Don’t Skip This Step for a Mailing List That’s Ridiculously Engaged
A lot of people are impressed by the size of someone’s email list. I’ll admit it: I can get seduced by this, too. Recently, when one of my Accountabilibuddies told me about someone with a list size of half a million people, my pulse sped up a bit. There is something about a big list that kicks our imaginations into overdrive! If only I could reach those 4,000 – or 40,000 or 4,000,000 — people with my message! My life would be a cakewalk!
Maybe… but maybe not.
When I started my business in 2009, I pulled together a list of 90 people. Most of them were friends and family members. I sent them a warm letter: “Hey there! Here’s my update: I just started a business!” And I made a commitment to send them tips and tricks for how to write compelling copy once a week.
Mind you, none of them had businesses. None of them actually needed to write copy. None of them were going to buy anything from me.
But in the words of Jadah Sellner over at Simple Green Smoothies, “We all start at zero.”
I’m amazed by how many people try to cut corners to avoid starting from zero. Yeah, you can buy lists, or ask affiliate partners to send an email for you, or buy Facebook Ads. But for most people who are starting out, those strategies don’t lead to many buyers (unless you’re 90% confident you know what you’re doing). So instead, here’s what works to build your own email list that’s really engaged with your good work…
Step #1 – Start.
Most people treat online marketing like a one-night stand. I invite you to treat it like a marriage.
Because that’s what it is. Imagine you are married to your email list. Yep, I’m asking you to take it that seriously, with that level of reverence, love and respect.
Here’s what that means, in practical terms:
(1) No more shit talking your list size. It’s like speaking poorly of your partner or spouse – super tacky and disrespectful to the relationship.
(2) No more ignoring your list. I don’t care if you have 50 or 500 or 50,000 people – if you don’t pay attention to them, they will go away.
(3) No more sending BS. If you don’t like how fake and pushy people are online, don’t be one of them. There are other ways. Stick with me.
(4) Stop trying to pass for normal! I get that it’s easier to follow someone’s formulas and templates than it is to learn how to write copy from the heart, but sheesh. Smart people can smell manufactured earnestness a mile away. Let your freak flag fly. It sells better, anyway.
If you want to have a mailing list with a really high level of engagement, start. It’s okay to start at zero. But you will never have an audience that wants to buy your stuff if you keep putting off digging in to cultivate your newsletter and blog habit.
Step #2 – Bless & release the people who AREN’T engaged.
For those of you who have already started consistently sending content to your mailing list, high five!
Now here’s the step you want to make sure you don’t skip. 🙂
Set up a simple system to remove the people who aren’t opening or reading your emails from your mailing list entirely.
Did I just trigger a wave of grabby, graspy panic in your system?
“But Stella! If I remove those people from my email list, it will be really small!”
You’re welcome, and I’m sorry.
Let’s be clear – it doesn’t matter HOW BIG your list is, if people aren’t ENGAGED.
To wit: “It’s not the size of the spoon; it’s how you stir the pudding.”
Yes, marketing and selling to a mailing list is absolutely a numbers game. This is why it’s NOT APPROPRIATE for people who are new in business to start with internet marketing. One, because when you are figuring out what you sell and how to sell it, that’s challenging enough without learning copywriting. And two, you need sales skills FIRST to know how to talk to potential clients, listen to what they want and value, invite them to hire you, and collect payment. Get sales skills first, then work on the skill of writing to sell. #Preach
But if you aren’t an online newb, engagement becomes more important than HOW BIG your list is.
So here’s what my team and I are doing to “bless and release” people on my list:
(1) Search for people who have not opened an email or clicked on a link from you in the last 90 days.
(2) Exclude customers and affiliates from this search.
(3) Remove them from your list.
I’ve heard Ryan Deiss over at Digital Marketer recommend taking this group off your main mailing list and exporting them to a free email service. That way, you can them email certain entry-level offers – like affiliate offers or your own freebies. Just make sure to have them opt in to get on your list again (and take them through an engagement sequence of emails).
