Why the heck would anyone want a list of 10k subcriberss?

I agree to some extent.

What you really need is a funnel. If you grab free subscribers, you work your butt off to get them to purchase that first product.

You hit them hard - 2 times or more a day until they either:

1. Purchase.
2. Unsubscribe.

If they don't purchase and don't unsub, you hit them with affiliate offers after a month.

After they buy, you treat them completely different. You protect them like no other.

Rob

You can have two lists. A freebie seeker list who you can build trust with over time and convert into your buyer list. Every marketer should always get the information of each visitor and then build trust through showing extreme value to turn the visitor into a buyer. I understand with your thinking. A buyers list is GREAT, but not every body buys right off the back.

It takes me several exposures to buy something from a marketer and that is how most of the consumers operate. I won't buy until I trust someone is going to deliver what they are promising.

Yes I agree with Rob. For me, its incredibly faster to build up a list by giving away something free, and if I can easily turn 10% of this list into buyers, which my statistics show I'm doing, I'd definitely be on the right track.

Dann

If you know what you're doing you can easily turn a 10k list of subscribers in to a 10k list of buyers.

Essentially the more the merrier(spelling?!)

I said easily, but I didn't really mean easily. But it can and has been done.

I *highly* recommend everyone read Dan Kennedy's book, "No BS Price Strategy":

Amazon.com: No B.S. Price Strategy: The Ultimate...

It has some SUPER eye opening information about the dangers of FREE. And how/why you should charge more. (that fits the business and market)

Rob

i actually made my most amount of money ever online with a basic free cd offer to a free 1 on 1 consultation selling them a $2000 product.

This sentence is assuming that a free prospect doesn't have any monetary value, which is only true if they:

a. Don't purchase anything, ever.....which is possible, since there are a lot of freebie seekers.

b. Never refer another customer.

That's why most people have a prospect list, a buyer's list, and then there are marketers who further segment their lists. I'm with Shaun and Rob, it really depends on your strategy and your funnel.

And if people aren't opening up their wallets, then there isn't enough value or there aren't offers being made, or something else in the marketing machine is off base (could even be poor sales copy).

RoD

Wow quite an interesting point that I must say I agree with to some extent. Hmm..got some thinking to do. For now I will build both lists...buying from my product sales, and the free opt-in list.

Great post! I'm starting to realize this as well. My time is better suited to building a list of buyers. My buyers lists outperform the freebies by such a huge margin it's not even funny.

Have you heard of the Word " Trust" ok assuming you did ...Giving out something for free as a low

Barrier Entry to your funnel builds trust...and that helps conversions.

Now with a killer funnel you would be able to build that nice sized BUYERS List your talking about.

I'm not saying many will buy but you only need some anyway, and here is when you segment your list.

On a another note, and this is one thing many people never consider! you can sell the clicks!p

I think it all depends on what your goals are with the list. A list can be used in multiple ways. Yes, buyers and prospects of course and content and promos, etc. But also, the entire list or each part of it can be used as a business in and of it self by selling solo ads and doing swaps.

I know of people who build lists to around 3-4K and then start over and do it again. They maintain around 4K subs per list do solos on each list each day. Depending on the clicks they can drive, that's a lot of money per day selling solos.

Like most everything else, I would say it all depends on your predilection and your abilities. The top email marketers can make thousands off of a small list and some marketers can't make 1K off of a huge list.

I've gotta side with Shaun, Rob, and Rod on this one..

I doubt anyone would argue against the proposition that buyers give us better results...

What seems to be an issue is whether or not we (as marketers) should take the time to build a list of prospects at all. Personally, I would argue in favour of this.


I should have quoted this point, but someone who posted above mentioned that, in a nut shell, not everyone will buy after their first impression.

That's the truth.


In my own experience in sales offline you can greatly increase your conversion rates by simply giving your prospects more opportunities to "get to know you".

Call me old fashioned but people buy the salesman, not the product. If people buy the product, then there's no need for a salesman now is there? :p

I use this idea in my online business as well, and I think you should consider doing so as well. Setting up an autoresponder that markets automatically is a great way to start trying to turn the prospect into a customer you wouldn't have had if you'd ignored their needs completely.


The next question that comes up is probably... "Do I even want this person on my list?"

That's a decision you'll need to make for your own business/niche. Personally, I like customers and clients who take time to make sure they're making a good purchase. They tended to be less susceptible to offers from professionals in my field, and they also tended to give me better referrals.

If you're just pushing affiliate products all day long they prospect the person on your list doesn't need to trust just you (though it helps), they'll need to trust the offer as well.

If you're pushing your own products, then taking the time to build that trust is worth it in exchange for those long-term clients in my book.


One last thing with regards to barriers to entry as it's been mentioned by someone above...

You'll get better quality e-mail lists if there's a barrier to entry for the list (ie: a purchase vs. a free report). This is why you should give people an opportunity to sign up for your list a second time somewhere in your funnel, especially if you're offering free information.

Besides, even if it does cost money to get on the list doesn't mean you've got a "good" e-mail address.

I'm probably not the only person in the world whose paypal e-mail address is NOT their primary e-mail address. I have no idea how many lists that address is on from people auto-adding the paypal address with purchase. What I can tell you is that I rarely, if ever, open any of the e-mails it gets.... And chances are poor that I'm going to bother unsubscribing since I rarely use it anyway.

Your prospect (or customer) will give you the e-mail address they think you're worthy of.


Cheers,
-Adrian