It’s not often I have a good moan but it’s nice to get it off your chest now and again!  This particular moan is about list building and ends with a polite request to all prospective marketers.

Clearly to be a successful marketer, either online or offline, you need to have a customer list.  This allows you to make repeat offers and subsequently court repeat business.  In fact, it’s probably the single most important tool in an online marketers toolkit.

I have absolutely no problem what so ever in giving away my email address to people who are going to give me something in return, be it a short report, some free gifts, a million pounds (I wish!) or access to a resource.  I firmly believe that if anyone wants to succeed online they will have to give their email details away on numerous occasions, joining lists that they can benefit from.

If you have your own domain space the you can of course give an email address that you have created especially for joining lists.  that way you are not open to “the SPAM demons!”

What I object to most is those marketers that are extremely aggressive in their sales tactics.  I remember reading somewhere that the way to cultivate a relationship with your list is to balance giving and selling at 75% versus 25%.  In other words, only 1 in four emails should try and sell, whereas the remaining 3 of 4 emails should give the subscriber something of value.

I am not going to mention any names but I have recently purchased a product and as a consequence had to subscribe in order to reach the download link.  I am pretty sure this is not allowed under PayPal rules as you are supposed to get immediate access to your downloadable product.  Also the retailer will receive your details from PayPal as part of the transaction process anyway.

Within the space of ten minutes I received no less that six emails from this subscription.  I let it continue for four days and I have just received email number 25.  Every single one of those emails was an attempt to hard sell someone else’s products!  Sheesh!  Needless to say, I have just un-subscribed and will clearly not purchase from the source again.

In other words, due to his over zealousness in trying to sell, sell, sell and not build a relationship with me, he has now lost a subscriber and also the repeat business that he probably would have had, had he given me value!

I have heard often the phrase “it takes at least 7 emails before someone is willing to trust you and buy from you”.  I would like to add to that “in the space of three to four weeks”, not in the space of a couple of days!

The request? Oh, yeah.  If in the future I purchase a product from you or join a newsletter you administer, please treat me gently!  Court me, wine me and dine me, sweet talk me and then, maybe, I’ll buy from you again!

Cheers!