How to clean an Email List?

Here a training letter I published a few years back that still applies today. It covers the art of email marketing and how to clean an email list. The letter below will help you build a list of real prospects to work into your Xooma business.

---------------------------------------------------------------

I have been tinkering with some ideas to help you build a mailing list, and to help you increase the quality of your list. Some of the things I have found out actually took me by surprise. This technique is something I tested by using the list of email addresses I bought, people that spammed me, lead generated or gathered from different websites.

You can adapt it to however you see fit.

Here's how this was accomplished by using two email accounts. You will be quite surprised at what a good list this technique produces. I started with a clean slate on both emai accounts. I wanted to create a GOOD reason that someone should respond to the email I was about to send, so I decided to ask for help. I used the subject line "Tell me about your company". By getting any kind of response from them, I would know that their address was valid.

Here's what I knew starting out, and what I was trying to accomplish:

-> I knew that I get tons of email addresses from a variety of lead sources.
-> I knew that the large majority of them are hard to get a response from.
-> I knew there had to be a way of sorting the good leads from the bad ones.

Here are the exact steps I took.

You will need to know how to build a distribution list or how to send a blind copy email. Simply put this is the act of sending one email to a bunch of people at the same time. For instance when I have a pile of emails that I want to reply to I can gather them all up and build a distribution list. Then I compose my email and send it to everyone on that list at one shot. This is easy to do with any email client like Outlook, Eudora or Pegasus.

There are 2 types of email...

-> Web Based Email (Hot Mail, Gmail, AOL, etc...)
-> In House Email Client (Outlook Express, Pegasus, Eudora)

If you’re using Web Based email (email you can access from any computer) you will never become a master bulk mailer. I suggest you ask questions and learn. For those of you who know what I’m talking about read on.

I'm going to use 2 email accounts and name each account below to help you follow along. These aren't real account names, so don't bother emailing them. The first (luis01@honeyfrog.com) - This email account is used with my "fist target letter". I only have one message in this series, and it reads like a simple introduction of myself and contains the second email account (luis02@honeyfrog.com) as a "contact me link" on the top and bottom.

TIP #1

You’re first Target Letter should be a friendly one. Most net-workers make the BIG MISTAKE of soliciting their offer in the first letter they send. DON'T MAKE THIS MISTAKE! Here an example of a letter I use with great responses.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Hello

Here is my personal email address

mailto:luis02@honeyfrog.com?subject=Lets_Talk

All I ask is that you write me a personal note and not send me one of those formatted letters promising the wealth of the world. My name is Luis and I'm a married father of three. If you send me a formatted solicitation you can be assured that I will delete it. If you sent me a personal note with a couple of links about your offers, then I will save your letter and in the next 3 days I will take an honest look at your companies and get back to you.

I just want to talk with real people

Luis Garcia
1540 320 1045
mailto:luis02@honeyfrog.com?subject=Lets_Talk

---------------------------------------------------------------

I always use my real name and phone number because I want to be reached. I will go over what to say if you’re called another time. I’m pretty good at cold calling and I will make sure I teach you this as well. Every day I make sure to send out the first target letter to as many people as I can. You must be consistent and send out mail everyday. Everyone gets the friendly message containing a link to my 2nd email account. You can send this target letter directly from your ISP because it doesn’t contain a solicitation. I’ve been doing it for years and never had a complaint but I’ve had many replies.

You can enter a wide range of email leads and the better the leads the better your response. Here's what matters: By emailing your second email account (WHICH IS CONTAINED IN THE 1ST TARGET LETTER) to write you back they are about to verify a valid address. Generally, when someone clicks a "mailto" link in an email, it automatically pops up their default email account, so a lot of times you'll be getting the address for their main email account. Yeah! Now make sure NOT TO ABUSE IT by emailing them constantly - this is a HUGE MISTAKE and probably a good reason the quality of your list isn't what it should be.

---------------------------------------------------------------

!! IMPORTANT - IMPORTANT - IMPORTANT !!

Your second email account is now storing a clean list of good, valid addresses! Protect them! Treat them well! Send them only GOOD and HELPFUL information, and do it a maximum of just a couple of times per week. Tell them about your team and how Xooma has helped you understand the Internet. And how we all work together to help each other. You can even send the messages in HTML format if you know how. This generally increases response by a little bit, though not everybody has the ability to read HTML formatted messages.

After you have a couple hundred addresses that haven't requested removal, you can basically consider yourself an ezine (if you are sending out articles and that sort of information). You might start putting something like this towards the end of each helpful email you send. "If you liked this article, please forward it to your friends! They can subscribe to my mailing list by sending a blank email to (autoresponder1@getresponse.com)

If you talk to real people the rest is easy because Xooma is a great home business for anyone. I will cover what to do and say with the clean list you create in my next training letter. Brainstorm for other ways to come up with a valid list of real, responsive addresses. There are tons of ways to do this, and nothing else you can do is more vital to your success!

This letter was written on the FLY!

Sincerely,

Luis Garcia
1540 320 1045

I have been tinkering with some ideas to help you build a mailing list, and to help you increase the quality of your list. Some of the things I have found out actually took me by surprise. This technique is something I tested by using the list of email addresses bought, generated or gathered from FFA website. You can adapt it to however you see fit.

Here's how this was accomplished by using my two auto responder accounts. You can do the same. I was quite surprised at what a good list this technique produced. I started with a clean slate on both auto responder accounts. I wanted to create a GOOD reason that someone should respond to the email I was about to send, so I decided to ask for help, I used the subject line "Tell me about your company". (You can do this too). By getting any kind of response from them, I would know that their address was valid.

Every day when I get my list of leads from my lead sources such as Marsleads or other providers, I import these addresses into the first auto responder account. Everyone I import gets the message a friendly message containing a link to my 2nd auto responder. You can enter a wide range of email leads and the better the leads the better your response. Here's what matters:

Your second auto responder account is now storing a clean list of good, valid addresses! Protect them! Treat them well! Send them only GOOD and HELPFUL information, and do it a maximum of just a couple of times per week. Tell them about your team and how Honeyfrog has help you understand the Internet. And how we all work together to help each other. Most auto responder have a function for manually sending a message to everyone on your list, so it's a breeze. You can even send the messages in HTML format if you know how. This generally increases response by a little bit, though not everybody has the ability to read HTML formatted messages.

After you have a couple hundred addresses that haven't requested removal, you can basically consider yourself an ezine (if you are sending out articles and that sort of information). You might start putting something like this towards the end of each helpful email you send. "If you liked this article, please forward it to your friends! They can subscribe to my mailing list by sending a blank email to (autoresponder2@frogleads.info)

Again, the auto responder addresses I just used are not an actual address, you would use the address for whatever your actual second "clean list" account is. This is just one of the many ways you can clean your lists and build a high quality list. Brainstorm for other ways to come up with a valid list of real, responsive addresses. There really are tons of ways to do this, and nothing else you can do is more vital to your success!

REMEMBER NOT TO SPAM OR ENTER SOMEONE'S CONTACT INFORMATION WITHOUT CONSENT!   

Let us build you a 5 page website!

Join Honeyfrog