Customer Lists

Replies are closed for this discussion.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Chris Ewald on November 21, 2008 at 11:49am

Hi Linda,

Great question -- check out this discussion thread from the Lounge Forum that will give you more details and suggestions about building your list: Can't I Just Buy a List?.

The Lounge Forum is a great resource for finding answers to email marketing and list building questions. There's been quite a bit of activity over the last few months, and you can use the keyword search tool in the upper left corner of the Forum home page to search through the archive. You can also subscribe to a thread you're interested in by clicking the RSS link at the bottom of any Forum page; that way you receive the latest updates to the thread in your RSS reader.

Cheers, --Chris.

Permalink Reply by Norma's Bath & Body on November 23, 2008 at 6:25am

Hi Ms. Linda!
I'm new too. and have a very short customer list. but I did mess around with sending out a few, and it says Test Emails did they not go out to the people I listed??
~Norma

Permalink Reply by Linda Jo on November 23, 2008 at 9:11am

Hi Norma
I get so many marketing emails every day...there must be a way to tap into this...
I guess buying a list is one way.....would like to zone in on my clients more....
keep in touch if you hear of anything that works...thanks for replying....

Permalink Reply by Bill Henthorn on November 23, 2008 at 1:14pm

Howdy and Aloha Ms, Linda Jo Dalton,

I got a solution for you that's fast, doesn't violate VR policy about imported rent or purchased lists. Sound good?

The strategy is this:

You send online visitors (I'll tell you how to get them in a sec) to a special web page on your site just for getting them to join your Vertical Response opt-in list (by filling out their email address).

The tactics: This strategy wraps around a number of tactics you can use or not, depending on your level of understanding, adventure, and tech help, so I bullet point each one and explain them:

• Partner with other business friends who already have lists to mail out on your behalf -- Benefits are several and immediate: as friends, they want to help you, they're less likely to try to squeeze the last dime of you to mail their list for you, you can work something whereby if someone on their list becomes your paying customer, you pay them a % (formally known as affiliate marketing and known in the pre-online world as a sales commission)
• Start by mailing to people you already know -- This is known as a seed list (the term comes from agriculture: this is the stuff you plant). Benefit: like your friends, they're more likely to see how they can help you. And because it's you, they will actually open your email (a big challenge in email marketing). Find these folks in all of your various email accounts' address books. Important: do not add people you absolutely do not know (like folks whose email addresses all appeared on the mailout of a funny joke -- you get my point)
• Start with very tiny Google pay-per-click campaigns (AdWords) -- Kindly forgive my trespass if I assume incorrectly that you're not experienced in PPC,
• • First, tiny = low cost per click ($0.05 - $0.25) and low daily maximum budget ($3.00).
  • Quick primer: when you search on Google, you see those ads on top and on the right; they're AdWords. Advertisers choose keywords, geography (and other filters); when someone searches, your ad is displayed. If they click on it, you pay for that click (pay-per-click). How do you get set up with Google AdWords? I hope to have an article here with blow-by-blow instructions on getting set up, choosing your keywords, running them, testing and evaluating, and more.

Hope that helps. Feel free to send me questions: billhenthorn@spiralmarketers.com

Permalink Reply by Bassam on January 23, 2009 at 6:26pm

Hello Bill,
Do you happen to have a more expanded direction on the "tiny Google pay-per-click campaigns" specific to the collection of email addresses. I am familiar with AdWords and have used it for different purpose, but would be very interested in being able to expand my list via Google is possible.

Thanks

Permalink Reply by Sarah on November 24, 2008 at 11:37am

Hi Linda,

The VerticalResponse webinar team just did a webinar on List Building and List Segmentation. It was recorded and you can check out the recording here....http://www.verticalresponse.com/tutorials/webinars/