‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

A Report From The ‘In The Trenches’ Series

“Build A Super-Responsive
Mailing List From Scratch”
Or… ‘How To Pretty Much Guarantee
You’ll Never Need To Worry About
Making Money Online Again’

By Tony Shepherd
All Rights Reserved © Hippy Marketing/Tony Shepherd

NOTICE: Sorry But You Do NOT Have the Right to Reprint or Resell this Report!

You Also MAY NOT Give Away, Sell or Share the Content Herein

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: No part of this publication may be transmitted, reproduced or copied in any form
whatsoever, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, faxing, recording or by any information
storage or retrieval system without the express permission (written, signed and dated) of the author(s).

DISCLAIMER AND/OR LEGAL NOTICES:


The information presented herein represents the view of the author as of the date of publication.

Because of the rate with which conditions change, the author reserves the right to alter and update his
opinion based on the new conditions. The report is for informational purposes only. While every attempt
has been made to verify the information provided in this report, neither the author nor his affiliates/
partners assume any responsibility for errors, inaccuracies or omissions.

Any slights of people or organisations are unintentional. If advice concerning legal or related matters is
needed in any way connected with this publication, the services of a fully qualified professional should
be sought. This report is not intended for use as a source of legal or accounting advice in any way. You
should be aware of any laws which govern business transactions or other business practices in your country
and/or state. Any reference to any person or business whether living or dead is purely coincidental.

1
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

Tony Shepherd here…

If there is one thing you’d ever consider sending me a bottle of fine wine for,
it’s the information contained in this publication.

You’ll need to put some work in, but the rewards are HUGE.

If you build a responsive email list and treat that list with respect, and help
your subscribers whenever you can, you’ll never have to worry about
making money online ever again.

It’s your golden ticket - the most valuable asset in your entire online business.

But it takes work and care to build and maintain.

If you’re up for the challenge, read on…

Yorkshire, UK

2
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

Introduction

So if you took away all my products, my sites, the content I’ve written, my
blog, and even my beloved MacBook…

Took away everything, except for my email list, I’d be back and earning good
money within days.

That’s the power of having a responsive email list.

You know the cliches about needing a new car or to pay a surprise bill?

3
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

And all you need to do is send an email or two to your list?

Those cliches are true for anyone with a responsive email list

A while back I needed a four-wheel drive car to move lots of garden stuff,
house rubble (we were doing up our kitchen) and other things so I sent out a
couple of emails - three at most - and bought a beaten up second hand 4x4
with the proceeds. It didn’t cost much, less than £1,000 if I remember, but I
made that money by promoting one product to my list over a couple of days.

All because of my responsive email list.

We could all name the people in internet marketing who are well-known for
their responsive lists

You’ll probably have noticed they’re also usually the people who are known
for featuring on multiple leaderboards as I did (when I was promoting other
people’s products, which I don’t do so much these days).

If you’re on my list (thank you) you’ve probably seen one of a dozen

screenshots I’ve used on my sales pages showing my leaderboard skills:

4
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

It’s because I have built a super-responsive list.

And I’m going to show you how to build one of your own, nurture it and
PROFIT from it in a big way.

This is genuinely life-changing stuff

If you have a list, you have traffic on tap.

Genuine traffic on tap.

5
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

I’ve personally seen Adsense site marketers go from £93,000 a month to zero
overnight. Some of you reading this might have been hit by that if you’ve
been around long enough.

I’ve seen SEO experts watch their money sites vanish from the rankings in
days when Google does an update, never to return.

But if you have traffic on tap - an audience you can contact easily and for
free - then unless something grim happens you’re pretty much going to be OK

And that’s why you’re going to build a responsive list.

If you follow what I’m about to share and built it RIGHT, then your list will be
chock full of people who love what you do, trust you and will spend money
buying from you (or what you recommend) with you barely needing to try.

Even better, they’ll feel like they bought it from a trusted advisor and not some
internet scamster. Your refund rate will vanish to almost zero and your repeat
sales will go through the roof.

