in other words, a squeeze page has only one goal: get people in your funnel. If this didn't work you wouldn't see those guys use them...What makes them stand out is how they craft their funnel to get people to buy their products. (And no it's not by offerig a free plr report)
      Signature

      Join ADZbuzz Here:

      ADZbuzz Social Network And Content Discovery Platform

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9508640].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author TakenAction
        Originally Posted by JensSteyaert View Post

        .So in other words, a squeeze page has only one goal: get people in your funnel. If this didn't work you wouldn't see those guys use them...What makes them stand out is how they craft their funnel to get people to buy their products. (And no it's not by offerig a free plr report)
        I agree.

        Squeeze pages are designed to get people into the funnel. It is then your job to turn them into buyers.

        I can see why everyone is saying that a "filtered" 15% optin on a content rich site is going to track higher quality subscribers than a short Squeeze page that gets 50% optin. I defnitely see where you guys are coming from.

        Although, I highly believe the squeeze page 50% optin method can do equally as well.

        I believe that because as long as you give the "freebie seekers" something of high value that they wont get anywhere else and then follow up with a low-cost product [$10 product or so] that solves a problem for them you have successfully converted one of these squeeze page "low quality freebie seekers" into a buyer.

        As long as you continue to give free valuable content and engage with them then there is no reason why they wouldn't hesitate to purchase your $47 main product w/ $97 upsell product etc.

        Build the relationship, give free valuable content, engage, and condition them to buy.
        Signature

        The best thing you can do is put yourself out there.

        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9604277].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
          Originally Posted by TakenAction View Post

          Although, I highly believe the squeeze page 50% optin method can do equally as well.
          The trick is, most people - at least the ones having trouble - are looking at the "squeeze" as some sort of voodoo that turns people into buyers. So they craft (or buy, or steal) an incentive designed to get a bunch of people to convert, and then send things and offers that don't make sense.

          If you insist on using a squeeze (buy or fly) page, do some proper setup before sending people to the page. Sending raw traffic, like from ads, directly to the squeeze might get you that 50% opt in, but it also many times gets you unresponsive people who filter you out once they have the freebie.

          Follow the drug dealer model (legally). Give them a taste, get them hooked on your value, then set the hook with the squeeze page.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9605175].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author TakenAction
            Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post


            If you insist on using a squeeze (buy or fly) page, do some proper setup before sending people to the page. Sending raw traffic, like from ads, directly to the squeeze might get you that 50% opt in, but it also many times gets you unresponsive people who filter you out once they have the freebie.

            Follow the drug dealer model (legally). Give them a taste, get them hooked on your value, then set the hook with the squeeze page.
            The "get them hooked" and then send the squeeze page is something I definitely want to test here soon VS what I'm doing now [FB ads>Squeeze]

            For now the ads to the squeeze page will do good. I 100% agree that this method won't go well for 85% people who do it because of what you said. They send random offers and along with that don't know how to engage and they also know to give free content away but they just go copy some PLR article and give it to the list.

            Again, 100% agree most people will want to filter us out once we give them the freebie but its also like what you said above, just at a different time, "get them hooked" and thats the goal with my freebie. Its not PLR and its something they cant really find anywhere else unless they are paying $100+ for it.

            I give them a taste right there and hopefully they are so shocked by the value that they start thinking, "hmmm I wonder what his paid content is like, is his free is THIS GOOD"

            Anyhoo, how do I know this works?

            It worked on me. I must say I do "sub" to lists sometimes for the free giveaway and then unsub, but recently I put my email into someones squeeze for a free giveaway and the content was so helpful I ended up buying his paid content and now I still look out for his emails.
            Signature

            The best thing you can do is put yourself out there.

            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9605713].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
              Originally Posted by TakenAction View Post

              Again, 100% agree most people will want to filter us out once we give them the freebie but its also like what you said above, just at a different time, "get them hooked" and thats the goal with my freebie. Its not PLR and its something they cant really find anywhere else unless they are paying $100+ for it.

              I give them a taste right there and hopefully they are so shocked by the value that they start thinking, "hmmm I wonder what his paid content is like, is his free is THIS GOOD"
              Hard to disagree with this. The problem is that most peoples' free taste isn't all that addictive. If yours is, and I've no good reason to doubt you so far, it's done its job.
              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9605920].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Autrey
    I've seen the 45-minute video. It's not bad.

