1. Not sending out another mailing

Sending another mailing (to the subscribers who haven’t bought) will often bring 50% or so of the previous response.

2. Picking the wrong mailing list

Remember the 40-40-20 rule. 40% of your response depends on the right mailing list, another 40% on the right offer and 20% on everything else.

3. Targeting visitors instead of buyers

Buyers have always been and will always be more profitable than visitors.

Let’s take it a step further. A client who buys from you two times is twice as likely to buy as someone who only buys from you once. Why? Because they have more of a relationship with you.

4. Not sending the endorsement e-mail through a spam check service before rolling it out

According to research done by Time magazine, a mind-numbing
40% to 70% of all e-mail is being destroyed and deleted by spam filters.

The problem with that is that a lot of legitimate e-mail is getting eaten by those filters, including endorsed mailings. And that sometimes means a massive loss in profits.

If you have a mailing list of 30,000 strong, that means that under certain circumstances, 12,000 to 21,000 potential buyers won’t even receive your endorsement.

By correcting the problem, you may be hard pressed to find something else that will make such a positive impact on your bottom line in such a short amount of time.

Listen, I don’t know if the percentages quoted by Time magazine are still accurate, and to what extent, but the fact remains that those filters are routinely destroying a percentage of your profits.

Use a good spam check service and you will increase readership.

5. Not testing the mailing (or JV)

Testing is a risk-reducing activity. If you don’t test, you are literally playing Russian roulette. Always send the test mailing to the best names on the list.

6. Not making it easy for clients to buy

If you are offering a high ticket product or service, giving your clients the option to purchase with multiple payment options or multiple credit cards can definitely boost response.

7. Mailing JV proposals or endorsements so they arrive on the wrong days

Mondays and Saturdays get the worst results. The best days for your prospects to receive your mail (or e-mail) are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

8. Sending the mailing out to a desensitized client base

Many online publishers make this mistake. It seems like every other day they have another product of the year to sell or endorse. This eventually (and in some cases, rather quickly) desensitizes their prospects to all their offers.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if some online marketers had more and more trouble getting the same kinds of results than they used to get. The reason is simple. Their subscribers have not only lost faith in the fact that the list owner doesn’t have their best interest at heart, but also they will simply avoid reading their newsletter.

That equates to a massive loss in readership.

Make it worth their time, and they will definitely take the time to read your e-zine.

9. Sending an endorsed mailing without knowing the conversion rate or visitor value

Some partners endorse others without even knowing their visitor value. They are flying blind, and usually get hit hard.

Savvy marketers won’t want to pitch their customer base more than they have to, and they definitely won’t endorse you unless they have reasons to believe that they will be successful with the mailing.

10. Doing a JV with an endorser that has a small (or no) relationship with his / her clients.

Relationships make up the biggest factor in sales.

In JV endorsements, relationships are everything. Always partner with list-owners that have a great relationship with their subscribers because the stronger the relationship, the stronger the endorsement, and the stronger the endorsement, the more sales you’ll make.

Copyright © 2005 Gabriel Howes All Rights Reserved