It’s all about quality.

If you’ve read my stuff in the past you know that I regularly outsell marketers
who have lists ten times as big as my own.

It’s because I concentrate on quality not quantity.

You should too…

6
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

Do Squeeze Pages Still Work?

Yes and no

The mistake is the process of putting up a squeeze page offering a lead

magnet that appeals to an audience that is TOO WIDE in an attempt to get
new subscribers.

This still works, sure.

It just doesn’t work well any more, especially for newcomers to the
marketplace.

7
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

Luckily for you and I, most marketers are still following methods that were
taught three or more years ago and are scratching around and struggling to
get subscribers than don’t usually fit what they’re selling or teaching.

Let’s leave them to it…

I used to create squeeze pages with headlines such as:

‘How anyone can earn four or five figures a month in 60 days’

It wasn’t targeted at anyone specific, it was targeted at just anyone

So I ended up with a list full of vastly different types of people - people who
were badly in debt and needed to get out of it, people who needed to find
thousands of dollars in a matter of days, people who wanted the jetset
lifestyle, people who simply wanted to buy a new car etc.

And because they were vastly different, most of them didn’t buy when I
released a product about copywriting. Most of them weren’t interested in
copywriting, just ‘making money’ because that’s why they’d opted into my
list in the first place.

So The First Lesson Is To Make Your Lead Magnet

Highly Related To Anything Else You’re Going To Sell -
Whether That’s Your Product Or Your Branding.

8
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

For example these days my lead acquisition is much more specific, because
instead of selling my products, I sell my BRAND

As I said earlier, it’s about lifestyle and escaping your 9-5 job by replacing
your salary with your online income;

And that’s what most of my products teach - the different aspects of

earning enough money online to get free from your job

So now I don’t get the Porsche, bling, rockstar wannabes joining my list, and I
don’t get the e-commerce peeps joining either. I don’t get the SEO crowd or
the Forex or CPA or the empire builders.

I monstly get people who are astute enough to realise we have a limited
amount of time in this amazing world and they want to wring every bit of
enjoyment juice out of it while they still can.

9
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

I get the lifestyle freaks who want to be free of their 9-5 jobs and work for
themselves doing something they love, and also take a lot of time off
travelling, gardening, spending time with their loved ones, drinking wine and
having sex.

(I think I’ve just written about my ideal month LOL)

Here’s The Takeaway - You

Should Be Repelling The
People You Don’t Want At
The Same Time You Are
Attracting The People You
DO Want When It Comes To
List Building!

And here’s how to do that…

10
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

Everything You Write, Create,

Offer For Free, Post On Facebook
Or Otherwise Put Out Should
Scream Exactly What You Do And
What You’re About!

11
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

If you’re into SEO and you teach or sell products about SEO - MAKE IT
OBVIOUS IT’S ABOUT THAT!

Tell ‘em on your squeeze page:

‘This is ONLY for SEO nuts so don’t sign up if you’re not into it’

Yes you’re sacrificing signups just so you can market solely to SEO people
but that’s what’s going to build you an ultra-responsive list.

You might think ‘But why shouldn’t I get as many people onto my list as
possible in case they MIGHT buy?’

Well a few reasons really:

==>> Having a list full of people who aren’t interested will put your Aweber
fees through the roof.

==>> It’ll also mean you get more complaints and certainly more refunds.

==>> Singling out your best, targeted buyers will maximise your profits.

Here’s the other biggie:

You want to have them come onto your list primarily for your INFORMATION.

So you don’t want people who like how you look, or that you live in France or
L.A. or whatever.

12
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

You also don’t want people who point out there’s a typo on page 8 of your
newsletter or email you to say that you shouldn’t run 48-hour sales because
‘closing a product makes no sense’

These people are pedantic, often ill-informed and they’re a waste of

time. They also take away time you could spend helping others who DO
want your information.

And you DO want people who get in touch and say ‘I loved the last product oI
bought from you but could you please explain why you did XXXX on page 3?’

