Lists that are a couple years old will have a high bounce rate. People change providers, die, move, etc. I had a customer list of about 80,000 . After two years it's down to about 40k.. Even after all that time it's responsive like a mofo. I mailed the 40k and pulled 20k in sales... I did a happy dance.


Getresponse will let you import records, they will require that you send in an opt-in confirmation message though. Fortunately they allow you to create your own message.
If you have such information as the date they purchased, the item and the amount, you can add that to the list and import it to. That way in the confirmation message sent through getresponse you can remind them of why you're contacting them.

Like:

Dear {FirstName} {LastName},

You purchased {Item} from my Ebay Store on {Date}. We've created a newsletter for our valued customers to provide them with special deals! etc etc. Please click below to confirm your subscription. thank you, ebay guy..

Since you have an established relationship with them, I imagine they'll remember who you are and will be happy to confirm. Now you have a gold mine of people that buy crap online and already like you cause you delivered the goods.

The key now is to not spank them too hard... Mail them maybe once every two weeks. If you mail them too much they will unsub or just ignore your messages.

If you only sold certain items, only promote similar items to them. If you sold many different kinds of things, you might want to segment your list for best results.. So you only mail computer stuff to people that bought computer stuff and mail people that bought useless trinkets only useless trinkets..


If you need some help drop me a PM. I've done a lot of work with getresponse..