You have a valid point re the automatic reply process – and yes perhaps it could be classed as a type of spam.

However, the real point of the article was not that side issue..it was to join lists in order to LEARN how the best market to their own lists.

I accept the criticism Nick but for new people at least, to gather this information and store it in easy to access folders, is a goldmine that should not be ignored…and it’s free

Thanks again for the well considered constructive feedback

Thanks for the feedback and like you I think gmail is an extremely good email system
Do you know that you can also organise your gmail account to send out emails from any email address?

My best wishes and thanks again for the comments Sue

Interesting concept the way you have described uisng email. I love my gmail account especially the way you can create folders and it is so easy to remain organized.

Regards

Sue

I would have to say … HMMMMMM

Interesting or not… Stealthy or not…

I would have to say one word “SPAM”

Thinking like a marketer and not a buyer is great information however, think about it from a marketers point of view…

Why would I as a marketer want to receive an automated, canned message sent to my inbox from a subscriber who’s only intention is to send me automated messages back either to sell me something or send me a link to their website?

Lets think about this for a second…
You join my list …
You give me permission to send you email messages…
You autoreply with a sales message or link every single time my I send a blast to my A/R…

I did not join your list you joined mine…
And the only way to get rid of you is to delete your email, perhaps report you, perhaps send you a message to be sent right back to me, or delete and ban…

People in the past got pissed with me because when they responded to my email I sent them an autoresponder message informing them that they would have to submit a help desk ticket. Because there were so many complaints I switched to receiving messages via email …

NOW… I have the odd email trickling (becoming increasingly more every day) in with my subscribers (I would not call them a subscriber) only intention is in trying to sell me shit or direct me somewhere.

That my friend is a huge inconvenience since I am a marketer and I will only delete and ban, no questions asked!

To ALL you beginner marketers reading this comment… Using this technique will not help your cause only hinder it!!

I have a substantial list adding 100-800 new subs everyday, How unbearable do you think it would be for you if 1-5% of your so called subscribers did this?

Did you notice I did not leave a website!!

I would not want you to use this technique with me because doing this… I know you are not interested in me or my information.

So, What is the point here???

To alienate get blacklisted from all the lists you join?

best way to learn is by example and what better way than from the experts themselves.

If i could add on to this post i want to say while its good to cut and paste the best of all the experts make sure that you create your own writting style to better communicate to your list who you are for the very best results =D

hope this is helful ^_^

Ashawndra Michelle

Actually I liked getting a negative comment because it made me stop and think and it also may cause other readers to share what they think…so thanks!

I’m sorry if I sounded overly critical in my last comment. I meant to start off saying it is a nice post and your blog is looking good. Your post just brought so many thoughts to mind, and I ended up focusing on the negative. I know I need to work on focusing more on positive things rather than negative. I think it is something many people struggle with at times.

I understand the idea of studying how gurus market to you and copying what they do rather than buying the products they are selling, but what I don’t understand is what you expect to gain by sending them a canned vacation response message? Do you think they will rush to your site and buy something?

I look forward to interaction with my subscribers and am always eager to hear what they have to say. I am disappointed when I think a subscriber has sent me a reply and find it is a generic vacation response message. If I get the same generic response every time I mail them for an extended period, I might just unsubscribe them from my list.

It is also not always easy to copy what the marketers are doing on the back end unless you actually buy their product.

You may see they are selling a $7 product and think “Ok, it works for ______, it should work for me, too.” But unless you actually buy the $7 product you might not see how he really makes his money with the back end sales. Even the $27 upsell product might not be a significant portion of his income.

Some of these low end products might be there as a smoke screen specifically intended to keep others from copying their system, or it might just be to sort out the more qualified prospects, but you can be sure that many marketers treat their “buyers list” differently than their general free opt in list.

Some even go so far as to segment their lists into different price points. If they know you will buy a $7 product, they will keep offering you $7 products and the occasional $17 product thrown in to see if they should move you to a different list where you will be offered $17 products and the occasional $37 product….

Should I buy the $997 product to see if he is offering a $4997 product?

I’m not saying there aren’t valuable lessons to be learned from the free marketing you get, but it might be a mistake to assume that it will work for you without seeing the big picture.