It has been a little while since I have provided an update after my last post on my Step by Step Guide to Starting your Mailing List Author Platform. I have had a few questions recently about open and click rates and the effectiveness of several different list building techniques so I will share below.
Facebook Ads:
I used Facebook ads and their Lead Form along with giving away a free book. The end result can be seen above. I have highlighted my best result which was 256 leads with an average cost per lead of $0.68. Now, this isn’t the best, but it was a tolerable cost per email address. You can see several other attempts with much higher CPL over $1 each which is way too expensive. After 256 leads, I did decide to pause the campaign however, as costs were trending higher and it was becoming less effective. It still remains to be seen how valuable those leads are. I have not separated them (although I probably should have). I have been boosting my list through another group Instafreebie giveaway I am hosting Epic Worlds 2.0.
Remember, to avoid costs I have split up my lists between MailChimp and BenchmarkEmail:
MailChimp List Numbers:
My list grew over 2,000 so I had to export and unsubscribe many to BenchmarkEmail. Currently I have 1,629 in Mailchimp.
MailChimp Open & Click Rates:
As you can see, my MailChimp open rate fluctuates but is usually well above the industry average. As I have continued to fine tune my subjects and content, my open rate is trending above 55%. The click rate is also trending higher above 35%. Please keep in mind I have mainly been offering my first book free and promoting some other giveaways. We will see how these numbers fare in terms of pre-orders and book sales when Book 2 is available.
BenchmarkEmail:
In order to not be charged, I have exported a large number of subscribers to BenchMarkEmail. This list now has 1,714 different email addresses bringing my grand total to 3,343 and growing rapidly.
Unsubscribe Rates:
Apparently, the amount of unsubscribes during any email blast (campaign) can very widely. I do not have too much info on the average unsubscribe rates, but here is what I am seeing with some recent campaigns (reverse chronological order):
| Campaign | Unsubscribe % |
| F | 2.3% |
| G | 1% |
| H | 0.93% |
| I | 1.6% |
| J | 2.4% |
| K | 4.3% |
So you can see it varies widely. I would like to think as I improve my messaging the rate will stay under 2% but as long as it is less than 5% I am happy. We will see if this holds through pre-orders and selling book 2 when available.