Another Mistake to Avoid with your List

24 replies
Not sending enough emails

I here from lots of people that think they are pestering their list. Do not forget the reason that you have a list is to help your subscribers fill a need that they have. They signed up. You may have offered them something that they wanted but the pressed send first.

Your part of the bargain is to offer them a mixture of free and paid high quality information. You have to SELL something to your list if you are going to make any money. To succeed online you must make sales. Selling is how the world goes round.

No matter you offline job you are in sales in some manner or another. You might just empty the trash or do the dishes. But someone up front is selling a lot of chicken nuggets.

In this business not only do you have to sell yourself, but you either sell your own products or someone elses.

How often you mail varies is up to you and the Niche you are working in. I mail on a different schedule for my IM list then I do my Weight Loss niches.

Sometimes it is just the quanity of information that I have to cover. At times it is just the amount of available products.

But that is something that you have to decide what is right for your list. Just make sure that you are offering them good information.

But I never mail more then once a day nor do I ever send out a product to my list that I have not bought or reviewed. (More on that later).

Joey Starkey
#avoid #list #mistake
  • Profile picture of the author paul nicholls
    Your right Joey

    Not emailing enough to your list is just as harmful as emailing too much

    One of things I do to keep my subscribers and buyers happy and engaged is send back to my blog on a regular basis to read new juicy blog posts

    One of the things that you don't want to happen is getting the "who the hell is this guy" treatment when you email. A sure sign that you email no where near enough
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7676487].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author larryboy03
    I have just made 5 small Ebooks for my list, my plan is to give them away day after day. After day 5 I will promote a product which would benefit my list.

    What do you think?

    But I do plan on making more, when I can find time.

    That was my plan.
    Signature
    Do you have a website making money and want to sell it? Contact me, I'm looking to buy sites monetized by Amazon and Adsense!!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7676490].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Joey Starkey
      Originally Posted by larryboy03 View Post

      I have just made 5 small Ebooks for my list, my plan is to give them away day after day. After day 5 I will promote a product which would benefit my list.

      What do you think?

      But I do plan on making more, when I can find time.

      That was my plan.
      I don't think that I would offer them that fast, I offer freebies as well but while you must offer good info.

      Do the ebooks relate? If so I would put them into one ebook.

      Then send these emails.

      1. Hype the freebie email.
      2. Hype the freebie email.
      3. Send the Freebie mention the upsell email.
      4. Hype the Upsell email.
      5. Offer your product.

      Just my 2 cents

      Joey Starkey
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7676573].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author GlobalM7
      Originally Posted by larryboy03 View Post

      I have just made 5 small Ebooks for my list, my plan is to give them away day after day. After day 5 I will promote a product which would benefit my list.

      What do you think?

      But I do plan on making more, when I can find time.

      That was my plan.
      Just a thought, but if the Ebooks are related why not give your list something to look forward to and space them out a bit i.e. look out for Part 2 coming soon?

      If they are different subjects you could prime your list with a short intro of your soon coming soon Ebook.

      This way your list would have something to look forward to and hopefully remain subscribed.

      If they are unique content, you could also use them as bait as a softener for a purchase?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7676602].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Jgmurray
      Originally Posted by larryboy03 View Post

      I have just made 5 small Ebooks for my list, my plan is to give them away day after day. After day 5 I will promote a product which would benefit my list.

      What do you think?

      But I do plan on making more, when I can find time.

      That was my plan.
      My concern here is that you are "training" your list to NOT expect a pitch from you. Five days is too long to send your content without asking for a sale. There's nothing wrong with combining the two. I always make a pitch in the first or second email.

      As long as your are selling stuff you believe in, there's nothing wrong with asking for a sale, or suggesting signups or what have you. After all, people ARE interested in your message.

      That's been my experience.

      Good Luck!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7677246].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author retsced
      Originally Posted by larryboy03 View Post

      I have just made 5 small Ebooks for my list, my plan is to give them away day after day. After day 5 I will promote a product which would benefit my list.

      What do you think?

      But I do plan on making more, when I can find time.

      That was my plan.
      Personally I think that's a bad move my friend. People have enough eBooks on their hard drive already. The last thing you want to do is to contribute to their Information overload problem (if they have one). Why not take the 5 reports and create "one" detailed book.

      To OP
      Great advice Joey. It's important to be a constant in your subs mind. As long as the content is useful, there shouldn't be a problem. I have a mindmap on my hard drive with hundreds of free quality tools and resources I've compiled over a long period. I simply open up the map, find a great resource - and send it.