These are the people who want your information. They want to know all about
it.

They don’t care how your offer is presented or if there are a few typos here
and there

They just love it and they want to know more

Which means buying more products and services from you.

These are the people you must focus on helping, because they will
become your coaching clients and will buy everything you put out.

They want to learn. They resonate you and they want your info.

They don’t care what format it comes in or even if it’s written on the back of a
beer mat.

They want your knowledge.

13
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

They’re the ones you want to attract, focus on and help.

And since they don’t care what format your information comes in, it means
you can structure your business EXACTLY as you wish?

For example I don’t like making videos despite many marketers telling me I
MUST.

My rabid buyers don’t care that I’m ‘only’ a writer and put out mostly written
content.

Would I get more buyers if I made videos or podcasts?

Maybe, but I decided long ago that if I’m running a business it’ll be on my
terms and NOT how any expert or guru says it should be run.

Seems to be working too :)

If potential buyers decide they DO want to learn from a video instead of my

normal delivery method which is written content, then they’ll have to go and
buy from another marketer. I don’t change what I do for anyone. The people
who buy from me know I write, and they’re happy with that.

Which is another big advantage of building a responsive list

Here’s something else you should do:

14
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

Set The Level Of Your List

I’m talking about deciding what level of experience or knowledge you

want your list to have when they come to you

I try to repel complete complete newbies.

If they buy from me I’ll help them but in everything I do I try to make it clear
that my readers will get more out of my products if they have a grasp of the
*basics of online business.

*Although sometimes I’ll create products that are newcomer-friendly and I’ll make that clear on the salespage

15
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

Because there’s nothing more boring (sorry) than teaching someone how to
add a product to JVZoo or to set up a domain name and hosting.

Especially when there are tutorials out there that can be freely accessed
- either in the support section of the platform being used or on Youtube. If
someone gets in touch as asks how they set up a product in JVZoo they’re
usually not the type of person I want to work from, because they don’t seem
to have the initiative to find out for themselves and/or they’re lazy.

The technical aspects of internet marketing can be learned for free if

you work at it and are prepared to make mistakes OR outsource.

You don’t need a coach or mentor for that.

In fact hiring a coach or mentor to help you with that is a BLOODY expensive
way of doing it!!

BUT that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to help people with very little
knowledge, it just means that it will take longer and cost them more

So How Does This Relate To Your List?

Well because in every email you send to your list you should be selling.

Even if it’s a content/teaching email you should be including a link to

SOMETHING that ultimately makes you money.

That’s the point of having your list, right?

16
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

If you’ve read my Flipping The Switch course you’ll know I’m all about helping
people, giving before asking for something in return and operating a very non-
salesy business.

But this doesn’t mean I don’t put a related link to one of my products in every
email I send out - because I most certainly do.

The best way I can help someone is to show them what I have for sale, then
THEY can decide if they want to buy it or not.

So I mail them every day, sometimes with straight offers and sometimes with
content-rich emails that also includes a link to my products.

I’m not shy about what I do and what I offer - I’m proud of it - and if you get
that same mindset settled in your head in relation to your email marketing,
you’ll make more money than the ‘pitch this, sell that’ merchants that send
sales messages in every email.

17
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

How To Consistently Out-Sell Your

Competition With Your Emails

This is so simple to do, yet because most marketers who think they have an
‘individual style’ are actually herd animals, this following method is easy to
win with because VERY FEW do it:

Most email marketers write to the lowest common denominator.

You know the old thing about pitching your email at the reading level of an 11
year old?

I dunno about you but the last thing I want on my list is a shedload of adults
with the intellect of an 11 year old!

18
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

Instead, if you set the level of your own list you can meet them at the level
they’re at because very few marketers do that.

I put some quite high-level literary and intellectual references in my emails.

Not everyone will get these, but most of my list DO because I angle my
emails as though I’m speaking to equals (which I am) NOT deliberately
talking down to them or assuming they need to be spoken to like an 11-year
old.

