Years ago, I listened to Internet marketing "gurus" share that
they had lists in the hundreds of thousands, and I was all ears.
Up to that point, I had not managed to get my lists above 60,000
(after many years of consistently working at it).
After a little further investigation, some of them shared with me
that they often purchased new list members in batches of
25,000... 50,000... even several hundred thousand. Knowing the
value of each of my individual list members, based upon how much
each spent with me per year on average, visions of riches started
dancing in my head.
Then this little voice in the back of my head asked if this
wasn't DANGEROUS! Wouldn't I get spam complaints... or
something. How could I just buy email addresses and add them to
my list? Was this legal? why didn't more people know about this,
and why weren't more people doing it.
So I investigated further.
One of the first things I discovered was that lots of big name
marketers were using co-registration leads with great results.
Further investigation showed me that these leads were generated
in a variety of way, and that there was a wide range of
differences in quality AND methods of generating these lists.
What I now consider the best method of generating co-registration
lists is to have a service get people to sign up SPECIFICALLY for
your list. There are companies that allow you to write up a
description of your list, and this description is displayed on an
opt-in form on high traffic websites. The sites' visitors read
the description of your list, and based upon that description
decide to subscribe. I consider this the best method because the
individuals are specifically subscribing to YOUR list.
The service I've used most for generating the above-describe type
of subscriber is called Lead Factory. You can read about them and
their services here: http://williecrawford.com/cgi-
bin/tk.cgi?subs
Another type of subscriber, or lead, that you can purchase is a
lead who didn't specifically subscribe to YOUR list, but did
request more information on your type of product. These leads
are often gathered by companies putting a form on high traffic
sites inviting people to request more information on business
opportunities... or other profitable topics. Prospects fill in
the form and are then added to lists that are sold to people
looking for leads or subscribers. This can be where things get
sticky...
The first place where things can get murky is that some sites
don't make it clear to these individuals that they are going to
sell their information. They sometimes state this but not in a
very clear fashion. So they compile these lists and sell them to
people looking for leads interested in a specific topic. If you
buy one of these list, and it wasn't made incredibly clear that
they were going to be contacted by a bunch of people offering to
"help them," these people could get somewhat upset when their
email boxes start getting flooded.
The above problem stems largely from the fact that some firms
offering opt-in leads TRICK people into "agreeing" to receive
offers. They may use a statement as vague as that business
associates will also send them special offers. If you email these
people, they may get very upset since, in their opinion, your
email was uninvited... and unwelcome intrusion.
There are services that make it very clear that they will have
people who offer income opportunities or online business
opportunities contacting you. The better of these companies
build lists specifically for a given customer and they don't sell
the lists to more than a few customers. One firm I've use that's
like this is know as Nitro. These guys get an order and they
build a list specifically for that customer. Actually, they allow
one customer to buy a list that is only for their use, or, for
less of an investment, that customer can get a custom-built list
that's shared with up to 3 other marketers. You can check these
guys out at: http://therealsecrets.com/co-reg/
NOTE: I specifically mentioned the Nitro guys because I know
them personally, and have GRILLED them on their business
practices and HOW they generate leads. I believe that they
operate a very reputable and ethical business. I CAN'T make that
statement about all of the more than a dozen companies that I
have investigated.
One of the biggest dangers in using co-reg leads who didn't
specifically subscribe to your list is of course the likelihood
of spam complaints. If a subscriber views your email as
unwelcome, then in their eyes you spammed them. There are factors
that increase the likelihood of this happening, and there are
ways of reducing or completely eliminating the probability of
these complaints.
One factor that increases the likelihood of complaints is the age
of the list. If you purchase an Old list, there's a good chance
that dozens of people just like you also purchased that list and
have emailed these people. These people are now simply tired of
being offered more "help." With a fresh list ... only a few days
to a few weeks old, you're less likely to encounter this problem.
When someone fills in a form on a website requesting more
information, they are actually INTERESTED in receiving more
information. Why else would they fill in the form... except in
the instances previously mentioned where they are tricked ... or
perhaps even incentivized to fill in the form in exchange for a
gift.
Given that an individual really is interested in receiving more
information on a given topic, the correct way to approach them
is to introduce yourself and allow them to warm up to you BEFORE
you try to sell them anything. You need to send them a series of
email that identify yourself, PROVE to them that you are
legitimate, and demonstrate to them that you really do have their
best interest at heart. This takes time and effort. There is a
lot of technique to this. I've studied the topic of warming co-
reg leads up to you... extensively. The single best report I've
ever read on the topic is called "Co-Reg Secrets." You can find
it here:
http://www.profitautomation.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=69919
When using co-reg leads, I personally tell the person in my first
few emails why I'm emailing them, where I got their contact
information from, and I also tell them that if they are no longer
interested how they can get off of the list with just a click.
This has worked well for me although my lists are now so HUGE
that I rarely use co-reg leads. It's a fact that those who visit
your site and then subscribe to your list are more valuable...
much more responsive!
I mentioned the danger of not using only FRESH lists. The reason
this is CRITICAL is that many people who purchase lists turn
around and sell them to recoup some of their costs. This sort of
makes sense. There's a good chance that many of these leads
don't see the majority of emails sent to them simply due to
filters, etc. It's also possible that what you have to offer may
not be exactly right for them.
The PROBLEM comes when a list is resold over and over again!
"Buyer A" resells a list to 5 people, and 2 of them resell it to
6 people each, and 3 of them resell it to 4 people each. By this
time, those "opt-in lead" are getting pretty frustrated with
having their personal email box flooded with JUNK email. Then you
buy one of these list, add them to your autoresponders, and your
ISP gets 20 complaints from irate people in 20 minutes. On top of
that you get 100 emails with some "choice" words about your
heritage and suggesting strange things you can do to yourself.
To protect themselves and their other customers your web host or
list host shuts you down! Not a good day.
Done properly, with a quality list, or better yet, one built
specifically for you (with the opt-in actually subscribing to
YOUR list), using co-reg leads can be an excellent way to grow a
list incredibly fast. Done wrong, or if you're just plain
unlucky, it can be a real disaster. I even know of one "big
name" Internet marketer who received a death threat after using a
co-reg list.
If you are considering using co-reg leads you want to check the
terms of service closely at your web host or list hosts. Many
prohibit you using co-reg leads to mail from their servers, or
even to promote domains hosted with them. They simply don't want
to risk the potential adverse effects. Many autoresponder
services such as the one I operate at ProfitAutomation.com will
NOT allow you to mass import co-reg leads. However, there are
other autoresponder services that understand the nature of using
co-reg leads, and view it as a legitimate business model. I can
point you to some of those if you ask.
The purpose of this article is merely to educate. It's not to
offer ANY advice. It's just to make you aware of a common
practice and show you some things that you need to consider.
Another purpose of the article is to stimulate discussion. I
invite you to discuss this topic on my Internet marketing
discussion forum: http://WillieCrawford.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi
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