A month ago, I made a comment on a post about a site that I re-organised. You can read that post and comments here. I promised that I would update you all on the number of signups and the amount of cash earned from the re-organisation.

To cut a long story short, for those who don't want to read the other post, basically I stopped giving away the ability for anyone to download a product, and made it a requirement that they had to sign up to a mailing list. The mailing list to be used for announcements, updates etc.

So, how many?

So, since August 27th, I've had a total of 274 confirmed (double opt-in) signups. That's a per day signup of approximately 9 people! Considering I have owned this site for over 18 months, I have lost out on almost 5000 signups.

OK, so 9 people signing up per day is nothing great, but it's better than zero! At least I am now able to announce new features, updates and so on, as well as use the list for promoting other products in the future (should I want to), as well as asking/reminding the users that use of the product is not "free", which the site plainly says so.

The Mail Funnel

The way I have the site set up is to collect the email address, get them to confirm (by double opt-in) - hence I cannot be accused of Spam. They then get the download link - again by email). After about 10 days, they get a follow up email which asks if they managed to install the code and if they want any help. About 20 days later, they get another email reminding them that they can help the site to stay alive by donating some cash…

I have had a couple of muppet comments such as;

I hate software that claims to be free and then makes you pay..

and some good ones such as;

I'm finding it to be REALLY easy to use - it's great. Also, it's educational.

In general the feedback on how I am doing things is positive. I have a had a few people unsubscribe, only around 10 in total.

What is surprising is the number of people who start the joining process by inputting their email address, but then never confirming by double opt-in. I'm not sure if that's a case of Aweber not getting the emails to them, or them realising that they are not getting the download straight-away so are bailing out…