If someone spoke to you in that way in the pub or at a social gathering you’d
want to hit them - it would feel condescending and patronising.

So why do it in emails?

Because most email marketers haven’t set the level of their list and
they’re trying to include everyone by targeting the lowest common
denominator.

It comes across as insulting to a majority of your list, and the ones who DO
like it have the intellect (or at least the vocabulary) of an 11-year old.

Don’t Do it!

Set the level of your list and target your emails precisely at those people and
at that level. If you’re in the Opera niche assume that the people on your list
have a decent understanding of Opera.

19
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

If you’re in the hunting niche you don’t want people coming back to you who
question the ethics of killing animals for food - you should have already
repelled those people with your squeeze pages.

Some marketers assume there aren’t enough TARGETED readers in any

niche to do this.

That’s wrong. Just try it and you’ll see.

Look at what you’re going to be selling, teaching or offering and set your list
level so that when you offer these goods, you’re offering them to the most
PERFECT people possible.

That way you won’t really have to sell.

You just have to offer your products and services then count the money

It really is as easy as that if you do a little pre-planning with your list.

It also means that you won’t have your time taken up by the ‘How do I create
a Paypal button on my page’? requests that eat up your time and energy,
because those subscribers will have been repelled in the early stages.

And if some DID get through, they’ll quickly unsubscribe because they won’t
understand the level you’ve set your emails at. It’ll just be over their heads.

20
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

You Must Be Consistent From

Day One

My brand is all about enjoying life and freedom rather than money right?

That’s my BRAND.

But my TONE is different.

My TONE is about how I sell, how I use language, what I SAY.

So my tone is (hopefully) one of being honest, simple, down to earth and

genuine.

21
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

That’s the way I’ve been since the very early days when I tried the usual
hypey crap:

‘Don’t buy XXXXX product until you read this’

or
‘Frankly I’m shocked!’

I’m sure you could rattle off a hundred of these dodgy sales emails and
gimmicks that I mean. I tried them in the very early days and firstly they just
don’t work, and secondly they make you feel like a pile of crap for using them

Since then I’ve concentrated on honesty, simplicity and being straight with my
readers.

So your message and your tone must:

1. Fit your brand

2. Be consistent

You can’t be an honest ‘marketers friend’ one day and then promote a pile of
crap to your list the next because it won’t work.

Your list will stop believing you

Sure you’ll make mistakes - I have - but come clean about it and you’ll be
fine.

For example if you’re sending out a promo to get your offer inside another
marketer’s launch funnel then TELL your list that you’re doing it.
22
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

‘Listen up guys. I struck a deal with this bloke to get my ad inside a brand
new launch funnel which will get me a LOT of new subscribers. In return I
said I’d mention his product (which I believe to be excellent) to you lot.

If you have a look at it and decide it’s something that can help your business,
as a bonus I’ll include the exact email approach I used to secure the funnel
deal in the first place :)’

Honesty.

Your list will understand (and probably be interested) that you need to strike
deals and do other things as part of your business. So tell them!

It can be profitable also - as well as telling my readers about the things I do

behind the scenes, I also made it into a paid private group too!

23
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

Target, And Target Well

Find a way to segregate who buys which of your products.

I use Clickfunnels, Stripe and Aweber to do this.

You could use Infusionsoft, Getresponse and a shedload of other platforms to

do this. Zapier is GREAT for integrating loads of different platforms.

You can integrate JVZoo with Aweber and Getresponse so it adds people
who buy a specific product to a specific list.

In short, just segregate your buyers and your subscribers, and THEN
segregate the buyers into who buys what.

Why?
24
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

Because once you do this, you can send targeted offers extremely
precisely.

If someone has bought (for example) your $97 course on Facebook

Advertising, you can target those buyers and tell them you’re running a
special three day hotel-based intensive workshop to teach advanced
Facebook Advertising strategies and price it at $3,000

Your conversion rate is much more likely to go through the roof than if you
offer it to everyone on your list.

