Adventures in List Building:List Automation AND

SegmentationPhil Hollows@phollows

What You’ll Learn Today• Your secret monetization weapon is your

email list.

• That YOU can create an ass-kicking inbox-busting revenue-generating engagement-building money-making selling machine.

About Phil Hollows• Founder and CEO of FeedBlitz, the

premium FeedBurner alternative.– Sending over 1,000,000,000 updates per year.– Clients include: Seth Godin, Fred Wilson,

Denise Wakeman, Lee Odden, Andrea Deckard.– NAMS7 Sponsor.

• Author of “List Building for Bloggers”– ListBuildingForBloggers.com – Use MYNAMS code by 1/15 and save $10.– Become a “List Building for Bloggers” affiliate!

The Money’s in the List

It’s All About Engagement!“I get ten times more response to my

blog from my email subscribers than I do from anyone else.”

Seth Godin

“Engagement = Revenue”Phil Hollows

Ubiquity, Commitment, Engagement

• Everyone online has at least one email account.

• Email readers typically outnumber RSS readers 3:1 or better. – Hubspot said 12:1 in 2009!

• Email subscribers are more committed to you.

• Remember: You are not your audience.

Email Updates Drive Engagement, SALES

• Full branding.• Activity tracking.• Committed subscribers.• Mini web sites in the

inbox.• Can include multiple

affiliate links, calls to action.

Email Subscriptions are the Essential Complement to SEO

• SEO increases traffic to your site … and then what?

• Email options convert visitors into subscribers, and subscribers into money.

List Building – Basic Tips• Learn from the leaders. • Have a clear subscription form above the

fold.• Use social proof if you have it.• Incentives work.• Brand, baby, brand!

Your Site is Your Platform• Your site is content marketing.

• It builds trust, audience, engagement.

• It generates SEO-friendly, keyword-rich posts.

• It grows your subscriber list.

• Don’t stop updating it (blogging) and “giving away” free content. It enables everything else.

Typical ListSubscription Sequence

Fill in form

Dual opt-in activation

Check inbox

landing page

Thanks forsubscribin

g!

Contentmailings

Autoresponder MonetizationSubscription Sequence

Fill in form

Dual opt-in activation

Autorespondersales

sequence

Check inbox

landing page

Thanks forsubscribin

g!

Autorespondersales

sequenceAutoresponder

sales sequence

Autorespondersales

sequenceAutoresponder

sales sequence

Autorespondersales

sequence

Contentmailings

Content Signup SequenceFill in form

Contentmailings

Dual opt-in email

Check inbox

landing page

Thank youlanding page

Thank youautorespond

er10% off

20% off

40% off

50% offStops sequence

New buyeremail

Forwardto parser

Purchase made

Autoresponder Ideas

• Thank the subscriber.• Coupons and offers.• Sell on: e-books, videos, courses.• Solicit engagement.

– Forums, surveys and sneeze pages.• “How are we doing?” check ins.

– 1, 3, 6, 12 months later in the sequence.

Transactional Emails• Have stellar open rates.• May contain advertising and marketing

messages …– … Provided that these don’t overwhelm the

transactional component.

• Can be used to cross-promote and trigger autoresponders.

• Monetize landing pages in a multi-step transactional process.

List Building for Bloggers Email Sequence

Buye-book

Affiliateemail pitch

Thank youlanding page

Manualimport

Contentmailings

Downloadlink email

New buyeremail to

Phil

Transactional Emails #2• YOU get transactional emails when:

– Someone joins your list, registers with your forum, becomes a user, joins your site.

– Buys a product, e-book etc.

• Use automation (“parsers” or “rules”) – Extract the visitor’s email address.– Trigger a multi-step autoresponder to upsell.– Attach rules to the autoresponder to transfer

the subscriber to your main list when it completes.

Ideal LBB Email Automation Sequence

Buye-book

Thank youlanding page

Downloadlink email

Contentmailings

New buyeremail to Phil

Forwardto parser

Autoresponder

sequenceAutorespond

ersequenceAutorespond

ersequenceAutorespond

ersequenceAutorespond

ersequence

Affiliateemail pitch

New affiliateemail to

Phil Forwardto parser

New affiliate

sequenceNew

affiliatesequence

New affiliate

sequenceNew

affiliatesequence

New affiliate

sequence

Affiliate-orientedcontent mailings

Multi-List Segmentation - 1• Activity-based segmentation is the best way to

generate downstream revenues.– Email newsletter subscribers.– Purchasers.– Affiliates.– Members of your continuity programs.

• Use list automation – rules, triggers, parsers – to move people between lists for your site.– You can use this to create “master lists” for the site.– And a “master list” for all the sites you’re running.

• Target the right message to the right list during a sales program.

Multi-List Segmentation - 2• Content segmentation for large sites

– e.g. for a photography site, segments might be:• Equipment• Techniques• For professionals

– Create lists to cater to each niche within the site.– Increases relevance and hence engagement.

• Schedule segmentation– Offer real-time, daily or weekly digest options.– Untimely emails yield unsubscribes.

Demographic Segmentation• a.k.a. “Custom Fields”• e.g. Name, Title, City, State, Zip, Birthday.• Enable very targeted, effective,

personalized mailings.• Can be more complex to manage plus you

need to watch out for privacy laws.• The more data you collect the lower your

list growth will be.• The more data you collect the better your

list quality will become.

Demographic Segments• Don’t ask for what you’re not going to use.

– Reduces friction, accelerates list growth.

• Think about what you really need, e.g.– Collect birth month, not birthday.– First name and state, not ZIP and street address.– “Blast” selectively – don’t make the subscriber feel

bombarded.– Use suppression lists for JV mailings.

• Think “outside the blast” and be serendipitous!– Birthday discounts.– Offer anniversary discounts.– Random monthly drawings.

Keeping it Clean:Re-engagement and List Hygiene

• Remove subscribers who aren’t engaging with your mailings.– Improves list quality and delivery metrics.– May save you money on your service.– Be careful! Opens are difficult to track.

• Choose your parameters.– e.g. >6 months old and no recent interactions (opens

and clicks).

• Don’t simply delete subscribers who fit.– Run a re-engagement campaign.

Architecture of a Re-engagement Campaign

1. Checking you still want to hear from me, did you miss this great content? Want a different list?

2. Offer an incentive.

3. We’re going to unsubscribe you unless you click.

4. Last chance!

5. You’ve been unsubscribed. Here’s how to get back on the list.

Re-engagement SequenceStill want us?

Here’s a deal!

Removal soon

Last chance!

Buh-bye

Stops sequence

Thank you!

Reader engages

End of sequence rule unsubscribes reader from main

list

Your Goal: An Automated Email

Sales and Marketing System• Target the right people at the right time with the right

messages.

• Create a mix of autoresponders and lists.

• Automate using activity-based triggers and parsers.

• Use them to reduce your digital share cropping risk.

• You keep engagement UP and complaints DOWN.

• Run periodic re-engagement campaigns if necessary.

The List Automation Cookbook• EZ-Bake Version

– A list, a multi-step autoresponder and an incentive.

• The 30-Minute Meal– Activity-based lists, parsers and triggers for e-comm

integration.– Autoresponders and incentives.– Minimal custom fields.

• Gourmet – Activity, content and schedule-based lists.– Autoresponders and incentives, serendipity.– Custom fields, rules, parsers and triggers for e-comm.– List hygiene and subscriber re-engagement programs.

Thank You!• THANK YOU!

• Questions? Comments?

• phil@feedblitz.com• @phollows• http://www.feedblitz.com • http://ListBuildingForBloggers.com

• See you at NAMS 7!