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What do you think about this weird and costly list building idea? It can a super success

by dengkane
25 replies
I am thinking about a new list building idea, and want to pay about $1 to every subscriber after they subscribe.

The squeeze page would be simple, like

"This offer is simple, and I will pay you $1 via PayPal after you subscribe to my list, and it is not joking, I am serious. Just subscribe and I will tell you how you can get the $1 immediately."

I will promote this squeeze page via good solo ads providers, and it only last for several days one time. In the first follow up message, I will tell subscribers that they must reply this message and send their paypal id to me.

The conversion rate should be great, and the response rate should be surprising too. Then I will have a good relationship with every subscriber from the start.

What do you think about this idea?
#building #costly #idea #list #success #super #weird
  • Profile picture of the author David Braybrooke
    You could end up with a big bill!? If only limited runs, then perhaps not?
    Personally, I wouldn't fill out a form for $1, unless there was something else really compelling on offer. Interesting idea though - good luck dengkane!
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Killian
    Only way to know for sure is to test it. Right?

    From what you've said, you'd have better luck with a good converting squeeze page. The dollar offer, unless worded differently sounds odd. How many people going to sign up to get the buck then unsubscribe?
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  • Profile picture of the author dengkane
    Thanks for your reply.

    Yes, such an offer should be only last for a short time, and promoted to super target traffic. There will be normal free e-books/reports too, in addition to one buck.

    Maybe subscribers will unsubscribe after they get the $1, I can try hiding the money sending instructions in one of many follow up messages, and they must reply as I describe. Then subscribers may be eager to read my follow up messages.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarevok
    Sounds like an exciting idea, and in my humble opinion it could definitely work.

    There are some caveats however.

    Here are some immediate pointers that come to mind:

    1) Make sure to get the subscriber to promise to stay subscribed for at least 30 days. No legal obligation. Just make them promise somehow or acknowledge the promise embedded into the mechanism to collect their $1.

    2) Make sure you have some immediate upsells when they opt-in. This will help statistically recoup your ROI.

    3) Also, when they actually collect their dollar, make them go through a second process, with a SECOND upsell funnel. This will give you another opportunity to recapture some ROI.

    4) Pitch to your list aggressively.
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    • Profile picture of the author dengkane
      Originally Posted by Sarevok View Post

      Sounds like an exciting idea, and in my humble opinion it could definitely work.

      There are some caveats however.

      Here are some immediate pointers that come to mind:

      1) Make sure to get the subscriber to promise to stay subscribed for at least 30 days. No legal obligation. Just make them promise somehow or acknowledge the promise embedded into the mechanism to collect their $1.

      2) Make sure you have some immediate upsells when they opt-in. This will help statistically recoup your ROI.

      3) Also, when they actually collect their dollar, make them go through a second process, with a SECOND upsell funnel. This will give you another opportunity to recapture some ROI.

      4) Pitch to your list aggressively.
      Thanks for your reply, and I like your great pointers and will try using them.
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  • Profile picture of the author wrcato2
    You will have to really watch out how you word your offer.
    "must reply this message and send their paypal id to me" sounds like a scam to me and would make me click the back button real fast and then run a virus scan.

    If you have a lot of money to spend spend it on a good copywriter.

    Another good idea, is by giving away free access to your content by way of a membership site. Have a slash through $1.00 trial and a free for 7,10 or 30 days. However, they will still need to fill out the membership form and go through your pay processor to get in.

    Saves you from sending $1.00 to everyone on your list while providing a higher perceived value to your membership site.
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    • Profile picture of the author AdamJ85
      Potential problems:

      - It sounds like a scam - or could do, if not worded very carefully. People may not want to risk it for the sake of $1.

      - $1 is a tiny amount of money. Personally, I wouldn't bother. I wouldn't see it as worth my time filling in the form. I'd also be worried about loads of spam - again, $1 isn't worth having my inbox spammed like crazy.

      - You could get people trying to scam you. Setting up hundreds of email accounts, etc. Hopefully not having hundreds of PayPal accounts would stop this... but just something to think about.

      - What is the value of the list after it's created? It won't exactly be targeted...

      - Will the people in the list be "buyers"? If they're the kind of people that subscribe to newsletters to get a measly dollar then they may not have much disposable income...

      - How many people are you aiming to bring in with this offer? Hundreds? Thousands? That means you're paying hundreds or thousands of dollars. Why not use that money to create an awesome product instead? It would be far simpler, may actually work better and once it's created you'll have it forever.

      Overall, I'd say it's good that you're thinking "outside the box", but I don't think this would work well in practice unfortunately.
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  • Profile picture of the author jasondinner
    I applaud you for thinking out of the box, but I'm not certain it's going to be the best use of your money.

    You ever hear the expression... "You can't buy my love." ?

    Just because they get a dollar from you doesn't mean they will be any more responsive than if they got on your list because you promise them some benefit for doing so.

    As soon as you start pushing offers to them and/or selling the list for solos yourself, your response will probably drop faster than if you built it by offering something of value (not $1) in return for them getting on your list.
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    • Profile picture of the author Eduard
      Ideally, you want people to join your list because they are interested in your content, which means they may become interested in your paid products or services as well; not because you pay them.

      I find it hard to imagine how a person who subscribes to a list for money (and a mere $1 at that) will ever pull a reasonable amount of money out of their pocket later to buy something from you. They're probably very poor and money hungry, which makes for a poor potential customer. Creative idea though.
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  • Profile picture of the author retsced
    Personally, I think it's commendable that you want to approach list building and email marketing from a different perspective. However, this idea will most likely attract bottom feeding cheapskates who will never buy anything from you in the future for more than a couple of bucks.

    You couldn't pay ME to have people enter my email list just to get $1. You really have to ask what kind of person does that. What kind of person signs up to an email list to get $1? I can tell you something for nothing my future marketing genius, it certainly aint gonna be people who already have money. And it's exactly those people you want on your list.

    There are far, far better ways to generate high quality subscribers.

    Best of luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tsnyder
    I will be shocked of you get any serious number of responses.

    But, more to the point, why would you pay to compile what will
    likely prove to be a pretty worthless list?
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  • Profile picture of the author joshril
    Originally Posted by dengkane View Post

    I am thinking about a new list building idea, and want to pay about $1 to every subscriber after they subscribe.

    The squeeze page would be simple, like

    "This offer is simple, and I will pay you $1 via PayPal after you subscribe to my list, and it is not joking, I am serious. Just subscribe and I will tell you how you can get the $1 immediately."

    I will promote this squeeze page via good solo ads providers, and it only last for several days one time. In the first follow up message, I will tell subscribers that they must reply this message and send their paypal id to me.

    The conversion rate should be great, and the response rate should be surprising too. Then I will have a good relationship with every subscriber from the start.

    What do you think about this idea?
    A lot depends on what you're offering in your funnel. Are people that are going to effectively sell their email address, knowing they will likely be emailed to death the type of subscribers you want on your list? $1 would not motivate me, and I'm sure many others feel the same way... it wouldn't even be worth my time to put my information in, much less to put it in knowing you're going to be marketing to me.

    Now, if you were providing some value to me to be on your list, I wouldn't need the $1 to give you my information, and you'd have a pretty good change of selling me if I found value.

    Again, a lot depends on what you're after in terms of subs here and what you're offering.

    Generally speaking, I've found that incentives to opt-in like this can result in poor conversions. Again, you'd have to test it and a lot depends on your offer.

    It seems to me that paying list owners $1 per subscriber they send you would be a better value depending on what your funnel looks like.

    Thanks,


    Josh
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  • Profile picture of the author Geri Richmond
    Hi,
    I wouldn't do it if I were you. The reasons are: You are not teaching your subscribers to subscribe for value and you will probably end up with a bunch of freebie seekers on your list.
    What's to say they won't unsubscribe the next day and do it all over again with a different email address?
    If I were you, I would abandon this idea.
    Good Luck
    Geri
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  • Profile picture of the author jaihyppo
    I can see that many people don't quite agree with your strategy. I on the other hand, would like you to go for it and share us your result after implementing this after one month or so.

    That would be a great case study for all of us here.
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    • Profile picture of the author Haroon Ballim
      Always great coming up with ideas , that's how the best ideas are born.

      I do however think you need to rethink this . Your cost may not simply be $1 per subscriber . How do u plan to drive traffic to your offer / squeeze page ? That might cost you money too . People with funds , will think umm why does this guy want my paypal account . Like many have mentioned here .

      People with no money to buy anything, may think hey why not , whats the risk and take u up on your offer . So not only could u end up with a list of non buyers but you wont really know what these subscribers are interested in . Possibly only in offers offering them a dollar or two .
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  • Profile picture of the author Ripster
    If you do this then you will only be getting leads who want to join your list for the money.

    But, hey, if you're going to do this, give me your squeeze page and I'll sign up right away! I'll tell all of my 1,000+ Facebook friends to join and take their free dollar as well. Good luck, OP!
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnTheJock
      Originally Posted by Ripster View Post

      If you do this then you will only be getting leads who want to join your list for the money.

      But, hey, if you're going to do this, give me your squeeze page and I'll sign up right away! I'll tell all of my 1,000+ Facebook friends to join and take their free dollar as well. Good luck, OP!
      Totally agree. That's the danger with this idea, and it could end up costing you a small fortune for an untargeted freebie seekers list.
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  • Profile picture of the author Yadira Barbosa
    The idea it's great, actually there a several case studies on offline marketing (mail marketing) that send a $20 dollar bill with the sales letter for a high end product.

    BUT, there's so many things that can go wrong:

    * PayPal itself can see your offer as an scam
    * People who subscribe several times using several email addresses
    * FTC problems

    If you have a dollar to invest, try to create your own CPA offer on a good reputation network, of course you will require a very good sales funnel in place
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  • Profile picture of the author Stevie C
    Personally I would match the offer to to your targeted subscribers, Depending on your budget if you are in the IM niche you would be better off getting a unique piece of software built or a nice WP Theme to giveaway. If your subscribers see that you are giving away quality products they are less likely to unsubscribe and also remember you. Investing in your squeeze page and free product would make more sense to me in the long term.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matthew Anton
    Ever get an email from a Nigerian prince? You give them a small amount, they give you a greater sum in the near future!

    The people that paid the $1.00 will somehow become worth $2.00 or greater is wishful thinking with no real business plan behind it; if you are offering something for free such as an ebook you don't have to lose the $1 and can still give value to your membership. Simply giving away money is just that...giving away money.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stuart Walker
    The type of people who are so desperate for a dollar they'll sign up to a list not knowing what's going to happen next aren't the type of people I want on my list.

    P.S.

    Just in case it's not clear, these sort of people clearly don't have any money to spend.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    Just stick with what's been proven to work. Generate a free lead, then pitch them in your email newsletter.
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  • Profile picture of the author rjchelmswood
    I have 30 different email addresses can I sign up with each of them?... its a good idea but to be honest its wide open for scammers if you could find a way to limit it by ip address then it may not be a bad idea but seriously be careful with this one.
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    • Profile picture of the author josephwilson86
      Maybe require them to share on fb or something to get the dollar? And limit it to the first xx people to do it and email you the screenshot? Steve Reichart gives away some seriously awesome stuff to get a ton of likes/shares/comments on fb.
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