Do you have an email marketing strategy. Of course you know every Internet Marketing Guru says your money is “In the List”.
As you can see in the left sidebar, you can opt-in to my email list. I am building a list of subscribers!
I have opted-in to many Internet Marketers email list and I get to see, first-hand, how they go about subscription marketing. I usually sign-up with marketers I think can offer me information which will help me be more successful. I believe education is an ongoing journey which will never end.
I gotta’ tell you, some of these subscriptions are excellent and provide me with thought-provoking content every time I receive an email. As a matter of fact, I look forward to receiving most of the emails.
On the other hand, I have unsubscribed to quite a few of these so-called Gurus and it’s due, in large part, to the consistent abuse they send my way! For some reason these people seem to believe I have opted-in to their email-list for the sole purpose of getting new sales pitches every day.
These Sales Pitches are usually wrapped in a free offer of some sort. I don’t necessarily have a problem with a pitch, because I believe selling is a good thing. But there are limits to my patience.
I do have a problem with Internet Marketers who think I’m just another sucker in their auto-responder.
There are lots of them out there and as soon as you opt-in you’ll get a thinly worded email with a link to a 6000 word squeeze-page requiring another opt-in to a different marketers list. Joint Venture Hell!
Have you gotten a dozen or more emails about the exact same product launch? If so, you know what I mean.
If a marketer occasionally sends me to a sales page, I don’t mind if it’s something they truly recommend. I actually appreciate it. Sometimes I buy, sometimes I don’t.
Because I monitor this type of marketing activity, I sign-up with anyone offering something free, just to see how they build a relationship with me. As a result, I am constantly adding and cutting subscriptions – separating the wheat from the chaff!
So How do I know the email subscription is junk!
- The initial offer is not really free!
- Every email tries to sell me something!
- An email doesn’t “exactly explain” the truth of an offer!
- The email treats me like an idiot or a sucker!
- I receive many emails offering no-value without charge!
- The subscription demonstrates its only purpose is to manipulate me into a sale!
I am not suggesting an email marketing campaign should never try to sell you something, it should. However, the first sale made is the credibility of the author. It’s also a process of building trust with content! Screw it up and it’s over!
As far as I am concerned, the primary goal of an opt-in subscription list should be to build a relationship with people who have an interest in your topic. This is how you learn what your customer wants! This is where the rubber hits the road! I have dumped every subscription which fails this test.
I recently got an email from a very well-known Internet Marketer. In the auto-responder message there was a free offer which included a code to enter in the sign-up page. The offer sounded good to me, so I checked it out!
After filling out the form and hitting the continue button I ended up at my PayPal page. I expected this.
I then found out the offer was actually for 1 free month in a membership site with recurring billing of $97 per month after the 30 days. What did I do? I closed the window. I was not impressed!
This marketer had never mentioned a recurring monthly payment schedule. He didn’t mention it in his email and he also suggested in the email – I should just scroll to the bottom of the sales page, hit the buy button, and insert my code in the sign-up form. This was obviously done so I wouldn’t know it was a membership site until the absolute last moment.
When this happened I went back to his last email and hit the unsubscribe link quicker than a raindrop falling!
I am wondering if this is happening to him a lot! Who knows?
I don’t know if other bloggers are having this type of thing happen to them, but it amazes me how some marketers think they can get away with it. Email Marketing can be a great way to make a passive income, but only if it’s done the correct way.
I would rather starve than employ these tactics. How about you?
Have you had similar experiences? If you have, I’d love to hear about it.
Email Marketing should focus on providing value. If it doesn’t, it’s junk. Marketers need to remember how easy it is to unsubscribe!
Stay Tuned
Jim
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