[epub] Re: *** Do NOT use Worldwide Lists ***

[Debbie Adams <hansful4@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Cyber greetings,

>I tried World Wide Lists (with the other newsletter I publish
- Wall Street Harvest) and dropped them after a few weeks.
I don't believe that their operation is totally on the up and up
- and that is putting it ***kindly***.<

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've been using them since last summer and I've wanted desperately to
ask someone else's opinion since September, but alas Epub dried up.
Thank God we're back!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>For starters you're going to get an ABNORMALLY large number
of 'crazy' email addresses such as: friedmonkeybrains@Yahoo.
I publish a serious newsletter about the stock market. I
have a few crazy but legitimate email addresses but they
represent a *very small* percentage of my subscribers.
You get a disproportionately high  percentage with WWL.
That was clue #1.<
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've notice that a LOT.  And being a Christian list, there are addies I
just obviously don't believe are valid for my publication, ie.
ilike69@hotmail or proudtobepagan@yahoo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>Almost all of the addresses are from free email services.
A significant percentage of my regular subscribers use real
email addresses. That was clue #2.<

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I get tons of normal addies, but they turn out to be people who unsub
fast!  I also had one that was visitor@somecompany and every time I sent
out anything, I got an autoresponse that they had received my mail and
would respond in the future.  I ended up unsubbing the addy after a few
weeks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>WWL consistently admits that their accounting procedures
are not accurate. It would be TRIVIAL to fix them. Instead
they expect you to document the duplicate addresses,
prove to them that they are duplicates, and they will THEN
give you a whopping credit of 0.15 per duplicate. Talking
about arrogance ...<

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You've got a very valid point there.  And counting the time it  takes me
to manually put each addy in to see if I have it in my subscriber list
and then add them.  At the beginning of this month I got a list on 2/1,
then my next was 2/4 and I had 96 subs listed (normal is around 40-50
per day).  Got normal reports on the 5th and 6th and then on the 7th I
got 150!!  When I added them in, I think almost every one from the 4th
was listed again.  Since then I've had almost no duplicates, leading me
to think they're changing things.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>Would you stay with your telephone company if they
consistently made errors billing you? Not only should they
reimburse you for their errors but they *should pay you*
for your time - if they consistently make the same mistakes
over and over again - unless of course you don't have
anything more valuable to do with your time. That was clue
#3.<

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good point and one I'd not considered.

I did try using them once to join an ezine as an expermiment.  Their
*double opt-in* was just a "You've joined some lists through us.  Send
this back if you want them".  But a bounce would have produced the
confirmation and there was no listing of what it was I'd subscribed to.
Plus to the best of my knowledge, I never got the ezine I'd signed up
with.

I've just been getting irked with them in the past few months.  I don't
mind paying for subscribers IF they'd at least stay for a few issues,
but I really think at least 1/3 of WWL subs leave within moments of
getting the welcome letter or the 1st weekly issue.  And many of them
are downright rude, "UNSCIBE ME FROM THIS SH*T!!!!!!!"

Plus my own ad revenue has shriveled up and WWL has ended up taking
almost every penny of it lately and I feel more and more that I'm
getting less and less for my money.  I'm looking at owing a bill for
February I will not be able to pay and it irks me even more because
despite their claims, a large percentage are people who have absolutely
NO interest in my publication.

Debbie Adams
http://www.homefireshearth.com - The ezine for Christian homemakers
"Being confident in this, that He who began a good work in you
will be faithful to complete it." ~~ Phil 1:6


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