Many people have “subscribe to lists” and market their products very well using this, but many people don’t know the first thing about starting a list and the proper usage. I personally started a small list on one of my sites, but stopped because I realized I didn’t like that type of marketing because along with legitimate people you also get a lot of spammers.

When you land on a subscribe to page it takes a lot of motivation in order to make you sign up doesn’t it? If it’s something important that you want to learn more about then usually I’ll sign up. but I sometimes use a throw away e-mail designed specifically for this purpose. I feel better protected this way and don’t have to worry about unsubscribing, I simply delete that user and all messages it  contains.

Many people have been told that the money is in the list, but if that list isn’t used properly you’ll end up with no list and no money. I don’t report people that don’t follow the rules, but many do and you could wind up being on a blacklist, but how do you go about getting the list in the first place? You have to motivate the reader first before he will even bother with his time.

Motivation is the first step toward creating your opt in list and you have to list all the benefits why subscribing will help them. I have seen many site’s that simply have a box and a subscribe to message and that’s it. Unless I find your other information helpful or you’re giving me something free that I really want then I’m not going to waste my time.

At least tell me why I should sign up for the newsletter and what solutions I might look forward to and how it will fulfill a need I might have. One thing that really turns me off is asking me too many questions, at first they just want my e-mail address then they start sending me to 50 different pages, maybe they don’t realize it, but they have just lost me as a potential reader and customer.

If they had just asked for my name and e-mail address and then sent a confirmation e-mail that would have been enough. I could then confirm and then choose what ever preferences I might need to make without making it being so difficult to start with, but also as mentioned above you need to supply enough information and not just have a box for the e-mail to subscribe to, if you don’t tell me what I can look forward to then there again you’ve lost me.

Many times after you sign up nothing happens, we expect to at least get a welcome letter and some indication maybe from a past newsletter so we will know what we have to look forward to. Many marketers start bombarding you right from the get go to buy this or that and that really isn’t very smart because I don’t trust them yet, they have to win my trust before trying to sell to me.

There are a lot of smart marketers that know this and give it some time before they include any email-special offers. They know how to make the new subscriber feel like he’s joined the club and has already received some benefit from subscribing to that newsletter. I always like to feel like the effort I spent to sign up was worth it. A welcome letter also verifies an e-mail address if there is no confirmation process.

I recently signed up to receive more information through snail mail because I’m going to get a business license and sell tangible products, but this company has since lost my interest because after I was supposed to receive the information I could then contact someone to help me set the process up.

First, I didn’t receive the information so I could make a final decision and secondly I was called at home by 2 different people after 7 o’clock to talk me into their higher priced solution. To start with unless I initiate the phone call I certainly don’t want you the company bothering me even if I was stupid enough to supply my phone number. I detest pushy sales tactics and I will hang up on them every time.