Yesterday, I sent out an email asking for advice on what to do with a huge cold list that someone I know is in secret possession of.
This list is not only huge, not only cold, but there are also a bunch of other strange restrictions. Can anything be done?
After asking for advice yesterday, I got a buncha responses, including from people who manage email lists as a job (one guy for 20 years) and from others who have been in similarish situations and shared their experiences and suggestions.
I was honestly grateful to get so many thoughtful, detailed, and helpful responses. I read them all. I selected the ones that sounded feasible to me, and boiled related ones to get 17 separate ideas, most of which were new to me. I then organized them in three categories:
1. Technical ideas (how to email)
2. Content ideas (what to email)
3. Out-of-the-box ideas (how not to email)
I don’t know a better way to say thanks to everyone on my list who wrote me than to “pay it forward” and share the total collection of ideas with my whole list. You can find it below.
If you yourself are in secret possession of a list that’s huge, cold, possibly dead but maybe not, then read these ideas, and if you find them valuable, pass them on.
And in case you take any of these ideas and apply them, let me know — I’d love to hear about it and update the doc. Here it is: