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Recently I came across this internet marketer who was boasting about how his subscriber list grew to over 300,000 and added something like 400+ new subscribers per day. I won’t name names here but if you may have gotten some emails about the upcoming product launch. Opinions vary as to whether it’s the “size” or “quality” of the list that matters.

You’ve heard the saying that “the money is in the list” and that’s true to a certain extent. Personally, I’ve always been a bit uncomfortable with people who preach the ultimate purpose of having a subscriber list is to milk it for all it’s worth. Trust me, I’ve unsubscribed to many a list because they’ve overpromised and underdelivered. The main culprits are the marketers who send promotional emails without the intent of informing or teaching. It’s almost too easy to see through those.

Now back to the “quality” vs. “quantity” discussion. It comes down to whether you believe that marketing to your list is just a numbers game or you believe in building solid customer relationships. Let me relay a story here. Recently, I promoted Niche Products Monthly (membership is now closed) to my list. I wrote my own email rather than using the canned version provided for affiliates and added my own bonuses. One of my readers took my advice and joined as a member.

Somehow I didn’t get credited for his purchase and I wrote to him about it. He then wrote a very detailed email (which he cc’ed to me) to the owner of the site detailing what he did when he tried to signup for the site to ensure that I got the credit for the sale. Now this is what I’m looking for - that my readers trust me and know me enough that they are willing to go the extra mile doing something like this. I’d rather have 1000 subscribers like this than 1,000,000 unresponsive ones.

Let’s do the math - would you rather have 10% conversion on a $100 product with a list of 10000 (0.1 x $100 x 10000 = $100,000) or 0.01% on the same product with a list of 1,000,000 (0.0001 x $100 x 1000000 = $10,000). Of course, I’m exaggerating the math here but you get the idea. Building a relationship and trust with your subscribers will pay off huge dividends in the long run.

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