More than that, if you segregate you’ll get people who already KNOW how
Facebook marketing works so you won’t spend the entire three day workshop
having to explain to newbies who’ve just paid you three grand what total
reach, or adspend is.

Because getting a $3,000 client at the wrong level is just a waste of their
money and your (and your other client’s) time.

I see this problem with many of my coaching clients too. They’ll be trying to
sell something - affiliate marketing for example - and they’ll talk about
different products for beginner affiliate marketers, affiliate marketing for
advanced people, affiliate marketing for intermediate people.

And it doesn’t work - I tell them they’re trying to target everybody and that
simply won’t work. Choose one and get good at it.

As the saying goes, if you try to ride two horses you fall off both. Learn to ride
one and to do it well.

25
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

But You Haven’t Mentioned How

To Actually Build A List Yet

Actually I have.

I’ve already given you quite a bit of info about how you should set the level of
your list, who you want to repel or attract and how everything you do should
scream out who you are.

But if you want specifics about an ACTUAL squeeze page template to use, I
can’t provide that because I don’t know your products, your brand, your
market and what pages works for me may not work for you and so on.

If you want to know how to create a squeeze page or what a lead magnet is,
you’re at the wrong level for my list.

26
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

(See how this relates now?)

But that’s cool - go learn the basics from Youtube or another marketer and
come back and use my advanced strategies to start earning.

Tough love eh?

Here’s Something About The Actual Building Of Your Squeeze

Pages And Lead Magnet Pages That You Can Definitely Use:

Here’s an old squeeze page of mine:

27
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

It looks like every other squeeze page out there right? (tho maybe a bit dated
now)

It SCREAMS OUT - LEAD GENERATION MECHANISM! RUN AWAY!!!!!!!

That squeeze page gets an opt-in conversion of 41%, which is very good
by average standards, and that may be very good for testing your OTO - but
the quality of the lead who opts in on a page like this…is very low.

There’s simply not enough information for the person entering in their
contact details, to know whether the report/freebie is any good.

The magnet on the above squeeze page is good. In fact, it’s an excellent
copy of my newsletter and a GREAT read. So why on earth didn’t I make that
fact known “before” the person put their name and email address into my opt-
in form?

Well, I didn’t know any better back then. I was just doing what everyone
else was doing.

I realise now it was a mistake to spend so much time creating a great

report… only to devalue it by making it seem like just another crappy
report you can find on any other squeeze page..

I hope this makes sense chaps, because it’s very important that the people
opting into your list have a high expectation of what they’re going to receive.

28
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

The difference between your subscriber having low expectations - and high
expectations, is the difference between generating a low quality subscriber –
and a high quality subscriber from our first point of contact.

Don’t get me wrong - you SHOULD create great lead magnets. But why
waste them on squeeze pages that are no longer effective?

Even when they read the report and it blows them away with the quality. It
doesn’t mean a thing if they gave me a throwaway email address they
never use, does it?

So you need to stop doing what everyone else is doing and give quality
information away for free*.

*I cover the whole method of how to do this and structure you business around trust, non-selling and
relationship building in my FLIPPING THE SWITCH course

29
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

Here’s an example that you might have seen before of one of my ‘non-
squeeze pages’

It gives away great information for free, and lets the reader sign up to receive
more from me on their own terms and when they want. No ‘squeeze’
involved.

Give them SHEDLOADS of options to sign into your list AFTER you’ve given
away some of your best content for free.

30
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

Pulling All This Together Into A

Strategy For Building A Super-
Responsive Email List From Scratch

This is how to do it from scratch, and on an ongoing basis:

1. Decide on the narrow audience of people that you

are going to target.

This is the single-biggest thing that most marketers do WRONG by going to

wide. But if you DO it, it will basically REMOVE any indecision about what
products you should create or what you should promote to your list…
31
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

…because everything you do will be geared up, aimed at, and PERFECT for
your list.

