Thinking of Buying an Email List?

Dear Email Marketers, You do know this is a bad idea, right? What? You don't?

Maybe you're new to the email marketing community. Or maybe you've been chatting with the Wrong Sort of Marketers.

And maybe you believe the promise that these leads specifically requested information just like yours.

News flash: they didn't.

It's time to set the story straight. Here's what's really going on.

Think about it - have you ever requested that your email address be spread far and wide so you could get a slammed with a ton of new, random email offers?

Yeah. Neither has anyone else. And yet list vendors have huge databases of names and email addresses. So the question is...

Basically, any address left lying around the web can end up in those databases.

Vendors scrape them off old lists. They pick them off web sites. They collect contact lists from conferences. They advertise free products, then stockpile the information that respondents provide.

Which means the people you're emailing may not be remotely interested in your topic. And even if the vendor did use legitimate subscription tactics, none of these people expect to hear from you.

Some of you are nodding - you see the problem.

Others are rolling their eyes, thinking,"Yes, but I need customers," your fingers itching to toggle back over to that list supply site.

Well, keep those fingers steady for one more minute. The problem won't just be your recipients' - it'll be yours, too.

Sending to a bulk list might not mean a one-way ticket to the spam house - the first time, at least. But it will at a minimum mean a lot of unpleasantness. Here's why:

1. The addresses on those lists get sold to all kinds of marketers. So they get all kinds of mail. So, they lodge all kinds of spam complaints. If ISPs like Gmail and Hotmail notice, they might put you on a blacklist, blocking your emails from all their users in the future.
2. Because of the way these lists are compiled, many of the addresses you receive will be misspelled, abandoned or non-existent. When a big chunk of your emails goes to such addresses, ISPs, again, might notice. Again, they might block all future emails from you. List merchants know this. It's such a sure thing, they even offer a refund of credit for those addresses up-front.
3. And if you're sending through an email service provider and you get blocked, other messages they send from the same IP address could also be blocked. So you'll actually find that no reputable ESP will let you import a purchased list anyway.
4. Finally, let's talk sales. Aren't they the ultimate purpose of your emails? Unprepared recipients aren't likely to think, "Oh gosh, I was just hoping for yet another offer from a company I don't know! Let me click over to their site and buy something!" If you were hoping to sell to this list, you might want to adjust your expectations.

So yes, perhaps you'll have a very large list for a few minutes. But after the bounces, spam complaints and lack of response, you're likely to find yourself worse off than when you started.

Plus, you'll be associated with spam. Is that how you want to spend your marketing budget?

Okay, you're saying. I get your point. But I still need to make sales, and I need people to sell to.

We get that. So we've written up lots of ideas for building your list. They're simple, they're above-board, and they work.

In the words of our Import Specialist, Chase Kramer, "What's really important isn't sending to a bunch of people that aren't all that interested and hoping for a few sales. It's positioning yourself so that a month from now, a year from now, two years from now and beyond, the sales are coming to you."

And beyond the sales, you'll find you have something immeasurably valuable: a list of people who are truly interested in what you have to offer - your own village of customers.

Sincerely,

Amanda & the AWeber Team

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Credit: Inbox Ideas

Social Media vs. Email: a Look at Commitment

Social Media. Email marketing. Both are mediums through which you talk to people, people who are interested in what you have to say.

We've posted about the relationship of Facebook and Email, and about how it is important to use all forms of communication to get the word out to people who will listen about your business.

But are all listeners created equal?

Meet Us at MarketingSherpa’s 2011 Email Summit

AWeber will be at MarketingSherpa's Email Summit from Monday 1/24/11 until Wednesday 1/26/11. If you're headed to the conference, we'd love to meet you. Amanda and I (Justin) are going, so keep a look out for us or drop @aweber a line on Twitter. If you're not going to be there, you can keep up with what's happening and the data and lessons being shared, by following the #SherpaEmail hashtag on Twitter. Hope to see you there!

Credit: Inbox Ideas

Are Your Emails Top Priority?

Back in August, Gmail introduced the Priority Inbox - a new tool that filters emails into "Important and unread," "Starred" and "Everything else" sections of your inbox automatically.

After taking some time to experiment with it, it's true that the Priority Inbox really can help Gmail users separate your emails from those less relevant ones out there based on their interaction with all of the messages they receive.

You know how important it is for your email marketing messages to be valuable, so let's make sure you're doing everything you can to make subscribers aware of the value of your emails. Keep reading to find out how!

How To Sell A Service With Follow Ups

In fact, they're a great way to sell pretty much anything: shoes, books, even life experience.

The team at CareerShifters knows this. Each member has experienced career change, and they've turned that experience into a business.

