

How we built a 50,000 strong email list in 5 days - shogunmike
http://michaelhallsmoore.com/blog/How-we-built-a-50000-strong-email-list-in-5-days

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patio11
I think two key elements from their implementation, which I would not suggest
copying for your implementation, are

1) Don't tell people you want their email address because you want to mail
them.

and

2) Ask them for their friend's email addresses, too, and see #1.

If you try pulling either of these stunts, most reputable mailing providers
are going to hit you with the banhammer. You'll have deserved it, too. If, on
the other hand, you a) tell people you want their address to mail them and
then b) do a proper double opt-in, your response rates _will_ drop.

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shogunmike
Thanks Patrick, I agree with these points actually. I guess I didn't make that
clear.

I don't think I mentioned in the article to ask for their friends' email
addresses though, did I? I'll have a re-read.

At the time, I seem to recall that we very specifically mentioned to our users
that they would gain their high score ratings (over time) AND they would be
notified of PopJam's launch, via email.

I'm very much a "white hat" guy - so if there's anything you think in there
that may be considered grey/black, let me know and I'll remove it from the
article. I'm all for best practices.

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patio11
I'm just looking at the implementation on sockandawe.com today: the prompt for
submitting an email address is, quote, "Submit your score to the leaderboard
and find out your global rank.", and then the prompt for a friend's address is
"Challenge your friend to beat your score."

Neither of those is exactly best practices for collecting addresses.

~~~
shogunmike
Ahhh...I see. Unfortunately, we don't own SockAndAwe anymore (we sold it
rather soon after it was built!), so have no control over what is put there
now.

However, I think it would be prudent to add your suggestions to the article
and warn users who go and visit it now. I'll make those changes this evening.

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vaksel
seems like getting 10 million people to come to your site was the key
ingredient

~~~
il
The most surprising is that only 50,000 of them converted into email signups.

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shogunmike
I wish we had had more time to A/B test the signup - but we only implemented
it on day 2. I will certainly know better if it ever happens again!

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kljensen
This is destined to result in poor deliverability for them in perpetuity due
to a step change in volume combined with spam complaints. I would not do this.
(I run a profitable ad-suppoted daily email list.)

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duck
Do you mind sharing what your daily email list is?

~~~
kljensen
Sure, "priorsmart litigation alerts". Here is a review/description:
[http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2010/08/patent-litigation-
al...](http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2010/08/patent-litigation-alerts.html)

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lordnumberzero
Inbound newsletter traffic is the last hope for organic traffic to any kind of
media site. Otherwise you're in SEM arbitrage land and that's a losing game.

Anyone who reads this and decides to run a newsletter should keep the grid a
simple list and give people choices to help conversion. AVOID the temptation
to include too many graphics or colors in the communication. The only picture
should be the crap people are supposed to click on and maybe your sad logo.

