Dude, My List Sucks!

One thing we’re always concerned about is whether our list is growing. What size is it? How many subscribers do I have? And you may be checking your list building stats every day. Well, I won’t kid you, size does matter, but not as much as something else—your list’s responsiveness.

Responsivity is the rate at which people do what you recommend, like buying products or signing up for different offers and programs. So, let’s say I’m selling my own product. I send out 10,000 emails, and 5,000 of them buy. That’s a whopping 50%, which is really fantasy. Your rates may be under 5%, but you see where the responsivity rate number comes from, I hope. That’s what you need to work on.

If your list isn’t buying, you have to wonder why, and there are a few areas you should consider:

First, who are your subscribers? Did you target your market when you started building your list? Targeted subscribers are always better than subscribers who aren’t part of your target market. For instance, if you’re selling quilting supplies, you’d better target quilters. Otherwise, you won’t sell many items. Only quilters want quilting supplies.

Also remember that double opt-in list members are probably going to be your best list members. They have expressed a desire to hear from you again. They’ll probably be your most loyal subscribers and more of them will buy the products and services you recommend to them. They have a virtual interest in you and what it is you’re doing.

Single opt-in subscribers are interested to begin with, but when you send them your first email, they may forget they joined your list and either opt-out or even complain that you’re spamming. Of course, your autoresponder service protects you from these complaints, and it’s true that single opt-in will build your list faster because the members won’t have to confirm their memberships. Double opt-ins aren’t just safer, they’re going to be more responsive.

Next, did your subscribers even get your email? What’s your autoresponder’s deliverability rate? Some services are definitely better at this than others. If your autoresponder service doesn’t release these stats, then write or call and ask them what their deliverability rate is. If they can’t or won’t tell you, you may want to consider another service that will. It’s important to know how many people are actually getting your email. If they don’t see your offer, they won’t buy, and your responsivity rate goes down.

Third, did the people on your list even know the message was from you? Maybe they signed up for you, but when they get an email from XYZMarketing, they figure it’s spam and just toss it. Or, your message may go directly to their junk email folder and they won’t see it at all. Try using your own name in the “From” line, and you’ll probably see better response.

Fourth, what was the subject of your message? Was it spammy, as with: “Get this *free* product now” or “free gift”? That’s a sure ticket to the spam filter. Try to pretend that you’re sending a message to a friend when coming up with these. Or think of something really creative. Don’t use old marketing material. It will probably get you a seat in the trash.

Fifth, how good is your copy? If you don’t write a compelling message, you won’t get the sale. Don’t try to sell anything in the message at all. Tell people a story, and ask them to click on a link for your squeeze page, or send them directly to the sales page. Just don’t try to do your selling in the email.

The whole deal about Internet Marketing is that you have to test everything—everything! If your subscribers are single opt-in, start a new list and try double opt-in. See which list gets the best response. Change your subject lines, and study copywriting if you aren’t that great at it or hire someone to do it for you. Just don’t try to do everything at once. Change one thing at a time, and see what happens. Keep testing that one thing, until you see improvement, and then, move on to the next area that you want to improve. You have to do the extra work to make things work. Try changing the system and see if your response rates don’t improve.

Learn More Great List Building Techniques

Tagged as: autoresponder, autoresponders, copywriting, linking, marketing, testing