      That reminds me, I have to send an email to my list
      Signature
      Strong Men and Women put themselves in harms way
      for the freedoms weak people give away for safety
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7679689].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author mikehuff
        Originally Posted by retsced View Post

        Personally I think that's a bad move my friend. People have enough eBooks on their hard drive already. The last thing you want to do is to contribute to their Information overload problem (if they have one). Why not take the 5 reports and create "one" detailed book.

        To OP
        Great advice Joey. It's important to be a constant in your subs mind. As long as the content is useful, there shouldn't be a problem. I have a mindmap on my hard drive with hundreds of free quality tools and resources I've compiled over a long period. I simply open up the map, find a great resource - and send it.

        That reminds me, I have to send an email to my list
        Agreed. That's giving away WAY too much, too fast. But if you give em one AWESOME eBook you can use that as leverage as the guy "who knows what he's talking about." That's gonna come in handy when you promote something to them later.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7679706].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Joey Starkey
          Originally Posted by mikehuff View Post

          Agreed. That's giving away WAY too much, too fast. But if you give em one AWESOME eBook you can use that as leverage as the guy "who knows what he's talking about." That's gonna come in handy when you promote something to them later.
          Yeah I agree with you for sure.

          Giving them 5 Free items over 5 days.....looks like FreeBie Training to me.

          Always keep in mind that while you need to give great information it should be a lead up to a promotional email.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7680616].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Coby
    Originally Posted by Joey Starkey View Post

    Not sending enough emails
    I agree 100%!

    I preach this to my students all the time. You MUST be consistent!

    Just think about it - how many times have you got an email from someone and thought "what the heck, who is this?"...

    Then when you go to unsubscribe you see that it was someone you bought a product from or something - they just haven't emailed you in awhile...

    I think not sending enough emails will hurt you more than sending "too many"...

    Make sure your list remembers you! It's all about branding and email marketing is a great chance to brand yourself to your subscribers.

    Cheers,
    Coby
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7677074].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author JeffMitchell
      If you are providing a good service, your list wants to hear from you. I am mailing almost daily and I have lists that I have subscribed to that I expect to get an email from on a daily basis. Hell, some of them I would not mind hearing from more than once a day..

      Jeff Mitchell
      Signature

      HELP NEEDED! My Mother And Her Brother have been taking care of the mother with the help of Hospice. He just had a Massive Heart Attack while taking a short vacation. My mother had to go to Florida from Indiana to be with her brother and is not financially stable from being off work to be with grandma. Any Help Would Be Appreciated. http://www.gofundme.com/vg5kt4c

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7677161].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author tac88
    I like to live buy 80% 20 rule favoring free content 20 promote I have to say I love the way Frank Kern does it !

    He has it down!
    He sell's in every email openly leading with free quality content first then saying if you want more like that then click here...
    Signature
    A Simple Formula For Online Success
    This is what's putting money in my pocket Right Now!

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7677188].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Malcolm Thomas
    Yeah, it's definitely important to email your list often enough to avoid having them forget who you even are. It's always better to err on the side of emailing your list too often rather than too little. Great post.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7677193].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author owenlee
    It is indeed important to regulate the emails you send out...i have made a mistake before and when the next email when out, the complain rates go up...lol
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7677622].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author JeniferStarr
    I agree that you need to have regular, consistent contact with your list. At the same time I don't email if I don't have something valuable to share. It could be a blog post with useful information, a vlog, or writing special. I like to get to know my list and develop relationships, but I don't want to abuse their trust in me.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7678947].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author larryboy03
    Well I plan on giving out my first eBook straight away, then I could tell them that part 2 is coming in 2 days time.

    The day in between I could link them to a blog post with some good info and explain to them how a clickbank product helped, for example: Take them to a post about getting more traffic, explain how to get more traffic and then promote the product on the email and blog post itself, so there's a higher chance of a conversion?

    Although I want to promote good high quality products which will help people because I don't want to promote crap and people lose interest in my advice and guidance.

    What do you think about this idea?
    Signature
    Do you have a website making money and want to sell it? Contact me, I'm looking to buy sites monetized by Amazon and Adsense!!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7679045].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author talfighel
    Yes, you don't want to send your list an email a few times per day and you don't want to send them emails that are too far apart.

    I think that the best thing to do is to send them an email every day but don't forget to give them value and don't hard sell them all the time because they will take themselves off your list faster then you think.

    I like to add some sort of an article that has a lot of value from my own perspective. At the end of it, I add my own affiliate link or my own website.

    There are times where I can send my list an email every day with a new article and there are other times that I can do this every other day.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7679404].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author RavishingRajni
    Great advice here.. thnx for sharing
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7680637].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author CalinDan
    I find myself guilty of this many times... I get caught with my projects and forget about my subscribers and the fact that I need to solve their problems to.