I focus on people who want a lifestyle business. They want simplicity and
they want to be able to make just enough money to free them up from the 9-5
jobs (at least to start with)

Every product I create or promote is aimed at that group of people.

And I don’t really have to sell anymore, I just let them know when a product
that suits them is available and watch the money hit my bank account.

Even better, I’m genuinely helping them at the same time and don’t ever have
to sell them on a product that they don’t need. I sleep well at night :)

2. Become an expert in the subject you’re selling.

Because you’re selling to a very narrow audience of people (kite-makers,

CPA nerds, German Shepherd breeders, beard-care) you can become an
expert very quickly (couple of weeks) by reading everything you need to know
and joining every group and forum you can find.

It happens by osmosis almost, especially if you’re interested in it.

Example - some years back when I was looking to buy a small second-hand
yacht, I had my mind fixed on a Westerly Centaur because it was a basic,
simple boat that I could teach my kids to sail in yet was big enough for us to
spend a few nights away from home in her comfortably.
32
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

I read everything I could about this boat from websites, blogs, forums, user
groups, sales reviews and every where I could find. I had a test sail in one
and visited several marinas and spoke to owners.

Within 2 weeks I found I was becoming an expert and knew more about this
model than a lot of other sailors did.

I knew about the way you could differentiate between versions by the shape
of the portholes, I knew the weaknesses to look for in the coachroof lining
when buying a second hand Centaur so you didn’t end up with leaks, I knew
which pre-installed engines were the best option and which could give you
trouble, etc etc

In short I knew more than enough to produce a very good buyers guide to
second hand Centaurs. I also knew which add-on products new buyers would
need and whether they had affiliate programs or not ;)

Because it was a small niche I was able to become an expert very quickly

And that’s what you need to do.

Become an expert in the things your list wants/need to know.

Which is another reason to go into a niche or subject area you’re interested

in. How great to be immersed in your hobby or area of interest all day, full-
time for a living?

33
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

3. Sell Without Selling

There’s an easy way to do this.

If you’re targeting a narrow group of people you’re halfway there as discussed

above, but there’s an addition you can make that will seal the deal:

Entertain Them.

Forget only including content in your emails. Even if it’s highly relative to your
market, sending dry, boring content emails every day (and you should be
mailing daily) is going to bore the pants off your list.

You every wondered why I tell awful jokes, include stories about my life, weird
facts, funny, sexy or shocking stories in my emails?

Because people respond to these.

Forget experts who say you won’t be taken seriously if you wander ‘off topic’
or that you must build authority and respect?

It’s a load of balls.

People read newspapers, watch TV and browse the internet for

entertainment more than ANY other reason (yes including porn)

34
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

We’re human beings and have been telling jokes, bawdy stories and
entertaining each other since long before Chaucer or Shakespeare, and
nothing has changed today.

Don’t get me wrong - you MUST teach too, you must inform and help people
but for the most part entertain, tell stories and make it interesting and watch
the results.

If you’ve been on my list for any length of time you’ll know I’ve done this for
years. I wouldn’t have done it for so long if it didn’t work bloody well!

Luckily most email marketers have no idea that this works or don’t have the
guts to try.

4. Create An Email Schedule

I used to do this extensively when I first realised the power of email

marketing. I still do it but it’s very gut-feel based now.

Here’s how to do it.

Just keep a schedule of WHAT you’re going to mail on each day of the week.

I don’t mean what the actual content it, just the feel of the email.

35
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

For example:

Monday - Start your email with a joke

Tuesday - Tell a personal story
Wednesday - Tell a story about the niche you’re in (research)
Thursday - Make it a motivational email

and so on.

Remember you should include a link to click and a product or service to buy
in every email you send, but the way you WRAP your offer must be
entertaining.

Every day go look at your list and you’ll see that Monday you need to start
with a joke - so go and find one and use it to begin your email.

It won’t write your email for you but it’ll let you know what kind of email you
need to compose.

5. My Trick For Getting That ‘Personal’ Feel

This is easy but WOW it’s powerful.

