What’s A “List” And Why Do You Need One?
In online terms, a “list” is a collection of names and email addresses (and maybe other details) of people who have agreed to receive information from you about a certain topic - a bit like a rotary business card file, only electronic with lots of bells and whistles!
To limit problems that may be caused by breaches of anti-spam legislation most list/email management services/software will make your subscribers sign up using a double opt-in process, where:
- They first fill out a form requesting information (single opt-in)
- They see a page advising them that a confirmation email has been sent, which requires them to click on a special link in that email (this is the double part of the opt-in) to confirm it was indeed them who requested this information (i.e. the email address provided is legitimate and the person who has access to that email account actually wants the information).
- Once confirmed, the person becomes a “subscriber” to that particular list, and should now be:
- redirected to a web page welcoming them to the list, and also be
- sent a welcome email to confirm the fact.
Now you will NOT have just one list, because one big “master” list is not easy to manage.
Instead, you will most likely have many smaller lists which enable you to segment or target different groups of people based on a common interest - i.e. the people who have signed up:
- to receive information on a specific topic, or
- in response to a particular marketing campaign you are running
Why Go To All This Trouble?
Your customers (or potential customers) are always “busy” people. Busy with work, or maybe just busy being entertained. They get easily distracted because of their busy life… along with the huge amount of information overload they are subject to on a daily (hourly) basis!
So when they go looking for a solution to a problem they might have the chances are very good that, even if they have only recently “discovered” you, they will completely forget about you and look for a solution elsewhere.
However, if they were subscribed to your list, you have the opportunity to regularly “remind” them that you exist… and maximise your chances of them purchasing the solution they need from you.
As you build a relationship with the people on your list, you can also encourage them to purchase other products that might be useful to them. These could be your own products, or affiliate products you earn a commission from. The key things here are that the product is relevant to them (another reason to segment your lists) and that you don’t continually ask them to open their wallets!
An email list can also be used to deliver product and information. For example, you may have a short course that can be delivered by email. Or you might encourage people to stay up-to-date with the latest information from your web site by subscribing to your RSS email feed.
To summarize some of the main ways your list can be used:
- As a “reminder” mechanism
- As a system to refer relevant product
- As a tool to deliver content or updates
What Happens If You Don’t Have A List?
Let’s just say you rely on “traffic” to your web site to create new business for you. Do you realise that the vast majority of people visiting your web site disappear within 30 seconds… never to return again?
It’s quite a scary, but very true, statistic!
Sure… some of those people might bookmark your site and come back… but you’ll spend most of your time on generating new traffic to your site to replace all these people that leave. And that’s NOT effective marketing!
If you don’t actively encourage your web site visitors to sign up for a list, you are missing a huge opportunity to engage in regular correspondence with highly interested people! They are much better prospects to talk to than are the casual “surfers” that arrive at your site.
Eventually, as your “list” grows to some reasonable numbers, you’ll find that your business model becomes much stronger because it relies less and less on the unstable “free” traffic from search engines to generate income for you.
The key to all of this is…
Setting up your lists properly in the first place…
And deciding how you are going to best serve all the different types of people that might be interested in what you offer!
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