    Great reminder!
    Cheers!

    -Dan
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7680727].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Edwin Torres
    I am trying to email daily for at least 30 days.

    I'm testing something which isn' the norm persay in the email marketing weird, but so far its on track to make me a lot of money.

    I promote in every email. But I do it in an entertaining way so it doesn't look like a promotion.

    I give them a quick tip (remember tell them what to do, not how to do it) then at the end of the email I do a soft sell on a product that will help them with whatever the tip I gave them was.

    I came to the realization that people have a lot of ebooks on their hardrives. They have a lot of links already on their computer. They don't want one more.

    They want to be entertained, and taught at the same time so I'm blending both and its working pretty good so far
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7680833].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author AuthorityRush
      Originally Posted by Edwin Torres View Post


      I give them a quick tip (remember tell them what to do, not how to do it) then at the end of the email I do a soft sell on a product that will help them with whatever the tip I gave them was.

      They want to be entertained, and taught at the same time so I'm blending both and its working pretty good so far
      Sounds like a good strategy! I always use transitional emails, giving something, like a tip of some sort, then the pitch, related to the tip of course.

      And if I can do that with a laugh in there somewhere, even better. Try most of all to be yourself.

      Remember, you don't need a million people on your list. Just a few hundred that actually like you and trust and buy from you are enough to change your life and move you forward.

      And the biggest "key" I have found for a successful list is to be consistent in what ever I do. Emailing every day is fine, as long as I do just that. But when I emailed sporadically, or one week 5 times and the next once, then three times, I got a lot more unsubscribes. So just be consistent. Good luck all!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7680859].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author rmolina88
    I made this mistake when I first started by only emailing once a week.

    People instantly forgot who I was and I had incredibly low open rates.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7680861].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author gjohansson1
    I actually end up emailing a lot of my subscribers twice daily. I have my followups for 5 days and my broadcasts.

    You'd think people would get annoyed by my emails but I make them super short and personal and if it's a promo, I'm pretty blunt about it.

    I think it's because I do a lot of video so people feel like they know me before they even get an email from me. Most of my broadcasts bring subscribers to my blog for a video.

    Before I started doing video, I would get a lot more unsubscribes but now the only time I really get them is when I do a hard sell "buy this now" promo which hasn't even worked as far as generating income is concerned.

    My best email for sales was less than 50 words... lol

    I should probably email a tad bit less, but it's working for me.

    There is some really good advice going on here!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7681269].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Joey Starkey
      Originally Posted by gjohansson1 View Post

      I actually end up emailing a lot of my subscribers twice daily. I have my followups for 5 days and my broadcasts.

      You'd think people would get annoyed by my emails but I make them super short and personal and if it's a promo, I'm pretty blunt about it.

      I think it's because I do a lot of video so people feel like they know me before they even get an email from me. Most of my broadcasts bring subscribers to my blog for a video.

      Before I started doing video, I would get a lot more unsubscribes but now the only time I really get them is when I do a hard sell "buy this now" promo which hasn't even worked as far as generating income is concerned.

      My best email for sales was less than 50 words... lol

      I should probably email a tad bit less, but it's working for me.

      There is some really good advice going on here!
      Different Niches will be different....depends upon a bunch of factors.

      If you don't mind what niche are you in?

      It seems like you are doing well with the video for sure. I got a video camera for Christmas. I am thinking about adding a video of me on my squeeze page. A 30 second video about list building. It will either increase my optin or tank it one.

      Joey Starkey
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7681304].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author gjohansson1
        Originally Posted by Joey Starkey View Post

        Different Niches will be different....depends upon a bunch of factors.

        If you don't mind what niche are you in?

        It seems like you are doing well with the video for sure. I got a video camera for Christmas. I am thinking about adding a video of me on my squeeze page. A 30 second video about list building. It will either increase my optin or tank it one.

        Joey Starkey
        Different niches definitely react differently. Fitness/bodybuilding and IM both seem to be fine with more frequent emails.

        I am in the list building/IM niche and have plans to get back into the fitness/bodybuilding niche.

        I find it really depends on the content you send at first and the relationship you build over time. I have actually gotten several "thank you" emails from people I never met prior, which turned out to be solid business relationships.

        I actually started my online ventures as a YouTube vlogger but Adsense shut me down 3 times so I said forget it. Still love YouTube but I'm benefiting from a different angle.

        As for video squeeze pages, the best bet is to track two separate funnels. See which squeeze page results in the most sales. I have found that my initial conversion rate on a video squeeze page is pretty bad (12-15% vs 45-50%) but the response rate is higher.

        Testing, tracking, and refining is key to business AND life
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7681348].message }}

Trending Topics