And as Creative Director Neil Collman explains, "Using a follow-up series was the simplest way to build a relationship with visitors and demonstrate the value we can offer them."

See how for yourself...

Discover The Secrets of Email Secret Sales

Everyone loves a juicy secret. Whether you have dirt on your neighbor or your own sneaky tidbit of information to keep under wraps, there's no denying the allure of getting to the bottom of a secret.

When we're not "in the know," it's human nature to exercise our curiosity and seek out the truth. When we're kept in the loop, we feel special and privileged.

Your email marketing can appeal to those emotions, too. You want subscribers to feel privy to select information about your company. After all, that's one reason you have an email campaign in the first place - to keep customers and prospects in the loop.

By positioning promotions as "secrets," you can create buzz and start a game of whisper down the lane with your subscribers, hoping they will spread the word to their friends who weren't as lucky to hear from you first.

When it comes to secret persuasions, Bloomingdale's certainly has the right idea.

For their first ever online secret sale, they rolled out invitations only to email subscribers. The beauty of this tactic? It's not really secret at all. Bloomie's wants their readers to forward the message to friends and chat the event up.

How You Can Do It:

At first glance, it may seem like Bloomingdale's can execute this kind of campaign because they have hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend on email marketing. Looking closer, however, there's no reason that you can't have the same impact with your own campaign.

1. Create a broadcast message that promotes a "secret" limited time event. Use urgent language to inspire quick clicks.
2. You don't have to make a coupon code or get technical about sales deductions. Notice that Bloomie's never mentions a code, they just include a link to the "sale" page on their site.

Everyone loves scratch-off coupons. It's like playing the lottery, but always winning!

Overstock offers email subscribers a virtual scratch-off coupon in this genius email. The added element of the unknown inspired me to click through and see what item I could get a good deal on that day.

How You Can Do It:

1. Pick an item on your site that you want to make the special sale item and copy the URL.
2. Save the following coupon images to your computer, then upload one to your website and use it in your next email. Link it to the special sale item, and you have a mystery sale item instantly!

Rue La La's Secret Suite invitation is another brilliant use of secrecy. The very idea of a guest list oozes exclusivity. If you're not on the list at the hottest club in town, you're not getting in, right?

How You Can Do It:

1. You've already got your guest list, so the hard part's complete.
2. The trick is writing an email that uses language to paints a portrait of limited access. Using phrases like "under-the-radar" and "exclusive" lets your subscribers believe that they are special for receiving the email from you, which increases the odds that they will click through and purchase something from you.

Have You Ever Run a Secret Sale Campaign?

What kind of language did you use to inform subscribers of the sale? Were your emails successful? Share your experiences below!

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Hat Tip To: Inbox Ideas

The People Behind Your Brand

Personality. Some companies have it, others don't, but it's just not the sort of thing you can fake.

Smart businesses develop a personality early on. They find a balance between how their organizations operate and how the people who work there act, then use their personalities to brand themselves.

It's easy to decide how you want your brand to be viewed. It's much harder to project your vision and have your personality stick with your audience.

Email marketing is the perfect medium for building and displaying your business personality. It allows you to show readers that your company is transparent and made up of real people.

By giving subscribers a behind-the-scenes look at who makes up your company, you can build trust and encourage spending at the same time. Here's a look at 4 groups of people that can impact a company's personality.

3 Ways to Set Expectations at Sign Up

"I didn't sign up for this!" An impulsive and angered hand clicks the "Mark as Spam" button.

Spam complaints can tell you a lot about your email marketing campaigns. One thing they can indicate is that it's unclear to your subscribers what they are signing up for and how when they'll receive your messages.

So how can you minimize spam complaints from the get-go?

Keep reading to find out how a few of your fellow email marketers do it by setting expectations!

4 Ways to Set Expectations at Sign Up

"I didn't sign up for this!" An impulsive and angered hand clicks the "Mark as Spam" button.

Spam complaints can tell you a lot about your email marketing campaigns. One thing they can indicate is that it's unclear to your subscribers what they are signing up for and how when they'll receive your messages.

So how can you minimize spam complaints from the get-go?

Keep reading to find out how a few of your fellow email marketers do it by setting expectations!

How To NOT Market Like Nine Inch Nails (And Why)

When you start a new email marketing campaign, you may want to invite subscribers from previous lists to subscribe. That can be perfectly okay.

Or it can be a disaster. Cross-promotion is a bit like a minefield: you have to step carefully.

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has impressed us in the past with his fan-focused, grassroots, defy-The-Man marketing. But when his campaign recently invited subscribers to a new list, someone wasn't watching their feet carefully enough.

To keep yourself on solid ground when cross-promoting your lists, you'll need this guide. Follow it, and the only explosion you'll see will be the size of your list.