What do you do with your email clients after they sign on and receive your welcoming sequence?
What about the next months – years -as you go along? Not all of them even open your emails – let alone purchase from you. Don’t be offended by that. People are busy and they receive so many emails.
Yet there are ways to continue to nurture your list so that you will keep them coming back. And maybe even the open-less customers will wake up and respond.
When planning my approach, I always think about my reaction to others’ emails. There are some which I hadn’t opened ever. Maybe I was too busy. Or maybe the subject matter didn’t seem to blend with my projects. Then one day I was working on something and their email seemed to hit the spot. I opened, clicked, and bought – after many months of unopened emails.
I remember one marketer who had a temper tantrum one day and blasted his list for not opening his emails. Oops! That is not the approach you want to take. You must realize that your people are busy and respect their decision to open or not at any given moment.
There are better ways to encourage your clients to open, click, and buy from you.
So let’s look at a few of these ways to nurture your leads.
Lead nurturing is about keeping up with your leads or potential clients and ensuring they don’t go “cold” or unsubscribe. To do this, you must send information beyond sales or promotional content. You must give them information and encouragement to bolster their morale and their business.
In return, this improves your return on investment, your credibility, and your reputation as a business.
Interestingly, companies have reported that lead nurturing campaigns make them the most revenue. In other words, without nurturing their leads, they likely wouldn’t have a successful business today.
So let’s look at five strategies…
Send Out a Weekly Educational Series
Send about one to two weekly emails about how to use your products, services, or anything related to the industry or the problem you solve for your audience. This establishes your authority in the industry and shows your readers that your products or services are right for them.
Anyone doing business online is always looking for better ways to do business. When you provide this free information, your emails will increase in value for them.
Invite Your Customers to Other Platforms
Send a reminder to let your readers know that they can find you on other platforms as well. This allows you to engage more with your audience and opens more doors to market them. It also provides you more information on your audience behaviors to further improve your content and communication methods.
Send “Thank you” Emails
Don’t forget to recognize their participation or purchase. To establish a deeper connection, send a “thank you” message any time they join your campaign or purchase a product.
Ask Questions and Solicit Personalized Feedback
Encourage your readers to reply, ask questions or provide feedback to improve your process. Not only does this provide you direct areas to improve upon, but it also shows your readers that you value their options and are truly there to help.
Oh, and when they reply, read their responses. Be sure to follow through!
Segment By Buyer Stage or Persona
Be sure to segment your readers depending on what stage of the buying process they are in. Those throughout the funnel should be getting different material depending on their stage.
For example, those at the top of the funnel should receive a welcome email and onboarding sequence.
People in the middle should get educational materials and encouragement to continue.
Finally, your long-term customers receive more promotions along with the nurturing emails. The more you segment and refine your list, the better you will meet their needs, and the better your conversions will be.
The potential for you to increase your revenue is incredible if you pay close attention to lead nurturing.
Lead nurturing improves your relationships with your customers and can dramatically increase your return on investment. Sending thank-you’s, educational material, encouragement and answers to feedback can lead to a growing, prosperous list.
And that means more friends and more money!
