My List Building Techniques SUCK (need your help!)

Double opt-ins will probably definitely clear up the complaint rate. You aren't doing anything wrong, don't panic. With only 100 subscribers, you really can't determine whether it's a good list or not, but you say it gets a good open rate so I wouldn't worry too much about that. You just need to get more subscribers, that's when you should start seeing sales. Also, what do you promote to them? How is the sales page? Maybe it's just not converting them...

There are many small problems that can easily be fixed, but there's nothing huge to worry about, the main thing with list building, is building it... ALWAYS reach for higher numbers, and tweaking to figure out what works and what doesn't.

-JaVaun T

I completely understand why you're asking this, Will ... but it isn't really a question anyone can easily answer.

It isn't "autoresponder sequences" that are "proven to bring in sales".

It's entire sales processes which include an autoresponder as one small part.

There's a large number of other things to consider, here, too. Traffic demographics, how you're generating the traffic, exactly what they're opting in to, what's on your site (I have a hunch this may be important, here), what their expectations are (your current complaint and unsubscribe rate strongly suggest that you may not be setting them appropriately), and even (since you have a high CTR) considerations like whether the sales page has leaks, and so on.

You see what I mean, perhaps? The assumption that "the autoresponder sequence" is the problem, here, and the hope that being pointed to a different one which is "proven to convert" (what traffic? For what?) may be missing the point a little.

I'm wondering, with 100 people on a list, whether they might be tiring of seeing the same product promotion repeatedly, and this is why some are unsubscribing?

What proportion of visitors to your sites are opting in for the free report?

Without seeing everything you're doing, it's really all guesswork, I'm afraid.

Possibly ... but please excuse the observation that the potential solution you're impliedly suggesting for it (by asking for recommendations for an autoresponder sequence) may not necessarily resolve the problem, because we don't know what the problem is. (Just as an example - not necessarily suggesting this will apply here - on many occasions when I've seen similar threads here, asking the same question, it's turned out that the product being promoted has a leaky sales page. You can see that this revelation potentially puts an entirely new complexion on the matter, raising as it does the possibility that sales are in fact being made, but without the affiliate being paid commissions on them, and so on?) These are among the reasons it's difficult for people - however well-meaning - to make appropriate suggestions to you without knowing a lot more).

One thing I will venture to suggest: in my opinion, it's unlikely that lack of opt-in confirmation has anything to do with your problem: if people are going to complain about your emails, having originally confirmed their opt-in at the time they subscribed isn't typically going to make the slightest difference to them. For the reasons given here, this may be clutching at straws. What makes people complain is not wanting to receive your emails for some reason - not lack of having originally confirmed their email address in order to get your "free report". Maybe I'm mistaken, but at the moment my guess is that that's completely irrelevant, here.

Granted that there are a lot of possible variables in all of this (as has been said), and that 100 subscribers really isn't enough to make definitive statements about conversion rate, here's are my initial thoughts:

If you're pitching a pricey product then that could have an effect on your sales, especially if your prospects are not expecting to be sold to.

You didn't mention which emails specifically are getting complaints, but I assume that it's the 'pitch emails', which would imply that there's some lack of expectation there on your customer's side.

I don't know what your conversion rates are like or how many sales you've made, Will, but if you ARE making consistent sales from your on-site product review then that to me implies that the vendor salespage isn't the problem. If the vendor wasn't paying you or had a significant leak I think you'd know by now.

As Alexa pointed out there are two sides to this argument, and they both have their pros/cons. Definitely have a read through the thread she links to if you're interested in learning more...good arguments on both sides there.

My own $.02 would be that if you're doing things right, the confirmed/double opt-in shouldn't have TOO significant of an effect on your sign ups, but ultimately you'll probably just have to test this one for yourself...Obviously there are a lot of variables here.

If you're looking for help on actually writing the emails, Presell Mastery by Paul Hancox is a great read. It's a bit lacking on the technicalities of email marketing, but A+ for figuring out exactly what to say to your prospects and how to say it to make the sale and keep them interested afterwards.

A couple more suggestions without knowing more (so take with a grain of salt):

- Try pitching earlier in your sequence, or at least somehow letting your prospects know that they WILL be pitched too. I'm lightly pitching in my first or second follow ups; to me, from the customer's perspective, going for a week or two (depending on your intervals) without being pitched to and then having a high priced product thrown in out of nowhere probably wouldn't make me happy or enticed to buy.

- Look at the sales page for whatever product you're selling; are your emails in sync with their target customer? Is your freebie? Pretty basic stuff, but still worth mentioning.

- You could try finding a couple other related / similar, but lower priced, products to see if something else would convert better.

As I said, there's only so much advice to give without knowing more about your website / the traffic / your niche / the product / your current follow up sequence, but hopefully there's something helpful in there somewhere.

Kindly,
- Stephen

@Alexa - thanks for the response. You're right in that there are a lot of variables here and I don't want to reveal my 2 niche/affiliate sites or my sequences.

But the traffic source is the same as my other traffic which seems to result in an OK number of sales every month.

@Stephen - I'm usually just sending my list tips and tricks on how to solve the problem relevant to my niche. And that's resulting in complaints (and an unsubscribe or three).

Also, the offer has no "leaks".

Maybe I just need to come up with sequences for different products too on my list. They could be tired of seeing me pitch the thing.