Ways to Make a List More Responsive
What is a List?
Unlike grocery lists or spare parts lists, in the marketing sense of the term, a ‘list’ refers to a list
of customers. More specifically, in regards to internet marketing, it refers to a list of emails
through which potential customers can be contacted.
If you’ve ever faced a situation where you needed to enter your details (especially your email)
before you download something, then chances are that you are, or have been, part of a
someone else’s list.
Even large companies that are already very established use email lists of their own to keep
track of their customers, and alert them to new developments, offers, and so forth. Of course,
this ties in to yet another question at hand…
Why Build and Use a List?
Commonly, not having a list is said to be ‘leaving money on the table’, and that much is
certainly true.
Take the example of a conventional clothes store. Customers come, browse around, maybe buy
something, and then leave. Once they’ve left, the store has no way of getting in touch with
them, and maybe convincing them to come back again.
On the other hand, if the store had their contact details, they could notify them when they have
a new stock of clothes on the rack, or special discounts, and so on. By doing so, the customer
would then feel compelled to perhaps come back, or at very least would consider doing so.
Similarly, in whatever niche that you’re into, if you had a list of previous customers then
whenever you have a new product, or some other offer, you’d just be able to shoot out emails
and see if anyone is interested. Simple as it sounds, this is amazingly effective.
Think about it in terms of figures, if that helps. Let’s say you have an 8,000 strong list, and you
send out an email regarding your latest product that costs $20. Even if only 10% of your list
buys your product, that is 800 instant customers and you would have made $16,000.
To sum it up, the reason to build and use a list is to establish a firm base of regular customers to
which you can market your products and offers too with great ease.
How to Get Started Building a List
Merely inserting someplace where email addresses can be gathered and collected is already a
first step towards building a list. In general, there are two choices that you’ll be faced with
when deciding exactly how and where you’re going to be gathering emails:
1. Creating an Opt-in Page
Amongst those who are honestly going all-out to build up a list, this is the most
commonly employed method, simply because of its effectiveness. By creating a separate
opt-in page, all the attention on that page can be focused completely on the singular
goal of getting a customer to subscribe to the list.
Essentially, the best opt-in pages are those that have no ‘extras’ that may distract from
the goal, and so normal advertisements and other links (except at least one leading back
to the main website) are removed.
Really, it is sort of like plugging up all the ‘leaks’ so that everything just flows towards
gathering up emails.
Also, having a distinct opt-in page would allow traffic to be channeled directly to it,
maybe even bypassing the main website entirely. By doing so, the possibility that
visitors will be distracted on the way to the opt-in page is removed as well.
Thus, the opt-in page gives the customer a two-way decision: to subscribe or not to
subscribe (with everything possible being done to ensure that the former option is
picked!).
Remember: With an opt-in page, your form should always be ‘above the fold’ (so that
visitors will not need to scroll down to see it).
2. Adding an Opt-in Form to the Main Website
Definitely less effective under normal circumstances, it is still an option that could be
considered. In more some websites, especially blogs, which may not want to have their
traffic leaving the main website to go off to a separate opt-in page, having the form as
part of an easily located sidebar could even work just as well.
Of course, doing so does not have the added benefits of removing all other distractions
from the equation, but it is still better than nothing.
Regardless of which option is chosen in order to build up a list, there’s one other key ingredient
that should not be overlooked:
