Use Social Proof Chicklets… Or Not?
This week Aweber announced the release of their new Email Marketing “social proof chicklets”. Similar to the Feedburner chicklet, this feature allows you to display the number of newsletter or mailing list subscribers publicly by your opt-in form. The question is… Should you reveal your subscriber numbers? Who should you reveal them to? And why?
Here is an example, so you can see what this chicklet looks like:
As you can see, it is meant to go below or near the subscription box, or opt-in form, and it looks very similar to the Feedburner chicklet that displays the current number of RSS subscribers on blogs:
They are called social proof chicklets because the idea is that a large display number will influence a visitors decision to also subscribe to the email list.
You may recall that Aweber and Feedburner recently integrated, so that the Feedburner chicklet now shows a combined number of RSS subscribers and email subscribers (if you use Aweber’s Blog Broadcast feature).
This new “social proof chicklet” released by Aweber is similar, but for traditional email newsletters or mailing lists – instead of blogs.
I havent had opportunity to give this a lot of thought just yet, but I’ll share some of my initial thinking. First, I’m not entirely sure that the number of subscribers would influence me personally when making the decision to subscribe to an email list. I’m also not sure I would want that to be the deciding factor for any of my visitors.
I do think this would be highly valuable when evaluating email lists for possible ad placement, joint ventures, affiliates, content submissions, etc. It could work very well in certain situations, no doubt. Very much the same as scouting blogs to submit guest blog posts or engage in cross blog conversations, based on their published subscriber count.
Still, its not the size of the list – but the relationship that publisher has with those subscribers, no matter the number. A mailing list with 600 subscribers could yield a higher ROI than one with 6,000 or even 60,000 subscribers for example. There are just too many variables at play.
As a side note, it might be fun to watch those chicklet numbers bounce on IM sites during heavy product launch periods 
As much as this is a “social proof” tool its also about transparency, which is becoming quite a topic in marketing circles. Still, I’m not sure what true effect it has on visitors, or whether it influences their decisions at all. Ultimately, in my opinion, it boils down to great content and a strong call to action.
I would love to hear your thoughts. Would you use this chicklet? I’m curious what you feel the pros and cons would be of displaying your subscriber count…
Best,
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I have too few subscribers, and prefer that NO ONE know just yet how many RSS or aweber people are signed up. Just my humble opinion.
Deb Gallardo
Follow me @debgallardo on Twitter.
A thought from the publishers side – excellent. I’m curious though if there is a number you might reach where you feel it would be beneficial to share that number publicly – with your readers, partners… or “competitors”?
I know I shared my thoughts with you on list-building earlier this week, and we discussed it during the Brainstorming Hour as well. But from the publishers end, the numbers should never affect the relationship you have with your subscribers. Whether there are 9 or 9,000 people subscribed to your list, you have to treat them the same.
When I first started publishing Self-Starters Weekly Tips, I had planned to publish on Monday mornings. The first Monday I had 9 subscribers so I thought well, maybe I’ll wait until next Monday to send out the first issue…
And then it hit me – none of those 9 people knew they were only one of 9. And each one of them expected to receive the tips on the first Monday they subscribed. It was then that I realized that every email I sent was sent specifically to an individual subscriber – not to “a number” – and I have written to my list in that same manner ever since…
Given this new option, I couldnt help but wonder if it would have made a difference to those 9 people to know that there were only 8 other people reading the same email. I think not.
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
One thing I have heard some complaints about already is that it reads “x readers” instead of “subscribers” – and that this might be confusing since it in no way reflects the total number of people reading that web page or the content at that site in general.
Or that there may be multiple mailing lists on a site, and the chicklet doesnt reflect the total number of combined subscribers – but only the number for any individual list. This could be an issue for publishers that micro-segment their lists, and then mail multiple lists at once (a common practice in email marketing).
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
I wonder how many folks are upping their numbers by using graphics?
I mention this because I have a new blog for my ebay niche stores project and the count says I have 28,259 readers. There is no way that’s right on a one month blog.
I’m suspecting the WP theme I’m using is using a graphic with that number on it. I need to check on that. Since I didn’t activate it from my FeedBurner account so I think it’s just a fake graphic made to look like the real thing.
But I agree with the others, I would only share once I have around 100 readers . 10 or 15 readers don’t provide the social proof folks want (IMHO).
Follow me @alanpetersen on Twitter.
Ohhhh – Fake social proof!
LOL That’s shady… and I never would have thought of it. I would venture to guess most visitors wouldnt question it either. Terrible…
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
As I suspected. The readers graphic is a fake:
http://tinyurl.com/5kdx66
One thing, I would never show my email list subscriber numbers as a chicklet even if I had a huge list.
I don’t know but to me that seems a bit more of a privacy issue.
Folks who subscribe to your RSS via FeedBurner are basically doing it anonymously than those folks who are giving you their name and email address.
Follow me @alanpetersen on Twitter.
You made a point in one of your comments Lynn about segmented lists. I’ve got many segmented lists with 3 of them that I do most of my marketing too.
All of them are for the fitness niche, but I segment them for different topics, and male and female audiences.
My 3 major lists total 15,000, which to some marketers may seem big and to others puny.
I always hate when I’m asked “What’s the size of your list?” The question should be, “How responsive is your list?”
I’ve won affiliate contests and placed in the top 3 of affiliate contests when I’ve been up against people who have 10 times the size of list that I do.
Half the time I don’t even have to send out an email, I just have to post something on my blog and I beat bigger marketers out.
I can’t say that I’m a fan of the idea. I’ve never been influenced by those numbers in the sidebar.
Something that I do like to see is the widgets for mybloglog or ning communities with pictures of actual people. That’s more community like, rather than just numbers.
The ning widgets are especially effective in my opinion because those people took the time to sign up, create a profile and are actively participating, usually all without incentive to sign up like you would with a squeeze page. That means more to me than just subscribing to a list.
Plus, if I had a very large list, I wouldn’t want to get hounded by people who want me to promote their stuff. It’s bad enough as it is.
I’d rather people contact me because they feel that our products compliment each other and form some sort of strategic partnership.
Thanks for another intriguing topic Lynn.
Scott Tousignant
http://uflaffiliatecontest.blogspot.com
Follow me @FatLossQuickie on Twitter.
More great points – I definitely agree, Scott. I’m glad I’m not alone in looking at this new chicklet feature with a little skepticism…
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
Split test it to see what gets me more subscribers. That will be my answer on whether I will use it or not.
Great to see you again, Miles
If you DO decide to split-test it, you’ll have to let us know which wins out in the end!
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
Lynn,
As a reader/potential subscriber, I think I would treat those numbers with as much scepticism as I do any other numbers in the IM world, ie with a large bucket of salt!
It’s too easy to fiddle them. I could set up a huge number of dummy accounts on my e-mail server in a matter of minutes (any number you like as it would be automated), then subscribe to the newsletter using each one of them and – hey presto – my readership just jumped up by a factor of ten thousand!
I’m not saying that many people would do this, but given that the IM world is so competitive, and it often seems to be about who can claim the biggest numbers, I would be very sceptical about any numbers I saw.
Also, who cares? If a newsletter interests ME, then I don’t really care if it interests others as well. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t really care how many people read your blog. Its value to ME is in the information I get out of it. It wouldn’t diminish its value if I were the only person in the world reading it.
My only interest in your number of readers is that I want it to keep growing so you’ll keep doing what you’re doing. I’ve learned a lot from you, and have picked up a little on the person behind the blog, so from that point of view I care how many people read, but I would keep reading even if that information weren’t shown.
Just my 2c
Thank you Alan – a very high compliment, and very much appreciated *smile*. That means A LOT to me.
I’m glad you took the time to share your thoughts in detail, because this is such an important point for publishers and marketers. While social proof has its place, and can make a big difference in conversion rates, ultimately our readers and visitors care most about what’s in it for them – and that’s something we need to keep in mind.
This is the reason copywriters will tell you to use words like “you” and “us” instead of “my customers” or “hey everybody!” etc.
Thanks again – great reminder on an all-important point!
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
My pleasure
Just to add a short follow-up, I think you hit the nail on the head with the words “social proof.” If it really is proof, then it might mean something. If it’s merely another number that may or may not be true, it means nothing.
But as we said, the ultimate point is the content. Make it good and they’ll read it, even if they think they’re alone!
Ta ra
Alan
Valuable, unique content is king. And this directly relates to the responsiveness of your subscribers. It’s a win-win situation.
I have always based my choice to subscribe or not on two important factors: The writing style and value of the posts, and the interactivity within the comments and community.
I learn just as much from the comments after a post as I do from the post itself.
Numbers schmumbers.
[...] there were definitely others (both in the release post’s comments and on other blogs) who doubted the usefulness of such a [...]
I go with the view that if you are well above 100 readers, you will have no problem in displaying the stats.