YouTube Question starting a mailing list - why or why not?

[oceansofflame]

I've always been thinking of starting a mailing list, where I'd collect emails of my viewers. Maybe a link under my video descriptions to an email capture page

Has anyone tried this before? Why or why not

And secondly what % of Youtube channel subscribers normally will also subscribe to your email list?

Thanks for any tips on this!

 

[DamoΓÇÖs Paintings]

I havenΓÇÖt had the thought of starting something like this, but I may do so in the future, depending on who would be willing to sign up, which would probably be the usual fans or top fans or super fans, whoever has that connection to our work on our channels, for now IΓÇÖm still building up

 

[SILTHW]

I've always been thinking of starting a mailing list, where I'd collect emails of my viewers. Maybe a link under my video descriptions to an email capture page

Has anyone tried this before? Why or why not

And secondly what % of Youtube channel subscribers normally will also subscribe to your email list?

Thanks for any tips on this!

I might turn this around and ask you this - how many email lists are you on? How many do you read? Of the ones you read, why do you read them?

Then ask yourself if you can do something with that mailing list that would make people read and take action.

I say this because I have owned and managed more customer mailing lists that I could count easily. The average return - meaning the average number of people who even click on list emails is very low. And the average number that engage in some action based on the email is even lower. When I say low I mean in the 1-3% range. People that get good returns spend a heck of a lot more time managing mailing lists than MailChimp, ContantContact and the other big mailing list companies would leave you to believe.

The easy answer is to tell you to go read up on the industry stats, but when I discuss this with people I think the best information comes from your own personal behavior towards mailing lists. If you don't engage with them, why do you think your subscribers will? If you do, why do you engage with them?

 

[Beanie Draws]

I'm not very good with email lists but I should be. They're a great tool for marketing and communication. Sometimes people don't check your community tab (besides, I think the community tab is sub count restricted) but if someone is signed up for your email list, you can sound out an email to promote a video that answers a question, or if you're delayed or something is happening in your life that's preventing you to publish, maybe unexpected health situations, or maybe something that happens to your channel, an email list is a great way to ensure communication outside of YouTube so long as people agree to signing up to it, and as long as you comply with applicable email list laws, as there's privacy and data collection laws you have to take into consideration when it comes to email lists, as improper ways of doing it can be seen as spam, and spam in some jurisdictions is illegal. Roberto Blake is a bit supporter and great resource to learn about the power of mailing lists, as I'm sure @RobBalasabas is as well.

 

[oceansofflame]

I might turn this around and ask you this - how many email lists are you on? How many do you read? Of the ones you read, why do you read them?

Then ask yourself if you can do something with that mailing list that would make people read and take action.

I say this because I have owned and managed more customer mailing lists that I could count easily. The average return - meaning the average number of people who even click on list emails is very low. And the average number that engage in some action based on the email is even lower. When I say low I mean in the 1-3% range. People that get good returns spend a heck of a lot more time managing mailing lists than MailChimp, ContantContact and the other big mailing list companies would leave you to believe.

The easy answer is to tell you to go read up on the industry stats, but when I discuss this with people I think the best information comes from your own personal behavior towards mailing lists. If you don't engage with them, why do you think your subscribers will? If you do, why do you engage with them?

Interesting stats - and appreciate your thoughts!

So for me, I actually want to try it for two reasons specifically:

1) I want to be able to email announce to my subscribers when I've uploaded a new video or even right before to get them all excited about it in anticipation of my content. As a subscriber to many channels myself, I get really annoyed by Push notifications whereas email I can go in and check whenever. And Community postings people miss sometimes.

2) The second reason might be to announce some merch as well but I have no clue how people would respond on this one.

From what you saw, how many people who channel-subscribe also will email-subscribe?

 

[SILTHW]

Interesting stats - and appreciate your thoughts!

So for me, I actually want to try it for two reasons specifically:

1) I want to be able to email announce to my subscribers when I've uploaded a new video or even right before to get them all excited about it in anticipation of my content. As a subscriber to many channels myself, I get really annoyed by Push notifications whereas email I can go in and check whenever. And Community postings people miss sometimes.

2) The second reason might be to announce some merch as well but I have no clue how people would respond on this one.

From what you saw, how many people who channel-subscribe also will email-subscribe?

I don't know the specifics on YouTube subscriber to email subscriber. I can't imagine you will find any data there that isn't anecdotal.

 

[oceansofflame]

I don't know the specifics on YouTube subscriber to email subscriber. I can't imagine you will find any data there that isn't anecdotal.

Gotcha and when you quoted only 1-3% engage in some action, did that specifically mean only 1-3% of subscribers will buy something from those emails? or did that mean only 1-3% will click through a link embedded in the email?

Seems low indeed

 

[JoyChinese 乐学中文]

If I am like a video, I would rather to subscribe it than give my email.

 

[BraveStar]

Here's my question about your idea of an email list. What exactly is the purpose of your emailing list? What will it provide that subscribers will want to sign up for?

That is what will give you the best idea if this will work. The email list has to be similar to what a Patreon page is. After all, why give up an email and risk potential spam when you can get notifications for new videos, latest tweet and even an Instagram picture or TikTok video.

 

[SILTHW]

Gotcha and when you quoted only 1-3% engage in some action, did that specifically mean only 1-3% of subscribers will buy something from those emails? or did that mean only 1-3% will click through a link embedded in the email?

Seems low indeed

Just looked it up. Click through rate (not purchase) on average for a Social Media email is ~2.5%. So look at potential profit * number of people on the list to get an idea of what its worth.

I would never tell you not to try something. Experimentation is great. But I am trying to help you to be realistic about the results. And realize that people who get above that 2.5% average. put a ton of work into what they are doing. I've been able to get things up to around 7%, but that was with the resources and data of major technology companies behind me.

 

[RobBalasabas]

I'm not very good with email lists but I should be. They're a great tool for marketing and communication. Sometimes people don't check your community tab (besides, I think the community tab is sub count restricted) but if someone is signed up for your email list, you can sound out an email to promote a video that answers a question, or if you're delayed or something is happening in your life that's preventing you to publish, maybe unexpected health situations, or maybe something that happens to your channel, an email list is a great way to ensure communication outside of YouTube so long as people agree to signing up to it, and as long as you comply with applicable email list laws, as there's privacy and data collection laws you have to take into consideration when it comes to email lists, as improper ways of doing it can be seen as spam, and spam in some jurisdictions is illegal. Roberto Blake is a bit supporter and great resource to learn about the power of mailing lists, as I'm sure @RobBalasabas is as well.

Thanks for the tag @Beanie Draws --- this is a good question and I'm always on the side of building an email list. For a number of reasons, but mainly because...

a. You could lose your Youtube channel anytime. If that happens, and you don't have an email list, you'll lose access to your subscribers. Having your subscribers in your email database, allows you to message them directly should anything like that happen.

b. It allows you to reach your subscribers directly with announcements, special events, special offers, product launches, etc.

 

[Kaos71]

I have an email list through Constant Contact for my website and it is a pain and expensive for what it is. It is one of those things that I really have been meaning to download what I have and closing it up until I need it. But I agree with @Brave Starr as to what are you going to provide with that list? Working in the web space full time like I do, I have seen email lists go bad in a hurry. Unless you really are driving them somewhere, not sure there is a ton of upside with it. I am in a situation where I don't own the billing information of my subscribers (to my site, not my channel) so it makes sense to have an ability to reach people if my status ever were to change but I am not sure the 45/mo (that is a guess, I have no idea what I am paying right now) I spend on the email collection is really worth it.

But I will hang up and listen and am open to change if there seems to be a good reason to try and gather through the YT channel. I know I am hitting a lot of non-subscribers from my page (and sadly I am splitting some views with my SoundCloud page for my podcast) and being able to market to them would be great, but at this point I also don't want to chase people off with too much intrusion, even if they are opting in.

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

I believe that email lists are still a powerful and highly under-utilized tool wielded by only the most professional creators, but i dont think your vision for this is entirely beneficial. Subscribers already get notifications and should be subscribed because they actually enjoy your work. You shouldn't need to force-feed it ti them. Rather, an email list is an opportunity to create a community newsletter witb behind the scenes information, discounts, motivation... basically it should be an opportunity to engage a little deeper with your audience while slipping some of that info through affiliate links and product promotions.