Even in this modern era, there’s nothing as good as a customer list for those who are sales people. If you’re an internet marketer, your list is your lifeline to increasing your business. A list of customers with e-mail addresses is something you can use in many ways. For each sale you make, you should capture the e-mail address. Even when you don’t make a sale, see if you can entice an opt in because although someone might not be ready today, they might want to buy from you further down the line.
If your list is made up mostly of people that have bought from you, you know they’re not adverse to buying online and they have already demonstrated that they trust you a little if they’ve knowingly bought something directly from you.
Get them on the list!
Get people on your list by getting them to subscribe to a newsletter, offer a valuable free course or report or have a contest and offer a giveaway. This way, you’ve got people you can do direct marketing to.
Sell stuff!
There are lots of ways to sell stuff to your list…
Here are a few tips:
- Offer a free newsletter. You can talk about your niche and enclose affiliate links to products.
- Talk about hot deals and specials
- Write product reviews about products you’re selling
Internet marketers should be careful with your list! Don’t sell names or spam people and always allow the option for opting out. When you treat the customer list with care, you can definitely use it to your advantage.
About Sean Rasmussen
I would say it really doesn’t harm to maintain such a list.Customers who are satisfied with your service/product are really your biggest assets.
Hi Sean,
This is something I’m starting to try to put into place. After the reader opts in, I’m thinking of sending a newsletter with information on the latest hot deals. Is this a good idea?
Is it okay if it’s only ever hot deals or do I need to break it up with some other kind of offer?
Hi Jazz
That would be a great idea.
I would mix it though. Give them some valuable information and develop a relationship with them so that they will trust you. Although you think you are doing a great thing for them they mightn’t feel the same way. At least not until they trust you.
When should you start a list? I am not sure if I should as I am not ready to send regular newsletters or hot deals. Should I still start getting names and just “have them”?
Hi Sean
One of my mentors advised me to build a list as soon as I could. He said it was my greatest asset in any business plan. He also said keep building it in anyway you can. This is a guy who worked with some of the biggest personal growth Guru’s in the world so I listened now didn’t I .
I am developing a newsletter which will be a free subscription based one, and audio which will be free and I am penning a set of video tutorials (not while the comp is on of course). I have completed my Ebook and will finish editing it in July.
If you are building an opt-in list then make sure with each email you provide a link at the bottom to allow the recipients to chance to opt-out if they so desire. I’ve opted into a few which were a real PITA to get out of.
Great tip to point out Don. There is nothing worse. Some sites give you a box to tick if you wish to receive information while others already have the box ticked and you have to untick it to avoid receiving emails. This also laps over into the trickery arena as a lot of people don’t check. I closely scrutinise all checked boxes.
Somehow I started getting a newsletter type of email from this guy. I emailed him and asked him to stop. I still got them. When I replied to him again with both my email addresses he said he didn’t know why I was getting as neither were in his email list. I did get some since then but have just blocked them now.
I see the value of lists for sites which I have subscribed to and the hype which they can create with the launch of a product etc. My plan is to sign up with a one of the popular autoresponders once I get things going (so that people cna see the value in what I am providing). Autoresponders – there is also a cost to consider so need to make sure I can cover that.