But I’ve got a list of about 10,000 and this feels like too much work for not a lot of payoff. Instead of scattering my team’s focus on something that probably won’t net me much return (I’m not a big affiliate marketer at this point), my thinking is to toss those fish back into the sea. And trust that more of the right fish are coming my way in the future.
I get that this takes backbone.
It’s easier to lie to yourself and say the more people on your list, the better.
But we are all about quality over quantity here at Stella Orange, so I’d better walk my talk.
To keep things real, here are my numbers:
Goal
45% average open rate on my newsletters
Where We Are Now
List size: 9,772
Open rate: 16% (last newsletter; this rate varies widely and I’ve had 76% open rates during sales campaigns)
Click through: 3% (on newsletter; this rate varies widely depending on content and truthfully, I don’t care how many people click through to read my blog; I just want them to read SOMETHING from me that they think “hey, that was useful! I’ll read more from this person.”)
I’ll keep you posted over time; this is our baseline. Remember, everyone starts at zero. This is my new zero. Whether your list is bigger or smaller than mine, doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, we are all running our own race. What matters is how you treat the people on your list – and your open rates are a simple and fairly honest read of how well you’re doing.
26 Comments
Stella,
You brave soul…
I think I’d send them one more email saying re-opt in or bye for now… this let’s people know how serious you are about your list… or maybe this email you just wrote does that…
Frankly, I rarely open your emails when they come in… but when I have time I search your name and open a bunch… i don’t know how that effects statistics…
You know better than me…
Love, Mazie
Hey Stella, thanks for writing this post. It gives me the kick in the butt to clean up my list and create a new perspective by doing so. That shall be my duty this week and if I end up with 10 people on my list thats totally awesome 🙂
Zarina,
My pleasure! It’s a reframe of what really matters, for sure. Let me know how it goes!
Stella
Mazie,
Thanks for reading! That’s why I’m suggesting EXCLUDING people who are clients and customers… so they don’t get removed, even when they don’t read regularly.
Stella
Good point & well made. My only thought is that with preview panes I certainly ‘read’ a lot of things without actually opening them…
OK, I now promise to myself that I will not berate myself for having a very small list right now. My open rate is 46% on my newly re-opted in list, so that is a good thing!! Now I need to communicate stuff of value to them much more often. I will have to try out writing some different info and see what gets opened and seems to be most valuable to readers. Asking directly for feedback on what they need/want from me got lots of opens, but only one emailed response to me. Thanks for the wisdom, Stella!
I am similar to Peter in that I read through the preview a lot of times. Also, I thought that some mail systems don’t trigger an “opened” notification. AND if people don’t click to show images, it also doesn’t show that they open. All that aside, I respect your courage in releasing and the space it will leave open for a more engaged audience.
I don’t see what you get from this. Your emails have a zero variable COGS so it doesn’t really save you money. Who cares what your open “rate” is; what matters is the number of opens. Plus 90 days seems tight if you screen on opens. To Peter’s point, people may be following you waiting for that one thing they want to open. Why lose them? They signed up once; why not try fishing that list for what interests them or what needs they do have before you cut them off. Most people have too much email anyway so if they don’t perceive a reason to keep you, they unsub rather than respond to your survey. But maybe they’ll respond with needs you can address. Filters your list without arbitrarily slicing it in half and gives you the chance to build more “opens.” My 2c. TC
Stella, my head gets what you’re saying, but my panic isn’t far away. My list is small, 40 odd people. If I cull I might just have no one to write to! ooooh I need a cup of tea….
Good stuff! I’ve been taking a few of my clients through the list-cleanup process. It IS nerve wracking! Not liking how Aweber doesn’t do this task very good either.
Thank you for being so brave Stella. You are an inspiring role model of what it means to be authentic and walk your talk!
Thanks for sharing this Stella. It motivates me to ask, how the heck do I find out how many are opening my emails/blogs/newsletters. No clue. I know I only have a few on my list, but I will at least make the effort now of making sure I’m connecting, or disconnect.
This is a great article! And it sort of validates my having started a new list recently. As you mentioned, I started with mostly friends and family because I didn’t want to start from 0. And while new people have come on along the way, I really wanted to have a new list with people who are actually more engaged and interested in what I have to stay. It’s too soon to tell how well this will work out, but it feels good to know that the people I have are people who truly want to be on there!
