You must be informative in every thing you write, from content to product promotions. Without quality information, your subscribers will not stick around. One way to accomplish this is to provide quality content and then give your readers a specific call to action. It may not be as true in person, but on the internet, people NEED to be told what to do. When giving them a call to action, you must be clear and precise. The easier you make it for your readers, the more apt they will be to follow through with what you are asking them to do. Calls to action need to start from the very beginning when they are signing up for your list. Tell them to enter their first name and email address in the form and then click the subscribe button. Even if it's something small, you need to give your subscribers something to do. You don't always have to send them to a sales page, even just telling them to click a link to view the newsletter will work. If you give them a call to action in each email it will become habit to them and then when you do have a product to sell they will be more likely to check it out. This week take some time to go through your emails and create a call to action to give your readers.
Do email lists still work? I mean, I don't care if anybody is bossy or not when I receive an email from them, it's the frequency of those emails that will determine in my mind if it's spam or not. If anyone emails me something about their products or services even just twice a month I will deem that sender a spammer. We have not been sending any emails out to anyone for a long, long time now (except ad renewal reminders), because once you piss your subscribers/visitors off - they will be gone for good.
Yes email marketing is still very effective. There was a recent study that showed that the number 1 activity online are people checking their emails -- also subscribers said they prefer to get information through email more then any other method. I will agree that the frequency of how often you email your subscribers is very important. You do not want to send them promotions often -- but instead send them valuable information that can truly help them. As far as being bossy goes -- I am trying to point out that having a call to action will increase your clicks and sales overall. People are busy on the internet, so by telling them point blank "click here to get more free info... or click here to check this product out if you enjoyed the information I just provided" are simple call to actions to get your subscribers to take action.
You are very true right there. A call to action in every email an affiliate sends out to subscribers is very important. The call to action must be clear enough and must be confuse the readers. If properly applied, it can make up for a very very successful marketing campaign. This is what I use in my own email marketing system, so I can highly relate.
The simple way to do it is to tailor your email series to never sell a product... you can occasionally refer them to a specific post on your webpage when discussing a problem, and your website will make a sale. By doing it this way - you have a higher open rate, a lower unsubscribe rate, and better interaction with your list. And yes, I discuss this on my website, a post titled: "How To Craft The Perfect Email Series" It's worth reading if you have an autoresponder and are sending out emails...