adventures in list building
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Email marketing presentation on list building, list automation and subscriber management as given to the NAMS weekly training call January 4th 2012.TRANSCRIPT
Adventures in List Building:List Automation AND
SegmentationPhil Hollows@phollows
What You’ll Learn Today• Your secret monetization weapon is your
email list.
• That YOU can create an ass-kicking inbox-busting revenue-generating engagement-building money-making selling machine.
About Phil Hollows• Founder and CEO of FeedBlitz, the
premium FeedBurner alternative.– Sending over 1,000,000,000 updates per year.– Clients include: Seth Godin, Fred Wilson,
Denise Wakeman, Lee Odden, Andrea Deckard.– NAMS7 Sponsor.
• Author of “List Building for Bloggers”– ListBuildingForBloggers.com – Use MYNAMS code by 1/15 and save $10.– Become a “List Building for Bloggers” affiliate!
The Money’s in the List
It’s All About Engagement!“I get ten times more response to my
blog from my email subscribers than I do from anyone else.”
Seth Godin
“Engagement = Revenue”Phil Hollows
Ubiquity, Commitment, Engagement
• Everyone online has at least one email account.
• Email readers typically outnumber RSS readers 3:1 or better. – Hubspot said 12:1 in 2009!
• Email subscribers are more committed to you.
• Remember: You are not your audience.
Email Updates Drive Engagement, SALES
• Full branding.• Activity tracking.• Committed subscribers.• Mini web sites in the
inbox.• Can include multiple
affiliate links, calls to action.
Email Subscriptions are the Essential Complement to SEO
• SEO increases traffic to your site … and then what?
• Email options convert visitors into subscribers, and subscribers into money.
List Building – Basic Tips• Learn from the leaders. • Have a clear subscription form above the
fold.• Use social proof if you have it.• Incentives work.• Brand, baby, brand!
Your Site is Your Platform• Your site is content marketing.
• It builds trust, audience, engagement.
• It generates SEO-friendly, keyword-rich posts.
• It grows your subscriber list.
• Don’t stop updating it (blogging) and “giving away” free content. It enables everything else.
Typical ListSubscription Sequence
Fill in form
Dual opt-in activation
Check inbox
landing page
Thanks forsubscribin
g!
Contentmailings
Autoresponder MonetizationSubscription Sequence
Fill in form
Dual opt-in activation
Autorespondersales
sequence
Check inbox
landing page
Thanks forsubscribin
g!
Autorespondersales
sequenceAutoresponder
sales sequence
Autorespondersales
sequenceAutoresponder
sales sequence
Autorespondersales
sequence
Contentmailings
Content Signup SequenceFill in form
Contentmailings
Dual opt-in email
Check inbox
landing page
Thank youlanding page
Thank youautorespond
er10% off
20% off
40% off
50% offStops sequence
New buyeremail
Forwardto parser
Purchase made
Autoresponder Ideas
• Thank the subscriber.• Coupons and offers.• Sell on: e-books, videos, courses.• Solicit engagement.
– Forums, surveys and sneeze pages.• “How are we doing?” check ins.
– 1, 3, 6, 12 months later in the sequence.
Transactional Emails• Have stellar open rates.• May contain advertising and marketing
messages …– … Provided that these don’t overwhelm the
transactional component.
• Can be used to cross-promote and trigger autoresponders.
• Monetize landing pages in a multi-step transactional process.
List Building for Bloggers Email Sequence
Buye-book
Affiliateemail pitch
Thank youlanding page
Manualimport
Contentmailings
Downloadlink email
New buyeremail to
Phil
Transactional Emails #2• YOU get transactional emails when:
– Someone joins your list, registers with your forum, becomes a user, joins your site.
– Buys a product, e-book etc.
• Use automation (“parsers” or “rules”) – Extract the visitor’s email address.– Trigger a multi-step autoresponder to upsell.– Attach rules to the autoresponder to transfer
the subscriber to your main list when it completes.
