Email List Management

It has always been said, in the history of email list building, that the bigger the list the better and the bigger the list the more sales you are going to make. At one point that may have been true, I mean when you look at how far the online marketplace has come. Its the same with cold calling for offline businesses, something that worked a decade or two ago, but has of late become archaic and outdated to say the least. The same goes for the way you should build your email list.

Let me explain..

Nowadays the marketplace, AKA, REALITY has become so blurred and distorted with advertising and marketing materials, people are very careful to what they sign up to and what they agree to receive. Most of the time people will not even look at their emails, for fear that they are going to be blasted with sales content and many different products of the same nature, I know that I myself am one of them. Your email list needs to be lean and mean, that is why it is so important to listen to this next tip I am going to give you.

Always include an opt out button. Straight away you are giving people an option to get off your email list, this may seem counterproductive but what you are effectively doing is saying you only want people who are serious about what you are selling. If you have an email list full of people who don’t read your emails, then you have a fat and out of shape list, one that needs a trim down, of all the people who were not going to buy your product anyway. I am actually pleased when people unsubscribe, because I then know that I am working with more people who are serious about changing their circumstances themselves and aren’t just looking for the next "get rich quick" scheme.

The fact that you have an opt out button instills goodwill too, there’s no hard feelings when someone doesn’t want your product!

An opt out button for your email list isn’t the only thing that can help keep your list trim. Something I like to do from time to time is remind my email list that I only want to work with people who are serious. This could well include me asking people to unsubscribe and asking for commitment. Everyone needs a little commitment, It was not different in my offline business, so why should it be different with my email list.

Cleansing Your Email List Database

Sometimes just including an opt in or sending a strong action email is not enough. Lets be honest here, if you are sending out thousands or emails and your open rate is abysmal, more often than not the reason is not poor content, its not a poor subject line. This occurred to me when I was not getting many opens, the reason being that my email list was outdated, addresses didn’t exist anymore, people were not active enough and didn’t care about my messages in the first place. They probably subscribed in the hope that it would miraculously change their bank accounts! So what did I do? Well I sent a reactivation email to all of my email list.

Well what preceded knocked me back significantly, I lost HALF of my email list, most due to the fact that people just did not respond to the reactivation email, others just unsubscribed. So I asked myself, why have they all left? Well this all comes down to targeting the wrong people for your email list. As long as you target people interested in your product or service, more often than not you will have a very active email list.

So What Was I left With?

Well to be honest with you, at the time I tried this with my list, I did not have many people subscribed, I had around 500 subscribers I think. Well, I ended up with around 250 by the time I was done and I was gutted. This is ancient history now but one thing I learn’t, was that having a lean email list with active subscribers, is worth more than a list of 1000 subscribers who are not bothered with reading your emails. Now I am always trying to keep it lean and mean and have an engaged email list that love what I stand for and what I do.

So with that said, If you enjoyed this and you think it will help you in your email list building efforts, then please do comment, or even share this on twitter and facebook, I will be most grateful because if you have read this whole post, then there is awesomeness in you!

Talk soon,

Joe ‘caseman’ Searle

Six Figure Mentors Marketing and personal development Coach