    I dunno though. Like Alexa said, they really are different people that opt-in to your list as opposed to just a mass amount of idiots who'll never buy anything.
    Signature

    The good thing about this business is that "People don't succeed cause they aim too high and miss, no, they aim too low... and hit. Most people don't aim at all." (Les Brown)

    Not us... Not marketers. We live far above mediocrity. Always keep this in mind at all times..

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9508956].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author JensSteyaert
      Originally Posted by marketforus1 View Post

      I've seen the 45-minute video. It's not bad.

      I dunno though. Like Alexa said, they really are different people that opt-in to your list as opposed to just a mass amount of idiots who'll never buy anything.
      Perhaps, but i rather master the art of turning cold freebie seeker traffic into buyers.

      See what it comes down to is that the first thing you blame is the squeeze page. You get all these opt ins but you can't make any sales, conclusion: everybody that opts in to your squeeze page is a freebie seeker/idiot.

      That's the wrong way of looking at things. People have been saying this for years, yet all succesful marketers still use the same (sort of) squeeze pages as 10 years ago. Your main focus should be how to effectively get your messsage across so people who only have a slight interest in your product open their wallet and buy from you instead of the next marketer.

      If you can do that you'll be glad you get so many opt ins.
      Signature

      Join ADZbuzz Here:

      ADZbuzz Social Network And Content Discovery Platform

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9509934].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Developer99
    John makes some really good points here...nice stories too
    Signature

    Developing software which makes users go WOW
    I love google and yahoohttp://yahoo.com

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9511883].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author nooman ahmed
    I think its being really transparent with your list. Are you actually teaching methods that will actually benefit them or are you just teaching them just to get some money off of them.

    When your list sees that you genuinely want to help them then they will be more inclined to purchase anything you throw at them which will in turn increase your per subscriber earning.
    Signature

    >>>>>FREE TRAINING: Webinar "How to Earn a 6-Figure Side-Income Online"<<<<<

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9606047].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author John Pagulayan
    With everything being equal (list responsiveness and all that...) The only difference between $1 and a $10 subscriber is a VERY DEEP FUNNEL.

    Sure we can always say that a good relationship with your list is number 1. But that's an intangible. That's something that is innate on the list builder and it cannot be learned that easily.

    Whereas everything being equal, having additional offers increases the value of your subscribers not only to $10 but even up to $100 if done right.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9606279].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author TakenAction
      Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

      Hard to disagree with this. The problem is that most peoples' free taste isn't all that addictive. If yours is, and I've no good reason to doubt you so far, it's done its job.
      exactly. People's "free taste" is usually horrible and it KILLS the funnel or at least makes a sizable impact on the future relationship. What I HATE to hear is when there is a WSO on list building or something and the person says, "Okay now go to a PLR site and purchase a guide and that will be your free offer" LIKE WHAT?! NO.

      Originally Posted by naazim ahmed View Post

      I think its being really transparent with your list. Are you actually teaching methods that will actually benefit them or are you just teaching them just to get some money off of them.

      When your list sees that you genuinely want to help them then they will be more inclined to purchase anything you throw at them which will in turn increase your per subscriber earning.
      Very true. Thanks. Usually I try to make a step by step process that they can easily follow that makes it easy for them and "slow enough" to make sure they are not overwhelmed.

      What you said about your list seeing that you genuinely want to help, these days its harder to do this because they hear this almost every welcome email they get when they sub to a list. "Thanks for subscribing to my list, I'm here to help you and want you to succeed" blah blah blah. These days people can spot BS almost instantly.

      Originally Posted by John Pagulayan View Post

      With everything being equal (list responsiveness and all that...) The only difference between $1 and a $10 subscriber is a VERY DEEP FUNNEL.

      Sure we can always say that a good relationship with your list is number 1. But that's an intangible. That's something that is innate on the list builder and it cannot be learned that easily.

      Whereas everything being equal, having additional offers increases the value of your subscribers not only to $10 but even up to $100 if done right.
      YES! Love it. 100% agree. When I first got into list building I just got clickbank offers with 100% commission and sent them off to my list and I didn't get a piece of the upsells etc.

      It's so important to make your own products and upsells and high ticket systems etc. You NEED to be in control of this and reap all the profits from it.

      Average funnel that works well: They optin > $10 [complimentary product to the free offer] > $47 Main product > $97 upsell > $997 high ticket.
      Signature

      The best thing you can do is put yourself out there.

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9607481].message }}

Trending Topics