The From Line

Asked by Colleen Coler, HumanFerret
"I am just starting my business. I know that my best chances for success are in building a list quickly. What are your top three strategies for building a list quickly that does not cost a lot and will bring in a targeted audience?"

Answer:

I think the paradox in your question is “building a list” and “quickly.” Building a quality, true opt-in list takes time and patience. The simple fact is that the quicker the method, the less valuable the subscribers will be. According to the Relevancy Group a market research firm on email marketing, the top four most widely used email acquisition tactics are a corporate website, social sites, in-store or point of sale, email address appending. Since you’re first starting out, I am very partial to the methodology of co-registration but it needs to be done prudently by a credible intermediary. Co-registration will yield you the fastest, true opt-in list growth if the following criteria are met:

• Make sure the co-registration intermediary you’re dealing with is reputable and will only sell you leads relevant to your offer. Generic or third party offers are not acceptable.

• Your co-registration offers must be accurate. If you say you will send email once a week make sure these subscribers don’t end up on your daily list.

• Know where your opt-in email addresses are coming from so that you can reference the source in your introductory email. This will minimize list attrition and remind the person that they opted into your list. For example, if a lead came from XYZ.com state this reference in your initial correspondence.

• Send the introductory email as soon as possible. “Out of site, out of mind” and people will forget that they opted-in or will lose interest.

• Do not have the opt-in checkbox pre-marked and don’t use service that engages in this practice. If someone doesn’t discriminately indicate that they want to hear from you, then they probably don’t. It’s simply wasted money.

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