Your website receives numerous visitors every day. While that’s great, it’s really no good if they simply ‘visit’ and then wander off to a competitor’s website and make their purchases there. How do you change this?
Here’s how:
· By creating awareness and engaging with them to make them aware of what you can offer
· By establishing expertise, and creating interest in your product or service
· By making an offer they can’t refuse
· And after the decision to buy, focusing on retaining these paying customers and providing superlative after-sales services
This is how a sales funnel works, where you purposefully channel your website visitors along a certain path towards making a purchase.
An email sales funnel is very similar. It is a digital marketing strategy which uses emails to guide customers through various stages before making a purchase. Let’s look into it some more, to understand why you need it, how it can be extremely valuable to sales, and finally, how to build an email sales funnel.
Definition:
An email sales funnel is an automated chain of emails containing marketing messages that naturally guide a lead towards a desired action. Basically, it’s a gentle nudge that encourages people to go from checking out your product, to using it, to recommending it to others.
The objective of your email sales funnel is to:
1. Increase engagement and nurture your relationship with your email subscriber
2. Inform and educate them on the benefits of your product/service
3. Encourage purchase
However, why do you even need an email sales funnel?
1. To acquire new leads
2. To convert those leads into paying customers
3. To turn your customers into loyal evangelists
As we’ve mentioned before, the email sales funnel consists of various stages you want to guide your prospects through, to convert them into customers. Specific emails sent during these various stages help to greatly increase the probability of your prospects being converted into leads, and then into customers. There are 3 stages in the email sales funnel:
Email #1: Provide value
Your initial email aims to engage prospects with your business and to provide them with value. Like, a free download or similar resource.
It should:
· Provide value
· Establish expertise
· Help make an informed buying decision
It should not:
· Sell
Here’s an example:
Hi <name>,
Welcome to our digital marketing community! And thanks for subscribing to our newsletter!
Over the next few weeks, you’ll be receiving emails from me that will guide you through digital marketing for your business in a clear, easy way. You’re going to get useful insights and advice as well as the latest industry updates that can give you an edge over your competition – starting right now!
As promised here’s your Ultimate Guide to SEO. <guide>
Our eBook breaks down this complex concept into simple, bite-sized pieces that you can easily follow like a checklist and apply to your website.
Look out for our informative articles about SEO on our blog to further help your digital marketing efforts towards growing your business.
<blog post #1>
<blog post #2>
<blog post #3>
Enjoy your digital marketing journey!
Most sincerely,
<Name>
This email helps establish your value as a credible source of information and helps kickstart your relationship with your prospective customer.
Email #2: Establish authority
The next email you send should position your brand as an authority. You could think of a case study, a client success story or other such, because people love stories. You can also nurture your leads with more articles and whitepapers.
It should:
· Establish you as a thought leader
· Build trust
· Soft sell (optional)
It should not:
· Mislead
· Have unethical content
Here’s an example:
Hi <name>,
Ever dreamed of achieving rank #1 on Google?
When it comes to ranking high on Google SERPs, many businesses are unsure about what to do and how to get there. However, it wasn’t so for <company name>. They adopted updated digital marketing techniques and applied it to their business with slow but sure success. Today. A year later, they hold the #1 position on Google for a relevant keyword, having gained <number> of leads and an increased <$$>revenue.
<Read this case study> to learn in detail how <company> rose to the top of Google rankings and discover how you can also increase your subscriber base and revenue.
Enjoy your digital marketing journey!
Most sincerely,
<Name>
If you’re a start-up and don’t have an interesting case study to share, you could introduce yourself and your product/service. You can even make a soft offer at this point, or wait for the next email in which to make a hard sell.
Email #3: Use a powerful call-to-action
By now, you’ve gone through the preliminaries and are ready to make a hard sell. You make a direct offer and list the benefits of your product/service. It helps if you let your audience know that you understand their pain point or problems and how your product/service will solve this. This shows them the value of your offering.
It should:
· Be crisp and direct
· Focus on the benefits for customers
· Make a direct offer
· Have social proof like testimonials, reviews (optional, but recommended)
· Contain links to your landing page
It should not:
· Be extensive and long
Here’s an example:
Hi <name>,
Creating great website content but not seeing any improvement in sales?
There could be various reasons, but the most important one is that your website is not being ‘seen’ – by Google, and by your audiences. But don’t worry, it can be easily fixed with a personalized SEO and social media strategy.
If you’d like to get your website back on track so that your audience – and your business grows, we could meet over coffee and croissants for a private strategy session. You can be completely open about your digital marketing challenges and business goals, and at the end of this 2-hour session, you will leave with valuable insights, actionable recommendations, and a clearer vision.
You can <get in touch for a strategy session> and then decide whether you want further assistance in your business’s digital transformation.
Most sincerely,
<Name>
CoSchedule recommends Tuesday and Thursday as the best days to send these emails. The best times of day to send them was determined as 6am, 10am, 2pm and 8pm. However, you can test your emails too, for the best days and time to send.
It may seem time-consuming to build an email sales funnel that converts. But the trick is to create one, and keep making small adjustments in line with what works and what doesn’t.
At Them You & Me, we speak friendly digital and assist with the digital transformation of your business. If you’d like to discuss how to build an email sales funnel for your business, or any digital marketing challenges you may have, give us a call.
To know about what we do and the services we offer, please visit our website.
*Please consider our content as recommendations and not concepts to apply as is, without questioning it. Every business is unique, so find the solution and strategy that works especially for you. You may keep what you need and disregard what you don’t.
