Can I be painfully honest with you for a moment?
This isn’t the “phew!” type of honesty where someone points out your dress shirt is inadvertently sticking out of your fly. No, I’m talking about the brutal honesty that knocks you back in your chair…
The type of honesty that only a 2 year old gets away with when they offer their unsolicited opinion about your new haircut.
I can almost guarantee you’re not going to enjoy it (perhaps, consider this tough love), but because you trust me to take your business to the next level, I need to tell you the truth.
Ready?
You know how you’ve been working so hard to build your email list? Trying everything to get as many subscribers as possible?
Perhaps you’re just following the old adage – made popular by many so-called gurus – that reads: “The money is in the list.”
Well… Here’s the part that’s gonna sting:
You May Have to Get Rid Of Half Your Email List
Maybe more…
Yes, I’m telling you that you may have to hack away at half your list and stop emailing them. Get rid of them.
“Hasta la vista, baby!”
Let’s face it:
- 20% of the mailing addresses are bogus (either fake or going to alternate “marketing only” email addresses that never get read)
- Up to 50% of all email addresses go bad after 120 days
My 4-year old believes unicorns exist, so – to give you the benefit of the doubt – you might be part of the minority who has an 80% open rate and 50% click through rate. If that’s the case, I need to buy you a cup of coffee.
What about the rest of us, stuck getting lower than optimal open & click through rates?
Trimming half your list will result in better deliverability, and ultimately, HIGHER income for you in the long-term.
You see, everyone has been lying to you… Including me.
I have taught you ways to attract prospects in droves and become the obvious choice in your market. I’ve shown you how to rapidly increase the amount of subscribers to your list.
But honestly?
There’s one really big part I (and everyone else) left out. Here it is:
Your Disengaged Subscribers Are Sucking the Lifeblood Out of Your List
I saying the people who signed up for your email list that aren’t opening your emails or clicking on your links are, in fact, hurting you.
Understand this:
Email marketing, despite being the oldest form of digital marketing, is constantly evolving. What worked 5 years ago isn’t what’s working right now.
Email providers (like Google) have already put the writing on the wall, warning that if you don’t keep good list hygiene, you will be punished.
It’s time to put down that old flip phone and get with the times.
Here’s what they’re not telling you:
Gmail makes up 68.94% of market share for email. That means that if you do a search in your email database, you’ll find the majority of your subscribers have an “@gmail.com” address.
And even if they don’t have a gmail extension, you’re still not out of the woods…
Many more people will disguise themselves (like yours truly) and simply have their email hosted through Google Apps for business.
What’s my point?
Google is the Big Brother of the internet. They’re watching your every move. They’re paying attention to how many times your email is marked spam and how the user reacts to your messages.
If Google sees that people aren’t opening or clicking on your emails… Or if your subscribers are deleting your emails without even opening them… Or if they’re moving you to the junk folder…
Google’s going to slap you silly.
Before you know it, you’ll find yourself in the dark abyss of the dreaded spam folder.
Once that happens, say “sayonara!” to all your hard work, and begin the arduous task of getting yourself out of spam.
This is NOT something you can take likely. You must treat email hygiene seriously.
The key:
Engagement is critical.
That’s why it’s important that you:
- Don’t hide the unsubscribe button (if some wants off your list, let them go – good riddance)
- Cut your dead weight (keep a clean list of only your most engaged subscribers – let everyone else go)
If you’re on my email list, you’re ranked from Level 1 to Level 5.
- Level 5: clicked on an email within the last 30 days
- Level 4: has not clicked on an email in the last 60 days
- Level 3: has not clicked on an email in the last 90 days
- Level 2: has not clicked on an email in the last 120 days
- Level 1: has not clicked on an email in the last 180 days
Level 1 subscribers are the most disengaged subscribers, whereas Level 5 subscribers are the most engaged.
Because my Level 5 subscribers are my highest valued subscribers, they’ll get rewarded with tips, strategies, and other surprises that other levels won’t receive.
How do subscribers get and stay at level 5?
It’s simple. All they have to do is open and click on my emails. Just one click can take them from a level 1 back to a level 5.
What about Level 1 subscribers?
Is It Good-Bye, Forever?
For many Level 1 subscribers, sadly, it is goodbye forever.
I’ll send them two emails once they reach level 1 that warn them about being removed from my list.
One such email looks like this:
If they don’t click on the email notifying me that they want to stay on the list, they’ll be removed.
The Bottom Line
Contrary to what you may have heard, size doesn’t matter.
It’s the quality of your list that matters most.
More than likely, your list right now is sub-optimized with disengaged email subscribers.
Your disengaged subscribers are making it harder for you to hit the inbox, hurting your deliverability rates, and in essence, costing you opportunity.
If you want to succeed, you have to change.
Clean your list and free yourself from all the dead weight that’s penalizing your engagement.
You might not see the impact immediately, but you will. No doubt.
You’ll see results.
Where your email once experienced pitiful open and click rates, your newly engaged list will give you better deliverability – bringing you even BETTER results.
And you’ll get more sales, not because of some marketing gimmick… Not because you’re working any harder… Not because you’re spending any more money.
It’ll happen because you made a strategic move to be SMART with your list.
For more tips for dramatically increasing your bottom-line, explore our free business training!
