A Newbies Take on Newsletters and Lists...

I understand (I think) what you are saying. What I mean is that they already have a business model, and it is probably successful for them, otherwise they might not continue doing it that way. And so are probably not looking for a solution to a problem they do not have.

Your post seems to be about addressing a problem that they have, but if a person doesn't think they have that problem they are not going to be looking for a way to fix it.

Well, if you think about it, there are three types of email marketers who are using this strategy.

1) Those who are playing the numbers game and are succeeding at it.

These people don't care about credibility, or if you get frustrated and stop reading after awhile because they have a ton of NEW subscribers coming in every single day, more than they have unsubscribing.

And because they have done their homework and tracked and tested everything, and fine tuned their offers to the point where they know their conversion numbers so well, they know how many subscribers they need each and every day to maintain their list, and to either maintain the amount that they are making, or increase the amount that they are making from their lists.

Are they bad people? From their point of view no they aren't. From others probably.

Then you have the second group


2) Those who are playing the numbers game and doing it wrong.

These are the people who probably have heard about this strategy and are trying to apply it but don't fully understand it, or they are not bothering to test and track anything. They don't know their numbers, their conversion rates, or anything like that at all. These are usually the people who end up coming back here and say that email list building is dead.

They probably know enough to know that you can choose to take the time to build a relatinship with your list or you can choose to use your list like a numbers game, but, they don't want to take the time to build a "relationship" and want their money now!

Both of the above two groups probably don't care about if they lose credibility or not, nor if you unsubscribe or not. Because for them they aren't playing the credibility game.


Then you have the final group.

3) People who don't know any better.

These are the people who have probably read in an ebook or course that this is how you do things. They don't know that there is another choice for them.
So they move blindly forward and again they don't track or test anything, and they wonder why aren't people buying from me? Why are so many people unsubscribing?
And they also begin to get desperate. And they are usually the second type of people who come back here and say email list building is dead.

it is this group of people who your message will affect, and will probably be an "aha!" moment for them.

EDIT: MY point is that you say they are losing out on so much money, but are you sure? I think the email marketers in group #1 are probably not losing money because they know their numbers from tracking and testing everything.

But the people in groups #2, and #3 in my examples above possibly are.

Some are and some probably aren't.

I'm not taking away from the success and hard work some of these guys have probably done to get their list to generate money like they have.

But allow me to use an analogy.

Let's say you need some gas.

There are two gas stations next to eachother. One is your run of the mill hole in the wall with products that have reached their expiration date in the 80s. Unfriendly staff. Unkempt environment...but they always have a "deal". They always have some special to lure people in.

On the other hand, the other gas station is a little older than the first. But the premises are clean. It's staff is friendly and even though they don't offer "deals" all the time. They have the products I want. As I walk in, they already remember me. They ask me how I'm doing. They tell me they just got a shipment of whatever soda or beef jerkey I tend to buy there.

Chances are, I'm going to go to that gas station from here on out. Sure, I may have gone to the other gas station to get a "deal". But at the end of the day, I don't want to go there anymore because I know what to expect in terms of friendliness and cleanliness.

These "list blasters" are losing out on who knows how much money. And they could completely turn it around if they just cleaned a little, restocked their inventory and adjusted the attitude of their staff.

Probably a horrible example, but I hope the point I was trying to make made sense.

Whoa Broseph, I can tell by your post you probably do an excellent job connecting with your customers. lol

You're right, I don't have any marketing experience when it comes to the IM World.

I really appreciate how constructive you were in this post. I certainly hope people learn from your skills.

As for my "glass house" that I'm throwing stones from. I don't throw stones, just advice and insight. And I purposely made my metaphorical house "glass" so people could see I'm not afraid to say I'm not making millions in the IM world, but as a sales guy I'm quite successful in society's eyes.

(NOTE: I said society's eyes. Not my own or those of other marketers. I am always striving to do more and better myself.)

Thanks for the back up, Justin. I appreciate that.

I just want to clarify that I don't instantly unsubscribe from someone's list if they are emailing me multiple times day. In my original post I explained I had a seperate email address for newsletters and list subscriptions so I only check them every couple of days now.

The people that I unsubscribe from are those who send an obvious copy pasted, "This offer is incredible and it's the best thing since the OJ Simpson trial!" then a day later they send another copy pasted, "WHOA! I never knew someone could come up with such a TOP SECRET way to get traffic! Holy smokes it's so good I didn't even have to review it!" (yes I'm being sarcastic here haha)

From what your numbers tell me, you deliver excellent content to your readers. Like you said, if it ain't broke - don't fix it. And if the way you reply to people and talk to people on the forum reflects the content you send your list, I can see why they stick around <---this is a compliment so don't read it wrong!

May I ask you when people do unsubscribe do they leave a comment in the unsubscribe area why? I can't imagine most do, but just would be curious what their reasoning may be.


This is where you have it wrong - though I can see where you could assume this.

The things about most sales people...is that they are approaching sales all wrong. Most sales people are presenters. They present their product and tell the customer why their product is so amazing... sound familiar? Sounds like most of the squeeze pages I've come across.

Sales is the art of connecting with your customers, asking them the right questions, getting on the same page, asking for their commitment and then closing the sale. If you're experienced (and successful) in sales. It's not labor intensive at all. It's just a matter of the approach you take.

From what I understand of marketing. It's the message you are trying to give to any future prospects that hit your squeeze page or advertisements. When I got to a squeeze page or click and ad that caters to what I'm looking for. I could care less how flashy the product is. What I want to know is two things:

How will this help me with my current problem I'm facing?
-and-
Is this something I can do?

I don't want to know what the features of the product are, I want to know HOW those features will help me acheive the results I'm looking for.

When I don't purchase something, I don't purchase because of the quality of the product...I don't make a purchase because the product page hasn't given me enough information to help me see if can fix my problem.

I could start a huge debate here by saying this: But most marketers are doing it wrong.

"Hey brah...you can't say that, you have ZERO marketing experience and you puff your chest and do stuff with glass houses and stones, remember?"

Sure, I don't have marketing experience, but I have BUYING experience. I'm a consumer, just like you. The biggest issue I see with many marketers is that they are too worried about making the product flashy. Too worried about the design and layout and spend the least amount of time on the message.

Well, I can tell you that the last IM product I purchased was with someone that made a solid white squeeze page, had a 4 minute video and the product was $500 bucks. His info was solid, he touched all the important parts I put in my name email and cell number, he called me personally, we talked for 10 minutes, he answered my questions and I bought the product.

Since then we've chatted quite a bit on skype, on the phone and he is offering another product for over $1,000 and I'm waiting for him to get back in touch with me so I can make that purchase as well. Why?

Because he had the right approach and his initial marketing endeavor WORKED.

Anyways, I didn't want to go too off topic on this post, but Dub...I gotta say, you may want to examine your social skills. It's one thing to disagree with a post and reason with validity behind it. It's another to assume.