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# Planning the lists: the first conversation
Read this when a business is starting email properly, moving off another
platform, or asks "what lists should we have?".
## Lists are promises, groups are filters
| | A list | A group |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | What someone agreed to receive | A filter over people already on lists |
| Who creates it | The owner, with wording people see | Anyone, any time |
| Needs consent? | Yes, its own | No, it inherits from the list |
| How many | Two to four | As many as are useful |
| Example | "Tips & seasonal checks" | "On Tips, hot water job over 8 years ago" |
Why so few lists: each one is a separate promise, needs its own sign-up
wording, and has to be honoured on cadence. Five lists that each send monthly
is five emails a month to someone on all of them. Most small businesses are
best served by one main list plus one customers-only list.
## The method
1. **Learn the business.** Read the website (services, seasons, what is
booked or bought again and again), the business overview if the account
has one, and how they describe themselves. Note the customer's buying
cycle: a hot water system every 10 to 15 years, a dental check every 6
months, a dance term every 10 weeks, a tax return every year.
2. **Read the source list.** Groups, interests and tags from the old
platform say what people actually signed up for. Sign-up form names and
dates tell you which promise each person saw.
3. **Read the job or sales history if connected.** Customers with an
ongoing relationship (members, retained clients, service plans, repeat
work) can usually receive messages directly related to it, once the
owner confirms the relationship. One-off customers can't, until they
sign up (see `consent-law.md` and `asking-permission.md`). Customers are
still the most valuable people on any list.
4. **Propose two to four lists**, each as one sentence the owner can read
aloud: name, the promise in the words a subscriber will see, how often,
who starts on it and why, and the count. Then three to five starter
groups.
5. **Put imported people only on a list their sign-up covers.** Someone who
signed up for "seasonal tips" has not agreed to "offers". When a mapping
is a judgement call, put them on the closer, narrower list and tell the
owner what you did.
6. **Let the owner change it in their words.** "Drop News, fold it into
Tips" is a complete instruction. Repeat back what will change, then make
the change. In Awesomate the owner creates and changes lists in the hub
(https://hub.awesomate.ai/contacts, or while importing), so give them each
list's name and wording ready to paste, and say which ones are customers
lists.
Present the proposal like this (keep it this short):
> I'd start with three lists.
> **Tips & seasonal checks**, about monthly, more in storm season. Promise:
> "Seasonal maintenance tips by email. Unsubscribe any time." 1,527 people
> from your Mailchimp "Newsletter" group start here.
> **Service reminders**, only when something is due, about work we did for
> them. 412 repeat customers and property managers, if you confirm you work
> with them regularly. One-off customers join when they next book.
> **News & offers**, a few times a year. 1,179 people who ticked "specials"
> on your old form.
> And groups for: hot water systems over 8 years old, Carindale and
> surrounds, clicked but didn't book, quiet for six months.
> Want any of those changed?
## Starter sets by kind of business
These are starting points to adapt, not templates to copy. Rename everything
into the owner's own words.
**Trades and field service** (plumbers, electricians, builders, pest,
cleaning, solar). Lists: Tips & seasonal checks (monthly, heavier before
storm season, winter or summer depending on the trade); Service reminders
(customers, when due); News & offers (occasional). Groups: by suburb or
postcode radius, by job type, by age of the thing installed, landlords vs
owner-occupiers, commercial vs residential.
**Studios, classes and training** (dance, martial arts, yoga, music,
tutoring, swim). Lists: Timetable & new classes (per term, plus changes);
Events & workshops; Members' and families' news (current students, inferred
from enrolment). Groups: by class or level, parents vs adult students,
lapsed students (no enrolment this term), trial-class attendees who didn't
join. Term dates drive cadence: send before enrolments open, not during
holidays.
**Retail, ecommerce and product.** Lists: New arrivals & restocks; Sales &
offers; Care & how-to (product care, recipes, guides). Groups: bought in a
category, repeat buyers, first-time buyers in their first 30 days, haven't
bought in 6 or 12 months, VIP by spend. Be careful with frequency: offers
weekly trains people to wait for the discount.
**Health and allied health** (physio, chiro, dental, psych, optometry,
vets). Lists: Clinic news & general tips (no condition-specific content);
Appointment and recall reminders (patients, part of their care, kept
separate from marketing). Groups: only from non-sensitive facts unless the
patient explicitly consented to that use (location, practitioner seen,
"interested in Pilates" from an opt-in). Never a group built from diagnoses
or conditions. Registered health practitioners cannot use testimonials in
advertising. See `copywriting.md`.
**Real estate and property.** Lists: Suburb market updates; New listings &
open homes; Landlord updates (landlords only). Groups: by suburb, buyers vs
sellers vs landlords vs tenants, appraisal requested, price band. Sold
results need care around vendor privacy.
**Finance, accounting and advisory.** Lists: Tax time & key dates (BAS,
EOFY, lodgement deadlines); Business tips; Client updates (current clients).
Groups: sole traders vs companies, BAS quarterly vs monthly, clients with
upcoming lodgements. If the firm holds an AFSL, broadcast content stays
general and carries their general advice warning; ask them for it.
**Coaching and consulting.** Lists: Weekly or fortnightly letter (the
owner's thinking, one idea per email); Programs & events. Groups: past
clients, workshop attendees, downloaded a guide.
**Hospitality** (cafes, restaurants, venues). Lists: What's on & specials;
Functions & events. Groups: by venue, booked a function, birthday month
(only if collected with consent).
## What the owner should leave with
- The lists, each with its promise wording (this becomes the consent wording
version 1), cadence and starting count.
- The starter groups, each as a sentence and a count.
- What happens to people who fit no list: they stay as contacts and are not
emailed until they join something.