To get the personal feel that I (think) I have in my emails, you just need to find
yourself a ‘Bob’

36
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

This can be someone you know or a made-up character of the ideal person
you wish to target.

And when you write your emails, FORGET that you’re writing it to a 10,000
strong list, and just imagine you’re writing a personal email to Bob.

Dump any formal language you might use because it won’t seem natural.

Have you seen crime witnesses interviewed by TV reports and they’ll say ‘

And then we saw the suspect proceeding northwards in a suspicious manner

after the offence took place’.

Who the hell speaks like that in real life???)

It’s because they’re in front of a camera and feel they should be formal.

Also look at the scene in The Wolf Of Wall Street where Jordan Belfort’s dad
affects a British accent whenever he answers the phone to see what I mean!

Yet most email marketers turn into formal (boring) writers when it comes to
sending emails. If you don’t fall into the trap you instantly gain an advantage.

6. Sell In Every Email

How does this help your list to be responsive?

37
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

Because if you get your entertainment and content levels right, they won’t
care that there’s a sales link in every email.

What they don’t like, and what you don’t like and I certainly don’t like, are
blatant pitches in every email.

As long as you’re building relationships with people, and your emails are
interesting, engaging and entertaining, they’ll come to expect a sales link in
every email and it won’t be a problem.

Yes, I’m talking a link to your product in every single email you send.

The traditional ‘send two content emails then a pitch, then three more
contentemails before you send another pitch’ approach is old hat and people
just use it without thinking or testing.

(More good news for us)

Here’s the reality:

Content is everywhere these days, and it’s free.

But paid content - the act of BUYING information - is what motivates people
to take action. You pay for an info product, you value it.

Your list understand this more than you think they do - and they WANT to see
your offers. It won’t bug them - that’s WHY they’re on your list!

38
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

Besides, not every email you send is going to be opened by every person on
your list every time. Nowhere near in fact.

Even your rabid fans don’t open every email they get from you.

That’s just the way it is.

So think about this - if you don’t put a link to your product in every email
you send, then quite simply that’s an email where you just lost a
potential sale.

The trick is to engage and entertain – and then subtly promote your product
with a little blurb at the end of the email. You’ll have seen me not mentioning
any product until I come to the P.S. section of the email. That works extremely
well.

As long as you’re emailing often, and engaging your subscribers, they

certainly won’t mind you putting a link to your product in every email.

And if they do, and if they unsubscribe, so what?

There’s no point in marketing to people who don’t want to buy your products?

Put a link in every product.

39
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

7. The Content And The Offer Don’t Have To Be

Connected

It’s always nice if you can segue into an offer from a nicely crafted content
email but the truth is it’s bloody hard to do.

I’ve successfully told jokes about religion that sway nicely into a promo for
one of my products. See what I mean below:

40
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

It’s all about getting their attention then redirecting that attention onto your
product.

It doesn’t have to be related at all, although you can link ANY content to ANY
offer using phrases such as

‘And speaking of interesting items…’

or
‘Now here’s ANOTHER thing you should pay attention to’

They’re clunky but as your experience grows you’ll find connector words and
phrases of your own that really work and your list gets used to.

Grab their attention then redirect it to your offer.

8. No unsubscribes? Then it’s not working…

You just have to look at your OWN reactions to unsubscribing.

What do you do if you’re subscribed to a marketer who’s emails are so

boring, gouging your own eyeballs out with a chocolate dildo seems like a fun
afternoon?

You unsubscribe of course.

41
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

So why wouldn’t you expect your OWN subscribers to do the same if you’re
not keeping your eye on the ball?

The second reason is more productive:

It’s WORKING!

Your attraction/repulsion machine (discussed earlier) should be constantly

switched on. This means you’ll resonate with many people on your list with
every email you send, but you’ll also REPELL those who don’t understand or
like your message.

So unsubs is a healthy sign that this is happening.

