Image: Flickr RambergMediaImages

Do you run a business where you communicate with your loyal followers via email? Or are you thinking about starting a business where you’d like to stay in touch with your followers?

Having a list of subscribers to communicate with is vital. Nurturing those subscribers, and providing them with value, is even more important. And for that nurturing process, we need the correct tools.

The smart way to communicate with followers is through an email Autoresponder Service like iContact, Aweber, Constant Contact or Mailchimp.

My reasons for moving

I recently made a decision to change my email autoresponder system. I have been using iContact since 2008, a total of 6 years. Aweber has some functionality that iContact does not provide. I’m expanding my business this year and I felt it necessary to have a “support team”, including my mailing service, that would be robust and flexible enough to handle my new business needs.

As you may know, change and the unknown can be a bit scary. I took a while to make this decision!

Some statistics say that only around 20% of subscribers from the old system, will follow us to our new email system. I was wary to take the leap and yet, something inside kept telling me to trust! I’ve had so many reminders in the recent year about the power of letting go of the old, in order to let new energy in. Something felt right about it, even though I might end up losing contact with many people who had been receiving my news since 2008.

Since I’m expanding into other areas (not only healing modalities), my original followers may not be interested in what I’m offering anymore. A second reason for me to make this move, was to have an opportunity to give my subscribers a clear choice to stay connected, or make a clean break. I want choice in life – and I want the same for anyone who hears from me. I’d rather have a smaller list than a big number of people who are not interested in my message anymore. I want to provide value to those who need my message.

This week, I made the final preparations and leapt. I’d like to share a few tips that could help you, should you ever need to do the same.

The Process to Move your Email List

Plan your move

There are many moving parts to the move. If you plan it well, it can all go very smoothly. I didn’t plan so well and did a lot of unnecessary work. Here’s a brief outline of things to keep in mind:

• Prepare your current subscribers well
• Know that you may lose some – and that opens the door for new people, tuned in to your new energy, to find you
• Prepare to receive your current subscribers in Aweber
• Prepare gifts and a “thank you” page on your website for current subscribers
• Prepared to receive new subscribers in Aweber
• Prepare gifts and a “thank you” page on your website for new subscribers

In Part 2, the steps are discussed in detail.