A good friend of mine is partaking in a mutually beneficial deal where I rewrite some of his copy in exchange for an email blast to his 400k customers and god knows how many affiliates... to get a new clickbank site started.

I've already wrote a killer email for this, although it's fairly long (like 10 short paragraphs)

I'm looking for opinions on:

Should this be a short email to get max peeps to click my link
or
Should it be my kick ass long one for a good presell

Webdev

If I had the opportunity to send a solo email blast to someone else's list of 400,000...I would...

create a free report on a topic that is directly related to the niche for which this list belongs...I would try to make the topic as relevant and cutting edge as possible. Use a list-owner endorsement email to drive traffic to YOUR opt-in page for the free report.

I would then build rapport with the list by sending them a couple more free, highly educational pieces of information. Then, and only then, I would pitch them another directly related affiliate product (or create my own).

Rinse and repeat!

Hope that helps.

Ed

Except I would do an A/B test on a smaller sample, maybe 10K or 20K each. Then roll out the winner to the rest.

John

I totally agree with Ed!

Your goal should be to make your friend's list YOUR list. Think in terms of not just one product, but a whole series of products that you can create over time to an adoring list of your own. Create a highly desirable special report that is relevant to your friend's list (this is important). Then, write a short email that your friend can send out, directing them to your opt-in page. If they want the report, they'll give you their email address. Before you ever sell them a thing, create a relationship with a few good emails. Then they'll be much more likely to buy your product.

Now, here's how you can grow it more quickly: Get a copy of ViralFriendGenerator. Create ANOTHER really fantastic special report and after they've opted in for the first report, use the Viral Friend Generator software to coax them into telling three friends about the deal (in exchange for the second report).

You've got a tremendous opportunity to build your own list. Then, you can keep creating new products or selling them affiliate products over time.

Sid

What format are his subscribers used to? Might want to copy that to lend a bit of familiarity to your message.

You probably already thought of this but I'd also consider the endorsed mailing route. If his list is any good then he already has rapport points with his subscribers so borrow some of that karma.

Write an intro in his name, his voice, his email template, everything, having him introduce you and your amazing doohickey. "Hi this is Jim and when Hank here told me he'd blah blah blah I laughed in his face, but when..." Benefit oriented copy, have 'em click a link to read the rest of the letter, behind which is killer copy and a bit more metrics (because they're hitting a webserver of yours), etc.

I'd probably go 20k each for the initial short/long email test, and A/B test on my landing page as well. i.e. 10k to 4 different versions of my landing page. Depending on the results you could re-test a few times and still have a massive list use for the winner.

With the endorsed mailing approach and a minimum 4 tests under your belt you should clean up when you roll it out.

I'm gonna do an A/B test with 20k of emails for each, testing Short Vs Long.

And then roll out to the winner, thanks for the replys

These guys have the A/B covered well. I'm throwing my lot on the small emails too. 10 paragraphs is long for an e-blast. It'd work as an expected, emailed sales letter though. Best of luck with the test!