mailing list

[Former_Member]

It seems like any time I buy something I get on their mailing list and receive e-mails on a regular basis announcing sales and specials.

I'm wondering if any of you do this with your customer base and if it's effective?

[Former_Member]

I don't actually have a mailing list yet, it's one of many jobs on my to do list. But NO, i would never add someone to a list and send them emails without asking first if they want to receive them. Surley if a person hasn't activley opted in to getting those emails they're spam? That's how I view them anyway, I think it's better to have a mailing list of 20 people that look forward to getting your mails and actually read the content than 200 that just delete it without even reading it.

[Former_Member]

I agree with Jules, I didn't think you could just randomly mail people without their permission. It could do the opposite of what your trying to achieve and actually put people off.

Is there a way of creating a mailing list that customers can sign up to?

[Former_Member]

you could ask in one of your messages to the buyer

[BethWold]

I'm pretty sure there's actually laws in the US that people have to agree to be on your list. So you probably could get reported if you do it without their permission. When you buy something there's often a check box(already checked) to receive newsletters. So that's where they usually come from.

Also, it's against Etsy's rules to contact your buyers after the sale to promote yourself without their permission.

What I do is include a link to sign-up in my message to buyers when they make a purchase. Not sure anyone has signed up that way though.

I have less then 50 on my mailing list but I have about a 50% open rate so it's pretty high. Which is much better then 500 subscribers with 1% open rate because they didn't want to be on the list to start with.

The purpose of the list(in my opinion) is to remind people who were maybe thinking about purchasing but got busy and forget, etc. Also, maybe the new stuff will appeal to them if they know about it. I have quite a few other photographers subscribed and I'm in the process of writing some how-to e-books that will be of use to other photographers. So the list will be great for that.