If you’re new to the idea of building a million dollar email list, here’s a principle that is crucial to success, regardless of whether you’re an author, business, or non-profit:
List revenue follows list growth.
In other words, you must constantly add new subscribers into to grow revenue. There are constant forces at work against your list that will reduce the size of your list size and its performance – unless you actively combat it. The industry term is sometimes called the “churn rate,” which refers to the amount of people who stop responding to your emails. Every list naturally decreases over time for various reasons beyond your control:
- People may decide your emails aren’t a good fit and unsubscribe from your list.
- People may change email addresses and forget to update their contact info with you.
- People may get enamored with other newsletters and stop opening your emails.
- People may forget to whitelist your email and your campaigns go in their junk folder.
Since you can’t control this natural attrition, how do you keep your email list and revenue growing over time? Maintain a focus on constantly adding new subscribers. Your list always needs new blood.
This principle was proven by ground-breaking research from Dr. Byron Sharp, the world’s leading authority on brand growth and the author of “How Brands Grow.” Through exhaustive studies, Dr. Sharp found that the world’s top brands, such as Coke, Proctor & Gamble, and Apple, are successful due to a little-known secret. They are superior at expanding their reach and attracting larger amounts of all types of buyers. But, it’s not the heavy buyers who make the difference. Sure, they have lots of loyal customers. But, those companies are #1 because they attract the most light, infrequent customers. They live by the principle of always adding new blood to their customer base.
This same dynamic applies to building a million dollar list. Your success hinges upon how well you add new subscribers. Always make this focus your top priority. Attracting new subscribers is based on creating and promoting irresistible incentives. Be ruthless about your incentives. Don’t stick with something that isn’t working. If you offer a new incentive for 14 days and it doesn’t get a strong response, kill it quickly and try something else. Continually experiment with new incentive ideas to find what entices your audience the most.
Give yourself a minimum goal to add at least 1,000 new subscribers per month. Otherwise, your list will stagnate over time. In contrast, growing your list creates a chain reaction of these positive results:
- More people to open your emails.
- More people to click on purchase links in your emails.
- More people to forward and share your emails.
- More people to provide helpful research and feedback you conduct by email.
- More people to test new and buy new products.
- More people to build a larger list that creates greater passive income.
Your car won’t run without adding new fuel. Your body won’t function without adding new food. Keep feeding your list new subscribers, and you’ll provide the lifeblood to build a million dollar list.
