So many of my clients and peers are concerned about the size of their email newsletter/ezine list. But does size really matter?

Mark Brownlow from Email Marketing Reports suggests not. He sites the example of people being afriad to loose numbers from their list. His take is that good lists are not necessarily large ones. Good lists, are those whose members respond to our messages.

I have to agree. There’s so much focus on the size of lists today that people forget about the quality.

Take two clients I have. One has a list of around 10,000 while another has a list of about 3,000. You’d think by sheer numbers the person with the largest list would be getting more business, right?

Wrong. My client with 3,000 has really taken the time to understand how to leverage his list. He write really good articles and makes just the right offers that get people to act. The result is that he gets about 3 times more business through his list than my client with the larger list.

Why, because he’s not obsessed with the size of his list. He’s more interested in the quality of the people on this list. And he understands what they want and need. Much of this is accomplished by his very clear web copy. When you signup for his list, it’s because you really want what he’s offering.

The other client, with the larger list, does great work, but her site and newsletter lack the clarity that my first client has. Her business is flourishing. She’s just not leveraging her list in the same way as my first client is.

Over at Aweber, they’ve written a little follow-up, suggesting that double-opt-in alleviates this problem a bit by weeding out list members. I have to agree to some degree. Yet, I’m still not a fan of double-opt-in lists simply because I know how un-techie many people are. So why penalize them for not being with the game?

My suggestion is focus on the quality of your lists. Whether it’s through double-opt-in or other means.