18: The Truth About List Size Nobody Tells You in Partnership Marketing
In the partnership world, one question comes up in almost every conversation: “What's your list size?” In this episode, Marie and Anne-Marie push back on that question — and on the assumption baked into it. They make the case that a bigger list isn't automatically a better partner, and that the number partnerships actually run on is engagement, not reach. Marie and Anne-Marie walk through real examples from their own partnership conversations, including a deal that generated fewer than 100 clicks from a 50,000-person list, to show why quality has to come before quantity.
From there, Marie and Anne-Marie broaden the definition of “list” to include email, social following, Facebook groups, membership communities, and podcast audiences, then get tactical: what it actually means to scrub a list, why removing disengaged subscribers improves deliverability and credibility with partners, and how segmentation and surveying let you know exactly who is on your list so you can match the right partners to the right audience. They close with a reminder that a strategic partnership only works when both audiences genuinely align — and that it's better to have an honest conversation about fit than to force an audience into a partner's box.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
Why list size is a weak predictor of partnership success — and what to track instead
How to define your “audience” beyond your email list (social, communities, podcast downloads)
What it really means to “scrub” a list, and why a smaller, cleaner list outperforms a bigger, quieter one
How segmentation and surveying help you know exactly who's on your list
Why forcing your audience into someone else's box backfires — and what to do instead
Episode Highlights
Marie makes the case that list size doesn't matter as much as everyone assumes — and explains why the partnership world tends to judge people by reach alone.
Anne-Marie reframes “list” as “audience”: email, social following, Facebook groups, communities, and podcast listeners all count.
Marie breaks down what it means to scrub a list — removing disengaged subscribers to raise deliverability and give partners an honest number.
Anne-Marie shares a client story: a 17,000-person list narrowed to the 5,000–7,000 people who actually matched a partner's target market.
“It's much better to say, ‘I have a thousand people and eighty percent of them are engaged,’ than to say you have five thousand and only fifty of them ever open a thing.” - Marie
LINKS MENTIONED
Related episode: Debrief calls and why they matter after every partnership
Related episode: Valerie Del Grosso on the legal side of partner marketing
Work with Marie & Anne-Marie: powerfulonlinepartnerships.com
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