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Anybody got advice on how to warm up a cold list?

by chris evans
11 replies
hey guys, i've got a list of 9,000 single opt-ins that i haven't spoken to in a while. i've emailed them a couple times with some tips and secrets relating to the reason why they signed up in the first place. the problem is, in each case, i've gotten a complaints score of between 0.5% and 0.73% on aweber. from reading into this, aweber says an acceptable score is only 0.1%. so i'm way over. plus, the open rates, click through rates, and conversion rates on my emails have been very low. does anybody have any advice on what i can do here to warm up this list again? thank you kindly, chris.
#advice #cold #list #warm
  • Profile picture of the author NateDesmond
    Originally Posted by chris evans View Post

    does anybody have any advice on what i can do here to warm up this list again?
    I am by no means an expert (yet) in the field of email marketing, but here are my ideas:
    • Give a freebie - Send out an ebook or other freebie.
    • Run a contest - Give your subscribers a chance to enter in a contest.
    • Re-opt-in your subscribers - Have your subscribers complete another opt-in
    • Announce that you are starting again - Darren Rowse recently did this on his Problogger newsletter list.
    Possibly a combination of two or more of these ideas might help you warm your list successfully.

    Hope this helps!
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    • Profile picture of the author bertuseng
      The best idea with a list like that would be to send them to a squeeze page to double opt in and build a new list from that one.
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    • Profile picture of the author ShawnC
      The suggestions above are all awesome.

      Here's how I did it with one of my lists - cold and disinterested. The list was built from people wanting a free download of an item they needed access to immediately and could care less for after they were done with it.

      I gave them an update to that same product. A freebie. So I suggest you figure out a freebie you can give the list, without them needing to do a thing to receive it.

      Then, I suggest writing a few notes to them over a couple of weeks. Talk about a few things that would be of interest to them, remind them of their freebie, and thank them for reading at the end.

      Then, eventually work in slowly that you are working on something and you look forward to their honest feedback they can give you on it. You look at this list as a place you can go to for help, as they've been giving you such excellent feedback already about your other letters.

      Always be VERY positive and VERY thankful. (without lots of !!!)

      Then, eventually, send them to your squeeze page and ask them for their feedback regarding what you are giving away for free. Ask for advice about the video on the squeeze page. Ask for advice about the free item. Ask them for advice about anything and everything.

      When you get advice, be sure to be thankful for it and take it into consideration. Or implement it immediately and let the list know.

      If you get no advice? Then make up some advice, implement it, and let the list know and hank them for that awesome idea.

      Then - to the new list you've built. Send them another freebie, beyond what the first squeeze freebie was. Thank them for their time. You appreciate them immensely.

      It'll take a little bit of time and effort - but you'll have warmed up a list and built a new list. And you'll have people appreciating you and your efforts, simply because you appreciated them and theirs.
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  • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
    Yep, what bertuseng says is right. The problem is being opt-in instead of confirmed opt-in. It's worth losing a lot of them to get a small percentage to go through it again and confirm. Big difference!

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author awddjawb
    Say you had a list of 43k, would you recommend having them double opt in or just mass email them? What kind of conversions that are different are we looking at?
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    • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
      Originally Posted by awddjawb View Post

      Say you had a list of 43k, would you recommend having them double opt in or just mass email them? What kind of conversions that are different are we looking at?
      Bad idea to just mass email them (spam them), unless they signed up specifically for YOUR information or product before. If you have no personal relationship with them already, it's spam and you'll get some heat. If you really are serious about developing them into a useful list of subscribers, you need to entice them with something valuable to get them on your own list (confirmed opt-in).

      John
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  • Profile picture of the author entry
    Originally Posted by chris evans View Post

    hey guys, i've got a list of 9,000 single opt-ins that i haven't spoken to in a while. i've emailed them a couple times with some tips and secrets relating to the reason why they signed up in the first place. the problem is, in each case, i've gotten a complaints score of between 0.5% and 0.73% on aweber. from reading into this, aweber says an acceptable score is only 0.1%. so i'm way over. plus, the open rates, click through rates, and conversion rates on my emails have been very low. does anybody have any advice on what i can do here to warm up this list again? thank you kindly, chris.
    how to warm up a cold list?

    Try using the hair dryer on it


    (I couldn't resist)
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  • Profile picture of the author chris evans
    wow. great suggestions guys. thank you all for taking the time to respond. very much appreciated. i'm going to follow your advice and send them some free reports and articles and then send them to a new double opt-in squeeze page. i'll work on this and then let you all know how it went. again, thank you for your assistance here. chris.
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  • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
    Chris,

    Kill two birds with one stone here. Offer a free report or something else of value (really), and then have them opt-in to get it (with confirmation, of course). Many people will be happy to do so to get something of value just for signing up. The better your offer, the higher % of confirmers. That's the key.

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author Bayo
    Ask them what they want.

    Send them to a new squeeze page (with an appropriator offer of course).

    You may 'lose' some names in the process as they'll be on your old list but you'll know who is still 'alive' and can focus on those. You'll probably still need to tap the old list from time to time.
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