This is a question I ask myself all the time. “Is it my MLM Email Leads, or is my email marketing campaign? I hear people everyday (me included) who gripe and say email marketing sucks. Yet each time I send an email my click through rates stay constant at 13% – 16%, so what does it really mean when people say email sucks?

Stephanie Miller V.P. of Strategic Services at Email filtering service Return Path explains it this way. "It’s like the old axiom about how people talk about lawyers. People love their own lawyer, but hate lawyers in general. It seems that subscribers may feel the same way about email marketing these days."

And I have to agree. I think as a whole when our email marketing campaign and email newsletters are full of value our subscribers love to read them. BUT! They hate all the useless spam, scams, phishing and pharming emails they get on a daily basis.

In Return Path's fourth annual Holiday Email Survey reports that overall, email marketing is fatigued, and in most industries is just plain flat.

To validate my point even further, the report goes on to show that email subscribers are looking for relevance, not just Junk. Over 55% state they receive a high level of Junk from companies they have an ongoing relationship with, and this type of marketing is a huge turnoff to them. And as expected Junk is second only to SPAM email which ranked at over 65%.

So with junk email and spam email ranking as the #1 & #2 reasons why people think email marketing sucks, it amazes me that any of us are getting results at all. However, at the same time if you are getting even small double digit click through rates then pat yourself on the back, it proves you are providing value to your email lead list.

If you are reading this article and thinking "I am getting zero or less than 5% click through rates.” Then take a few minutes and review the following questions:

1. How did you engage your subscriber? Did you provide a solid Call to Action?

2. How often did you send your email newsletter? You must keep your name in front of your subscribers with the proper frequency. Weekly or bi-weekly is best, unless you run a solid blog where your subscribers visit daily. If your blog is receiving high traffic, then you can send your email newsletter on a monthly basis.

3. Does your email marketing campaign provide value? If your email does not provide value to your subscribers they will not respond to your call to action period. Even when you use the #1 word in marketing FREE!

4. How compelling is your subject line? Close to 60% of respondents in the above mentioned report said they determine the value of each email message by the subject line.

5. Are you using a specific "from" email or just a yahoo or gmail address? Your subscribers must know who the email is from. Take Enrique as an example. When he sends his MLM Leads newsletter the "from line" looks like this mlmtips@mlmleadsmail.com . See how the 'from line" provides relevance to the subscriber?

So if you are frustrated with your email marketing results, and have been wondering if your leads are the issue, take some time right now and review your email marketing campaign.

And to overcome the frustration of email as a whole, give your email leads list an alternative to email.
Start using the DeskPing Desktop Marketing & Training Communicator. I now use the Desktop Communicator on all of my sites and over the last few months I have watched my Desktop training list grow at a rate of about 7%, while my email list has continued to decline by about 11% each time I send an email.

Never Give Up,

Troy Dooly
Rainmaker