Ideal LBB Email Automation Sequence
Buye-book
Thank youlanding page
Downloadlink email
Contentmailings
New buyeremail to Phil
Forwardto parser
Autoresponder
sequenceAutorespond
ersequenceAutorespond
ersequenceAutorespond
ersequenceAutorespond
ersequence
Affiliateemail pitch
New affiliateemail to
Phil Forwardto parser
New affiliate
sequenceNew
affiliatesequence
New affiliate
sequenceNew
affiliatesequence
New affiliate
sequence
Affiliate-orientedcontent mailings
Multi-List Segmentation - 1• Activity-based segmentation is the best way to
generate downstream revenues.– Email newsletter subscribers.– Purchasers.– Affiliates.– Members of your continuity programs.
• Use list automation – rules, triggers, parsers – to move people between lists for your site.– You can use this to create “master lists” for the site.– And a “master list” for all the sites you’re running.
• Target the right message to the right list during a sales program.
Multi-List Segmentation - 2• Content segmentation for large sites
– e.g. for a photography site, segments might be:• Equipment• Techniques• For professionals
– Create lists to cater to each niche within the site.– Increases relevance and hence engagement.
• Schedule segmentation– Offer real-time, daily or weekly digest options.– Untimely emails yield unsubscribes.
Demographic Segmentation• a.k.a. “Custom Fields”• e.g. Name, Title, City, State, Zip, Birthday.• Enable very targeted, effective,
personalized mailings.• Can be more complex to manage plus you
need to watch out for privacy laws.• The more data you collect the lower your
list growth will be.• The more data you collect the better your
list quality will become.
Demographic Segments• Don’t ask for what you’re not going to use.
– Reduces friction, accelerates list growth.
• Think about what you really need, e.g.– Collect birth month, not birthday.– First name and state, not ZIP and street address.– “Blast” selectively – don’t make the subscriber feel
bombarded.– Use suppression lists for JV mailings.
• Think “outside the blast” and be serendipitous!– Birthday discounts.– Offer anniversary discounts.– Random monthly drawings.
Keeping it Clean:Re-engagement and List Hygiene
• Remove subscribers who aren’t engaging with your mailings.– Improves list quality and delivery metrics.– May save you money on your service.– Be careful! Opens are difficult to track.
• Choose your parameters.– e.g. >6 months old and no recent interactions (opens
and clicks).
• Don’t simply delete subscribers who fit.– Run a re-engagement campaign.
Architecture of a Re-engagement Campaign
1. Checking you still want to hear from me, did you miss this great content? Want a different list?
2. Offer an incentive.
3. We’re going to unsubscribe you unless you click.
4. Last chance!
5. You’ve been unsubscribed. Here’s how to get back on the list.
Re-engagement SequenceStill want us?
Here’s a deal!
Removal soon
Last chance!
Buh-bye
Stops sequence
Thank you!
Reader engages
End of sequence rule unsubscribes reader from main
list
Your Goal: An Automated Email
Sales and Marketing System• Target the right people at the right time with the right
messages.
• Create a mix of autoresponders and lists.
• Automate using activity-based triggers and parsers.
• Use them to reduce your digital share cropping risk.
• You keep engagement UP and complaints DOWN.
• Run periodic re-engagement campaigns if necessary.
The List Automation Cookbook• EZ-Bake Version
– A list, a multi-step autoresponder and an incentive.
• The 30-Minute Meal– Activity-based lists, parsers and triggers for e-comm
integration.– Autoresponders and incentives.– Minimal custom fields.
• Gourmet – Activity, content and schedule-based lists.– Autoresponders and incentives, serendipity.– Custom fields, rules, parsers and triggers for e-comm.– List hygiene and subscriber re-engagement programs.
Thank You!• THANK YOU!
• Questions? Comments?
• [email protected]• @phollows• http://www.feedblitz.com • http://ListBuildingForBloggers.com
• See you at NAMS 7!