Develop a Relationship w/ Your Email list?

Give free offers...Write interesting mails...

I would say one thing is to treat all of them like real humans, and MAKE them know that there is a human behind that newsletter you are sending out to them.

Like what Ben Brandes said above..maybe give them an incentive to do something for you (like maybe even interact with you), and when they do, talk to them like how you would talk to your friends!

I found out the best way to really make a connection is to ask THEM for feedback (with incentive of course) and to REALLY analyse and take action on their feedback.

While what the guys above said IS true - its FAR more important to set expectations ahead of time.

If you set the expectation that they will be getting promotions everyday...but its all good promotions, then you would be surprised.

In fact, if you set that expectation OVER a "free stuff all the time" you will probably find it converts better and here is why: If you give the expectation that all you do is free..all people will want from you is free.

The relationship in your list comes from expectations and fair treatment. Have good products you promote that helps them, set the expectations from your mailings and you'll have a solid relationship.

Rob

By giving away quality content every few days is a great way to earn trust. Ive seen a few idiots write subject headlines like "DOWNLOAD CONFIRMED" or "WANRING: CLICKBANK ERROR", which is a great way to get yourself a lost subscriber real quick.

Don't keep annoying your customers every single day. I think a good ratio is every 2-4 days.. Spread it out.

Its not really that hard. Keep a swipe file of good content and send it to your list!

Open the door to you and your life...give them a little peek inside.

They'll eat it up and draw "closer" to you because of your willingness to be open and honest. This is how you can go from marketer to trusted advisor. Which pulls you even nearer to making a sale. Because we don't buy from those we don't know, like, and trust--right?

I've done this for a number of my clients and the lists really respond to it. Stay with good content, but open yourself up a little bit and let them see who you really are. Then watch what happens.

Give them details about your personal life... pics on your blog, your vacations, big events that you are doing, etc. Makes you more of a real person. Give a mix of free and good promos.

Don't get too caught up with that..

Remember that your job is to MAKE MONEY, so
focus on that instead of the relationship.

Most of us make the mistake of being afraid
of ruining the relationship etc by asking them to
buy stuff and sending too many emails per week.

I say Bull***!

Forget about it, be who you are and just send them
offers they can't refuse!

Igor

Great feedback.
It makes perfect sense, I need to set expectations ahead of time and just be more open about things.

I was focused on making money earlier, but that wasn't working too well. Relationship building is obviously essential.

Thanks guys

Here's the thing about list marketing people don't get...

Relationship building can mean a lot of things...

1. Become "friends" with them
2. Become a source of quality answers
3. Become the source of all their premium solutions that work 100% of the time

You don't have to be friends with someone to have them buy from you.

Here's what you do if you want to any of the 3 methods...

1. Become "friends" with them : To become friends with them be very personal from the start.. Do what has been suggested by others, show pics, talk about your dog, do all the stuff you would with your friends... Ask for feedback and respond when you get it. Ask about their lives, what makes them tick, what ticks them off, you'll get feedback with or without offering incentives (you probably shouldn't offer anything if what you want is a friendly relationship--just ask and you will receive, don't ask marketing questions, ask personal ones that's all) and it will help you build a better rapport with each message.

After a few weeks or months, you'd be surprised how easy it will be to just shoot off emails and cash in when you have more or less true friends on your list.

2. Become a source of quality answers: You don't have to talk about your cat, dog, vacations, what you're doing to become a source of quality answers... You just have to have quality answers and let people know about it... For example there are a good number of warriors here who never talk about their personal lives but have provided such great quality answers over time that other warriors simply LOVE them and will do whatever those people ask them to in most cases. This can be done by being the numero uno of answers to simple and tough questions in your field... for example you don't have to be friends with your pharmacist to follow his recommendations, he just has to be really good at his job and be able to answer your questions when you walk in off the street for example or come in with a prescription from your doctor... he just has to be good at his job... so rather than trying the oh-so-personal approach, sometimes just being damned good at what you is all your list needs to follow you like sheep follow their master... it's not rocket science, it's literally as easy as herding sheep. Except these guys are humans so relate to them as humans with the best answers, articles, software solutions, and whatever else and you'll get the same reaction as a sheep herder does.

