Chicken or the Egg: What comes first, a big list or great content?

Eric Groves
Mon, 02 Aug 2010 07:30:00 +0000

A recent article on MediaPost's Email Insider blog asserts the position that the size of your email marketing list matters because that’s the metric most people look at when — rightly or wrongly — judging the results of an email campaign. And yes, while you do ultimately want a big list that reaches as many customers, clients, members, or prospects as possible, it has to be built the right way.

What is the right way? Provide great content. When it comes to email marketing you have to give your recipients a reason to open your emails when your campaign hits the inbox. A catchy subject line can get the open, but the message has to contain usable information that engages the reader. It could be a how-to article, a list of tips, a recipe for success, or even a sneak peek at an upcoming sale. The goal is to get the reader to respond with a visit to your website, an emailed response, or, best of all, a purchase.

If your readers don't care and you get no response, what good is having that big list? Oh, and just because your readers aren't unsubscribing doesn't mean they actually care. People tend to think it's easier to just keep hitting Delete rather than unsubscribe from a list. (Of course, if companies are doing email marketing correctly, getting off a list shouldn't be like trying to cancel a gym membership.)

(Hint: It's the same thing with social media marketing — you might have lots of fans and followers, but if you're not providing them with value in your tweets and posts, they're not going to pay attention to you.)

If you keep providing great content to your recipients, your open and click-through rates will reflect this as subscribers interact with your campaign. Then your list will grow organically as folks forward the messages on to their friends or share the information via social networks. You can help this process along by ensuring you have an email signup mechanism in each message you send so those who get a forwarded copy can join in the fun.

Everyone should strive toward growing their list over time. Just make sure it's done the right way or that hefty subscriber number is an empty set of digits.