You Have An Opt-In List, Now What?

You have built an email opt-in list of hundreds, maybe even thousands of names, email addresses, phone numbers. You gave out bonuses, tediously composed a series of seven follow-up emails, sent the opt-ins to your sales page. You made a few dollars, sold way less than you expected, and to make matters worse, your tests and tracking show that most of your emails are not even opened, let alone read. People are unsubscribing as fast as new ones are signing up.

What happened? You were made to believe that marketing via targeted email opt-in lists and composing a sales page is all that is needed, and the money will start rolling in. Apparently, something is still missing.

Think about how, where and why YOU buy what, and from whom. Very specific steps have to be happening in order for a potential customer to become a possible customer and finally a definite customer. The ultimate goal is, that your opt-ins become repeat customers.

First step: Does your product provide the solution to the problems your opt-ins have? Put yourself in the shoes of the people signing up on your email opt-in squeeze page. Could they be submitting their contact information simply to receive the freebie? Does your squeeze page give visitors a clear understanding of what your product offers and what problems it can solve? If you were them, would YOU opt in?

Second step: Assuming that your email opt-ins did sign up, because they think your product might be a solution for their problems. Now it is up to you to prove to them, that indeed, your product is the best, the only, solution. You must establish a level of trust between your potential customer and you, as the person who can help them. What makes your product better than that of the competition? Can they call you and ask you questions about the product? If you are not selling your own product, can you refer your potential customers to the maker of the product? Is he/she available to answer questions? Would YOU buy the product to solve their particular problem?

Third step: Making the sale. You have established a relationship of trust with your possible customers. The product will at this point be selling itself. No selling gimmicks, no sales-pitch is required from you. The customer is by now convinced that she/he must have your product. And the beautiful part is, that you now have a customer who trusts you and will purchase again and again, provided you keep delivering solutions to their problems.

You can accomplish the above-listed steps with conversations or exchanges of email, without putting pressure on your opt-ins or on yourself. The conversations focus on their problems and how your product can help them. Keep remembering what it feels like to you, when you are exposed to a sales pitch. It probably makes you want to run. So why would your list of people not want to run, in other words unsubscribe from your list, if they feel the sales presure? Focus on their problems and the solution you have with your product or service, and they will gladly purchase from you.

In summary: You don't need a list of tens of thousands. It is much more important to establish a relationship of trust, between you and the opt-ins to your list. Selling then becomes easy, fun and financially rewarding, after you have been marketing to a targeted group, and built your opt-in email list.