Peter,
Yeah, I’ll bring this up with my team but my thought is that my standard is to have an audience who is highly engaged, meaning they are actively clicking on links to check out my content and offers.
Thanks for the thought – I appreciate it!
Lisa,
Yep, asking people is good, and so is experimenting. Did you see last’s week’s post? https://stellaorange.com/2016/06/07/how-to-come-up-with-a-years-worth-of-content-in-30-minutes/
/st
Hi TC,
Seems like we may be playing a different game. For me, this isn’t about expense; I think of it more like deadheading flowers. I just did this yesterday for a plant in my back yard. I pinched off the flowers that had already bloomed, and know that it will make the whole plant more vibrant and alive.
Thanks for your perspective all the same – I appreciate your critical eye!
Stella
Therese,
That hidden step (Step #2) isn’t meant for you just yet. It’s meant for people with thousands of people on their email list, who I want to give a friendly nudge to think about list maintenance.
Enjoy your tea!
Barbara,
This is not my area of expertise – honestly, at this point I have a support team who does this for me – but every email service worth its salt should have a feature that gives you simple stats like this. Ask a friend or colleague to walk you through how to do it… or just poke around your email service until you find it!
Yari,
I bow to your statement “It’s too soon to tell how well this will work out”… I admire your wisdom and wish more people could see the world as you do!
Stella
Interesting Stella on so many levels. My open & click-through rates are right where yours are. But when the list was smaller, we were up to 28% open rate & 11% click through rate. I’ve been tweaking ever since to bring back up the engagement.
I’m a preview reader and I wish there was a way for the systems to count that as a read. But we did a 3 email string earlier this year, letting our un-opens know that I wanted to provide value & it didn’t seem like I was providing value to ‘you’. So within 7 days, we will no longer add clutter to your inbox. The email also had a 1-click for the person to say, “I want to stay”.
I was expecting to drop quite a number of people off the list. To my surprise, we only trimmed 20% – many people elected to stay.
I’m also backing off from a weekly newsletter to a bi-monthly newsletter this summer. Sometimes I feel like I’m stretching too far to come up with something good. With that in mind, I decided to make it easy and for it to feel good.
My peeps are busy people, I think they will enjoy the fact that they have one less item in their inbox. We will probably clean house again at the end of summer.
L
I’m so ambivalent about this. I’ve been thinking about it but my list is about 1200 now and I’m so psyched to have over 1000 that culling feels hard. But I like the thought!
Cleaning your list is EXACTLY what you need to do! We have some very strict “list hygiene” and (as you know) it pays off. We have very healthy open & click rates, and we’re growing our community by around 200 every month (even after we remove inactive subscribers). Keep doing what you’re doing – it will pay off!
Thanks for reminding me that I was overdue to do this again! It’s been about 6 months. It’s interesting to note that those who have not opened any emails in the last 3 months are mainly those who subscribed when my message was slightly different, or people who never opened a single email from me from the time they subscribed.
Dear Stella,
Although I had not been seeing your emails as often because of receiving emails from too many other mailing lists (need to clean some of those out), I realized what was happening a couple of weeks ago and am now keeping a hawk eye out for your emails. I feel that anyone can benefit from your no-B.S. approach to copywriting, whether she has her own business or works in someone else’s, so I will keep reading. Also, I want you to know that I have never before even once commented on anyone’s blog (or similar item) on the web that I can recall. I will be sharing this post of yours to help any of my friends who may be interested to find you. Best wishes to you, Caresse
Stella, my experience is similar to Peter’s. I’ve had people who don’t show up as ‘opens’ tell me that they read my emails faithfully. I’m not sure how that works, but it happens. How do you clean out a list without deleting people who are truly interested?
I’m a parent coach, and if they are reading the articles, I’m good with that.
(Open rates are from 23-30%, more often above 25%.)
Thanks.
I’ve just written “Stop trying to pass for normal!” on a postit and stuck it in my eyeline behind my machine. Thank you Stella! I’m NOT normal 🙂 . (But still normal enough to need permission to acknowledge this – hah!)