List mailers, or safelists, have been around since the early days of online marketing. Through the years, hundreds of thousands of marketers have used them to get a steady stream of new prospects and customers for their businesses.
Unlike unsolicited email marketing (SPAM), list mailer marketing is 100% legal and approved by every person involved. By joining a list mailer, you agree to get marketing email messages from other members of the list in exchange for the right to send out your own messages to them. When joining, you have to click the link in the confirmation e-mail sent to you.
Should you decide to cancel your membership, you’ll immediately stop receiving messages from that specific list. Many mailers also offer you the smooth option to “go on vacation” and stop receiving messages during a period.
Credit based list mailers – incentivized and effective
Most list mailers use a credit based system. In short, you earn a number of credits every time you click the links in other members marketing e-mails sent to you. Then you use those credits to send your own messages to other members of the list mailer.
This is a very effective system that makes sure the members stay active by reading their e-mails.
How often you can send your messages to other members of the list varies a lot. Some mailers let you send any time you want as long as you have the credits required. Most let you send every day, every 2, 3 or 5 days. Some let you send to the entire membership at a time, others limit the amount to a specific number of members.
Most mailers also give you the option to upgrade your account. This often allows you to send your messages more frequently and to many more members at a time. Many let you send to a certain number of members without using any credits. Should you also choose to use credits, you can reach even more members.
Keep your eyes peeled for the one time offers (OTO’s) presented to you the first time you log in to a list mailer. You usually get huge discounts on the regular prices you would pay in the members area.
Active and dedicated members – the key to success
There is a very specific reason that so many list mailers have been around and thrived for years. Their active and dedicated members.
For a list mailer to be attractive, it must bring you results in the form of opened emails and actions (opt ins, sign-ups, purchases, etc).
You want other members of the lists to have a real look at your landing page. Other members expect the same from you, so make sure you actually give every page at least half a second. As you’re going to see, many offers are good and could benefit your own business a lot.
My recommended list mailers
Here I list my top recommended list mailers that bring me a steady stream of opt ins, prospects and customers for my business. I have chosen to sort them based on their ownerships. Enjoy!
Darren Olander lists – Very active and responsive list mailers with many innovative features you won’t find anywhere else.
Kevin and Sammy Kolijn lists – Active and responsive list mailers with cool designs and many exciting bonus features.
Maryanne Myers lists – Some of the biggest mailers in the industry plus a couple of smaller recent additions.
Other lists – Responsive lists from various owners.