Optimizing Your Email List
By Bryan at 12 August, 2010, 10:40 pm
This is no secret among emailers, but the real money from your list is not in your direct niche that they signed up for. You have probably thought, how can an email list be so profitable for people? Well, if you have thought that, then this post is for you.
It all comes down to what you can sell a person, and when you have an email list, especially a targeted one, you have a pretty good idea of the demographic that you are dealing with. So why limit it to just one product when that demographic obviously busy more then that one product you initially marketed? It is all about cross-selling and up-selling, which is basic sales in almost every industry. So why aren’t more people trying to take advantage of email lists like this and use them to their full capacity? Probably because they never learned proper sales techniques or just don’t realize it, believe it or not.
Alright, so you have been emailing for months now. You are gaining new subscribers, you are slowly making more sales and your business is headed in the right direction. But, your earning opportunities are beginning to get limited, as you can run out of things to sell to just one list, right? You can’t push a diet pill that you recommend one week and then the next week endorse yet another one. That will kill all credibility fast. So, let us expand our horizon and build new, targeted lists that you can sell more products to.
There are two ways you can go about this. I like the second method, but try both, as the second one takes more time and a bit more to setup, so if you are just looking for some quick profit, then go with method one. I don’t suggest it for the long term, but method one sure can help you get started while you set everything else up for method two.
Method One
Method one is simple. You take the demographic that you are mailing and you find similar offers that fit into your demographic. All demographics can be cross-sold, just the EPC won’t be as high because your list is getting further from being targeted. You would now be mailing to a general list instead of a targeted one. But, mailing out makeup offers to a diet niche would have good results right? Of course. What about biz-ops? Yes, they do work in this niche, as it is middle-age women who want to improve their lives. Always, always look at the psychology of your niche too. I mean, people buy a product for a reason, so your job is to figure out why and what else they might buy because of their mindset. Personally, I am an entrepreneur, just like most of you who read this, so what would work for me? Time management software, high tech products to improve efficiency, and accounting tools are all tools that I can use and almost any other business owner could use without even knowing what they do.
So, method one is just to simply recommend other products in your newsletters. Just do the same as you have before, but include other products in your tips or guides as a way to boost your income.
Method Two
Method two should be used at all costs, as it is something that is long term and sustainable. As you saw, method one is good for quick money, but it is not something you want to push all the time on your other list. Recommending one niche over and over on an email list targeted to another niche will lose you subscribers fast and your profits will go down, which of course, is counter-productive. So, here is what you do with method two.
Just like when you built a network of sites in the diet niche for example, you now need to build a network of sites in your next niche you want to target that is in the related niche. Why do you want to keep it the same? Think about it. You paid to get those people to subscribe, so you want to maxmize that to increase your ROI. Also, getting new email subscribers in another niche off of data that you already have is basically like getting free traffic. That is why you need to optimize your traffic as much as possible.
Alright, so build up your network of sites based off your niche, meaning make a general site and then several sub-sites based the main breakoffs of that niche, all on their own domains so that you can promote them separately. Once you have your sites setup with content and such, email your list about the site with a preview of a good article on the site. Give out like a top ten tips list or something to get them to go to the site to see the whole thing, like a teaser. Once there, entice them with a good freebie again to get them to subscribe. Wash, winse and repeat, you now have another high quality, laser targeted email list.
That is it! All you have to do now is the hard part. Actually implement these ideas. It takes time, frustration and some money, but stick with it. You have to look at the long term to build your business the right way, and implementing plans like these will help you build a quality asset that you can cash in on multiple times over. Plus, it is always nice to have a steady, recurring income in an unstable industry like this. Now, go make some money!
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