Finally...

3. Become the source of all their premium solutions that work 100% of the time: While in step 2 above you don't need to always be selling something to provide great solutions. With this 3rd method you do... This is like setting the tone from day 1 that you only email them when you have something they can buy... OK. That's fair enough, but you'll get the best reactions if those "somethings they can buy" are of the highest quality in the land... well at least as close as possible to that

People will buy from people they don't have personal relationships with who have never shared their expertise free of charge if the seller deals only in top quality 100% of the time and backs it up with great customer service... the word will spread and even if you have to get customers buy advertising one or 2 trials will convince them and they will stay with you for as long as possible or even forever if you just keep doing what you do best that they love... providing top quality premium solutions.

If you think the latter doesn't work, think again, ebay and amazon are built on this firm principle, anyone can do the same just determine and plan on it from day 1.

Bottom line stop thinking about relationship building with your list STRICTLY as a friendship building exercise, as the saying goes... "There's more than one way to skin a cat"... try any of the other ways if one doesn't fit your mold or work too well for you.

Hope this helps.

Kunle

Of cos do not start promoting your product for the first two or three emails. You can start with
Newsletter 1 = Inform your Freebie link
Newsletter 2 = Content (benefit and tips for weight loss for example)
Newsletter 3 = Content
Newsletter 4 = Product1 + bonus 1
Newsletter 5 = product1 +bonus 1 (remind another time about the offer)
Newsletter 6 = content
Newsletter 7 = content
and so on...

When you give good content, your subscribers are more willingly to read your email and consider your offers.

Relationship building is the KEY to long-term success with your list. But, as has been stated, you don't have to become "friends" with the list, but rather you should build a relationship of trust -- your list trusts that you're going to provide good, useful information via the list and you trust that they will open and read your mail and, hopefully, will be responsive to offers you propose.

One of the marketers I was working some time ago found this out first hand. He'd built a list and had an autoresponder set up to just drip out a bunch of pre-programmed e-mails over months and months. He had them spaced out and really didn't actively correspond with his list -- he told me he was afraid to send them too much e-mail as he feared more and more unsubs because of too many messages.

I told him that he could mail his list DAILY and not only would his unsub rate go down, but his responsiveness rate would go UP. We worked and developed a plan to move to more frequent list mails until we eventually worked up to a daily message. The key, however, was to mail them FRESH stuff, QUALITY stuff, USEFUL stuff on a regular basis, not stale autoresponder messages that were month and months old.

Despite his fears we moved him up to a daily mailer to his list and he followed the criteria we outlined (FRESH, QUALITY, USEFUL) and, to his amazement, not only did he not lose many subs, but the response rate to his offers increased FIVE FOLD. Yes, that's right, by building a better relationship with his list, his profitability increased 5X (well, actually about 5.25 times).

Build a relationship and build your profits.

Hey

The great idea I had was not to always market to your prospect when you talk to them. Even if its something that you have created for free.

Observe how you would make a friend with someone in real life and then try and replicate them online. There are various techniques to do this. May I add including social media in talking to your list. That way you can actually be social with your group. Sure some people may not give much feedback and they don't need you. They can see you and what you're like etc.

Here's an interesting post I saw from a guy called Daniel Priestley that you may find interesting.

The 7 Hour Rule. Daniel Priestley

Good responses here. I would just like to echo what someone else said, which as that most people DON'T respond. As long as they're opening (and presumably reading) your e-mails, that's fine. It's frustrating, but on the other hand, consider when you are MOST likely to hear from people-- when they are angry or dissatisfied. They are also more likely respond when they see that a number of other people have responded. That's why trolls and flamers can be so hard to control. If you want to encourage responses probably the best way is simply to answer promptly any e-mail you do get. And if they have something interesting to say, (or if you do) ask if you can use it in the newsletter. Once people see others responding-- and getting responses-- they are more likely to offer their own thoughts.