I constantly get emails from people who don’t like that I use swear words, sex
words in my emails, or take the piss out of royalty, religion and other
professions that involve silly hats.

I usually ignore these and smile. Because I’m being true to myself.

Trust me, if you meet me in the pub for a pint I’m not going to suddenly turn
into a politically correct model citizen :)

Likewise if you ever read an email from a marketer apologising for saying
something in a previous email then keep a wary eye on him (unless it’s a
sales device) because the chances are he’s responding to a complaint or two.

And that means he’s not confident in what he does and thinks.

42
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

I don’t want to learn from someone like that. Do you?

They’re pleasers. And that means they’re more likely to be saying what they
think people want to hear, NOT what they should be saying, which is the
truth.

You will also get unsubscribes because they don’t like YOU.

This is possibly the hardest one to take when you start marketing. But you
already know not everyone you meet in life will like you, so why should you
think it will be any different online.

They wouldn’t have bought from you anyway. That’s the cliche you hear from
the experts right?

But they never tell you WHY they wouldn’t have bought from you.

Here’s why:

Because they won’t buy FROM you until they buy YOU.

And you don’t buy from people you don’t like or respect.

Another good reason for being the TRUE YOU in your email marketing.

which brings us on to the next point:

43
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

9. Stop Being Professional - Get Casual.

The next biggest reason for people unsubscribing from my list is calling me
‘unprofessional’. They think typos, bad language, lack of ‘proper’ photographs
of me and the like mean I’m unprofessional.

I once had an argument with an old style guru, (who in his defence was a
complete nobber and couldn’t really help himself)…

He said that when you present on stage you should always wear a suit
because it looks professional, and promotes trust.

When I pointed out that the suit-wearers in my life also happen to be the
people who try to take money from me in the form of tax men or officials or
sell me shit I don’t want upset him a bit and he spilt a beer down the front of
his suit in anger. Wouldn’t have to to dry-clean a T-shirt eh?

In short, and especially in you’re in the IM niche, ‘slick’ feels mucky.

It feels like someone is trying to fleece you.

If I watch a video of someone in a suit using formal language and being very
earnest I instant make sure my wallet is still in place because it’s WRONG for
this time in business history.

When the head of Apple and Facebook (to name just two) speak and dress
informally you have to wonder why ‘professional’ and formal still cuts it at all.

44
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

Sure your behind the scenes SYSTEMS and FUNNELS should be

professional, but I honestly believe that your persona and delivery (unless
you’re in the funeral industry), simply CANNOT be too formal or appear too
professional because it actively works against you when it comes to
resonating with your list.

In email marketing terms this means making your emails casual and friendly

I realise that will rankle with some people but you have to get your personality
across.

10. ALWAYS Keep A Swipe File

I’ve made tens of thousands od dollars - maybe hundreds of thousands - from

repurposing emails I sent years ago.

Hell just this week I’m getting amazing comments, sales and subscribers from
re-purposing old emails to my list, onto my Facebook page for new readers
to see.

45
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

Once you’ve written a good email, you can use it time and time again.

Whatever offer you use in your P.S. after a GOOD email will convert better
because you’re diverting all the positive, feel-good energy into your offer link.

11. ASK Them To Get In Touch

This one simple thing has made a HUGE difference to my business.

If you look on most of my emails you’ll see the line (just before the sign-off)
that says:

“As always, if you’ve any Q’s just hit reply and I’ll do my best to help”

Or something like that. But the whole thing of me being available has been
just MASSIVE when it comes to my list being responsive, making sales and
getting feedback.

46
 ‘Build A Super-Responsive Mailing List From Scratch’ © Tony Shepherd All Rights Reserved

The thing of course is you have to DO the replying that you promise, but
since this builds a relationship with your list it’s no major hassle.

Not to mention the sales and coaching jobs that come out of it.

It also (I’m reliably told) lets companies such as Gmail know that your email is
from a trusted source ;)

So go build a super-responsive list.

Why?

Because most marketers never do.

Best,

47