Follow-up emails to your subscriber list are all about building relationships and qualifying them as buyers. They’re also the best way to actually convert your prospects to customers. The offers you decide to make to those on your list are extremely important in the conversion process and should be chosen very carefully.

What makes a good product offer? A good product is one that is relevant to your target market. It should be directly related to the reason they signed up for your list in the first place. It solves their problems and addresses their needs. It’s something they can put into use almost immediately.

If you offer something that isn’t related or appropriate for those on your list, it will undoubtedly turn off your subscribers. To them, you’re simply marketing whatever products you can because you got ahold of their name and email address. These irrelevant products will not build relationships nor generate sales. In the end, it will probably cost you subscribers.

You have two options when it comes to promoting products. You can use your own products or affiliate products. Obviously, the best products to offer are your own. These are products that are truly exclusive to your list and since you created them yourself, you know that they are of high quality and relevant to your customers. They’ll also result in the highest profit margins since you’re getting the full price of the product, rather than just a commission.

Offering affiliate products is a much easier way to go about selling to your list because you don’t have to create the products yourself. However, you have to take the time to check and make sure your affiliate partners are offering high quality products.

You can search for affiliate products to promote by using an online marketplace such as ClickBank or simply recommending tools and services that you already use (and which have a referral program). If using a market like ClickBank, use the advanced search function and keywords relevant to your niche. Check out various vendors before considering their products. Choose only vendors that have a good reputation. Look for products that have high sales and few refunds. Affiliate networks offer all of these statistics.

Stand by Your Products

If you try to pass off just one bad product on your list, you may lose a good number of your subscribers. You’ll lose that trust that you worked so hard to build in the first place. For this reason, every product you offer needs to be something you can stand behind.

The best way to make sure an affiliate offer is worthy is to buy the product and try it out yourself so that you know exactly what the product is all about. Another advantage of doing this is that your promotional content will be based on personal experience and you can speak from the heart when you discuss it.

Many or Few?

There is a great debate amongst marketers about whether it’s better to offer many different products to your list, or whether it’s best to focus on just a handful. Offering a number of products is perfectly acceptable, so long as they’re outstanding products that provide what your subscribers want. However, always remember that one bad product or experience can ruin your list. The advantage of focusing on just a few products is that they’re safer and much easier to promote.