When Does Opt-In List Disinterest Begin?

BJ, The guy is wrong. At least as an across the board statement. I have people who've been subscribed for better than 12 years who still buy from me. And MANY who've been subscribed for 2 years or more who do.

They tend to be LESS likely to ask for refunds, because they know what they're getting.


Paul

Very interesting...

I might interpret this as "people who don't buy from you at all within 6
months are less likely to buy from you afterwards, and are more likely
to ask for refunds if they do buy after the 6 month point."

It might not be accurate, but as Paul said, interesting point worth
exploring, for sure.

Matt

Yep. Most important issue I'd ever done, and the least feedback.

Now I train new subscribers to expect long blocks of stuff that requires hard thinking. I have a very long subscription page, and the bonus for subscribing is a 112-page book.

Nothing like setting expectations up front to keep everything clear.


Paul

Insightful replies folks. Much Appreciated.

If you have excellent content and pitch relatively little, you can have people on your list for years without spending anything and then they suddenly spend $1000 or more.

Why? You are building trust - massive trust.

Happens to me all the time... and my newsletter list has been going for more than 11 years now.

Marcia Yudkin

This will be a difficult question to answer. As many have already mentioned, the length someone will stay on the list will depend I think on the perceived value they are getting from the list owner.

For example:

* I am subscribed to lists that I have been a member of for 6+ years. I don't buy every product they offer, but I DO buy products from them on a fairly regular basis.

Then there are lists that you join and all you get is rubbish like:

" Here's a valuable offer .... will definitely help you ...no time to explain ... click here for more info ... blah, blah, blah .... The sad part is they you get the exact wording for the exact offer from some of the so called experts in the business. C'Mon people, if your gonna promote a product, at least be ORIGINAL. We don't appreciate getting 10 X messages a day where the only difference in the message is the email address they are getting sent from!!

This approach may work for some, but the first thing I do when I get even 1 of these rubbish sales pitched messages is .... UNSUBSCRIBE!!

IMO - They key to long term subscribers is delivering relevant / useful information in a freindly manner, and then recommending solutions to help people in their quest for a solution, information or whatever .....

For my email lists, it used to be after email #7.

These days, probably due to overload, apathy or
disinterest sets in as early as email #3, at which
point I have noticed the highest attrition rate.

Beyond that point, it tails off very quickly and
the list remains more or less constant - even for years.

Responsiveness, however, depends directly upon the
kind of value you provide over time.

All success
Dr.Mani

Interesting question.

There can't be much of an answer unless a more precise question is asked (and maybe not even then). In reading the answers here, I see that people are lumping two very different strategies together as the same thing: autoresponder sequences and current broadcasts.

To the subscriber they can appear to be the same, but the tone is likely to be different.

Mani talks about a 54 email sequence, which presumably he wrote in advance, whereas Paul's emails are, like mine, written in real time (or it they are not, they give a good impression of having been). The latter must, in my opinion, send a different kind of message to the reader - albeit subconsciously.

The question is also going to be strongly related to the ability of the writer. Someone who can capture his or her readers' attention and make them look forward to receiving the next edition is going to see am much lower unsubscribe rate than someone who writes in a boring way.

In the end, I suppose that the only answer that matters is the one that applies to you personally. As they say in the best ads, unsubscribe rates can go up or down, and results may not be typical.

Martin