Email symbolAnyone who reads this blog regularly knows just how important building a mailing list actually is. In fact, in my opinion it is the single most important thing you can do as an Internet marketer. However, even if you manage to do everything right, building an e-mail list is only part of the job. The other part of the job is maintaining your e-mail list and turning it into a useful asset rather than something with a high turnover rate. Here’s what you need to know:

The Cardinal Sin of Internet Marketers

One of the worst things that you can possibly do as an Internet marketer is to be constantly spamming your e-mail list with more offers for more junk for sale. Yes, you want to get people in the door and yes, you want to make a one time offer to them. However, that doesn’t mean that once someone has made a purchase from you, you send e-mails twice a day every day with every other program or make money online scheme out there.
I see way too many Internet marketers who think that because you downloaded their crappy “free” report it must mean that you are a gold mine and that you’ll be willing to keep buying whatever junk they want to sell you. The fact is, no matter what business you happen to be in, you simply cannot get away with sending repeated e-mails to your list trying to sell them stuff constantly.

On the Other Hand

On the other hand, there are also the people who you buy something from and then you never hear from them again until several years later. I literally had a place write to me FIVE YEARS after I made a purchase from them and had never heard from the place since then – I’d forgotten about the place and was shocked when I got the e-mail from them. I deleted it and set them as spammers since I figured if they didn’t care enough to be in touch for five years, there was no reason for them to be in touch now.

What You Should Do

Ideally, try to send out e-mails about once a week, maybe twice a week. That’s about often enough that you’ll be able to keep your customers interested in what you have to say while at the same time ensuring that they won’t get annoyed by too many e-mails and simply unsubscribe from your e-mail list altogether.

Very Important – Follow the 80/20 Rule

However, that policy alone is not enough. If you really want to sell things to your e-mail list, you need to provide real value. That means that your e-mails should follow the 80/20 rule.
80% of your e-mails should provide useful content which people can really use. That means telling them about the latest developments in your industry and how it will affect them, telling them about how to use the product they bought more effectively and generally providing information people will look forward to getting from you.
20% of your e-mails should be marketing e-mails where you tell your customers about a great new product you have for sale. Not only will you then get more people to make a purchase, but you’ll also get more people to open all your e-mails so they can find out what you have for sale to begin with.