Starting out with email lists. Need some advices >> (8)
Hi guys,
We're just starting out with creating emails lists and automated campaigns. We mostly want to sell Ecom products to the list we create while offering them value (tips & tricks, news, etc). We'll create this list mostly using paid traffic (FB, Google, etc).
I have read that many emailers here are not asking for the visitor's name, just their email. Also noticed that many are not doing double opt-ins.
Here are a few questions I have regarding the above case:
- Is it recommended (in our case) to ask only for their email or you would ask for their name too (even their first name) for more personalization? I assume it's harder to get a lead with a name than without.
- Is it recommended to just simply let them subscribe without seeking confirmation from them right after (DOI or SOI)?
- Currently, we have a free account on MailChimp with 500 subscriber limit. After reading a bit, we're thinking to switch to Campaign Monitor. Is it advised to do that or we'll be fine with MailChimp in the beginning (until like 5k subscribers)?
- How frequently would you send them emails with value and sponsored content? I know there's not a set rule for this, but what would you do personally in this case?
- Is there any decent guide available that can get us started the right way with emailing and selling products through emails?
Thanks a lot in advance!
From my limited mailing experience :
- Asking for a name indeed has a small impact on the subscribe rate, funny thing is, in some cases I had better result when asking for the name. So it's worth split testing it. When you have the name, you can personalize the emails a bit, which can help with the other metrics such as open and click rates.
- SOI or DOI ... you need subscribers that are responsive, so going for DOI will give you a better, more responsive list. However, some will fail to confirm, but might open some of the emails anyways. In some GEOs, you need to make sure the users opted in and in EU you also need to honor the GDPR law, so you will need to at least get their consent. That can be done with a checkbox that they have to check when signing up. GDPR is a mess though, so make sure you do some research.
- Mailchimp is quite anti-affiliate, it's even in their terms, so I wouldn't start with them at all as you clearly plan to send out affiliate links. More here: https://mailchimp.com/help/about-aff...-in-mailchimp/
I'm sure there are more experienced mailers here on the forum, so hopefully some of them will jump in and give you better advice 
Originally Posted by matuloo
- Asking for a name indeed has a small impact on the subscribe rate, funny thing is, in some cases I had better result when asking for the name. So it's worth split testing it. When you have the name, you can personalize the emails a bit, which can help with the other metrics such as open and click rates.
- SOI or DOI ... you need subscribers that are responsive, so going for DOI will give you a better, more responsive list. However, some will fail to confirm, but might open some of the emails anyways. In some GEOs, you need to make sure the users opted in and in EU you also need to honor the GDPR law, so you will need to at least get their consent. That can be done with a checkbox that they have to check when signing up. GDPR is a mess though, so make sure you do some research.
- Mailchimp is quite anti-affiliate, it's even in their terms, so I wouldn't start with them at all as you clearly plan to send out affiliate links. More here: https://mailchimp.com/help/about-aff...-in-mailchimp/
I'm sure there are more experienced mailers here on the forum, so hopefully some of them will jump in and give you better advice
Thanks a lot for your input, it is much appreciated.
I will keep these in mind and indeed nice finding of Mailchimp, thanks for pointing that out. Not gonna use them then.
I usually ask for name and email. But if you want, you do progressive profiling and can start off with just the email, subscribe them to your list in the background (ajax), then ask for their name right after that. You can give them the option to skip that part if you want and redirect them to the next step of the flow. You will need custom javascript coding for this.
I do SOI, but make sure to include the GDPR consent checkbox to be compliant.
Yes be careful of mailchimp with affiliate marketing. I have heard of account bans. That said, I run my list on MC and have been using it for many years and promote relevant offers. If you follow the guide on the link Matuloo sent you should be fine. Or avoid the risk and use another ESP.
For me, there's no set rule for the number of value/promo content. I usually try to combine both in every email and wrap the promo in valuable content. Sometimes it's not possible. But that's my goal with every email I send.
I've only collected 1k emails so far but here's what I've learned:
Regarding email vs email + name, I can't speak for the latter as I've only required the email field, but it's a simple matter to just test out. Could be different depending on the vertical and what your front-end funnel is like, eg if you're already asking them questions leading up to submit part.
Most ESPs should have placeholder codes that can have fallback values, eg "Hey {{ user.name || 'fallback' }}, here's your newsletter"
SOI seems generally recommended for more most advertising purposes. If your engagement is low, especially for that first email, then there's probably an issue with the quality of traffic you're running on, your targeting, or what you're promising on the front-end in exchange for their info. Running on Google & Facebook you should be good though.
I would first focus on getting your opt-in rate and funnel dialed in (front and back), then experimenting with SOI vs DOI as 2 new email campaigns. You'd want to add instructions to your post opt-in page (eg thank you page), ideally based on the email provider (gmail vs yahoo), which is something probably worth testing too for SOI to get initial open rates up.
Regarding GDPR, for starters it would probably be best to just ditch everything that set cookies, so pretty much all unnecessary 3rd party scripts, so as to not require an annoying user prompt. I know quite a few trackers let you go cookieless, eg FunnelFlux, 
I'm also reading that checkboxes aren't the one and only way forward. You just have to be explicit about what it is you're providing, and in this case since it's a newsletter I think you're in a good spot. See https://thrivethemes.com/gdpr-for-email-marketing/
There's a ton of info out there on email marketing, but also a lot of crap to sort through, and plenty of IM gurus pitching their stuff. I get the sense that the really good emailers tend to be mediocre media buyers and there's hardly anyone doing both together in big ways, especially in our little affiliate marketing bubble. Those that can do both well can make some serious bank: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/fre...?autoplay=true (owning a product doesn't hurt either).
As for courses, the only stuff that I can really recommend would be Andre Chaperon's material, eg auto-responder madness. It's a bid dated though, I think due for an update this year.
You won't see a difference in CR if you ask for a first + last name next to their email address. Difference in CR starts with adding an address or any other fields next to name + email.
For newsletters SOI is fine. If you wanna actually upsell them a product later on I'd go for DOI.
Wouldn't recommend using MailChimp. They are pretty strict with regards to the content you're sending.
You can spam your list on a daily base but that wouldn't be the smartest thing to do. There is no set rule indeed. I'd make it dependant on the amount of offers you have to send to them.
Is it better to use a personal individual pen name or agency name when sending those emails ?
Originally Posted by gritaction
In case you're trying to reach some level of "personal contact" and you are building the list around some person (fictional or real), then send it out in the name of the person.
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