by Suellen | Email Marketing, Online Success
Once you have people signed up to your list, you want to treat them with great respect. Let them know how much you appreciate them.
One way to do this is through lead nurturing email campaigns. These are personalized and automated emails sent to subscribers throughout their journey with your business.
These emails provide value to your customers – and at the same time, maximize the potential of your list and ensure its sustainability.
It’s about not neglecting the leads you worked so hard to get in the first place. Statistics show that it costs a lot more time and money to find new leads than to nurture those you already have.
Here are a few tips for creating lead nurturing email campaigns:
Start With a Welcome Email Series
The moment someone opts in, you should thank them and introduce yourself. This should provide a basic overview of your values and your business goals. You don’t want to start with a long, drawn-out email. This would overwhelm them.
This is also a great moment to encourage your customers to reply by asking them a few questions about themselves and what kind of problems they are dealing with. Make the readers feel like they made the right decision to opt-in. Let them know that you are interested in them and their success.
Create Weekly and Monthly Newsletters or Updates
Keep your readers up-to-date on trending topics, news, and updates within your business and industry.
Please don’t use these messages to sell. Instead, use them to educate and get your readers more engaged in other communities such as your Facebook Group. Tell your audience about new products or services you are working on and any additional valuable information they can use.
When you continue to provide value to your customers, they will want to stay in touch.
Send Segmented Promotional and Educational Campaigns
Use birthdays, anniversaries, and other important dates and information to your advantage.
List segmentation allows you to send more personalized messages and education to those who care about your content. It also allows you to tailor and target your message better, as no two readers will be the same or on the same buyers’ journey.
This segmentation requires a little extra effort, but the time spent is worth it.
Always include a Follow-up and Way to Reply or Engage
Send emails that ask for some feedback and a way to engage further or reengage your subscribers.
Invite them to social media pages or tell them to reply to the email. The replies you get can ensure the content you create is valuable and solves their problem.
So there you have four tips for establishing your relationship with your list members.
One of the biggest mistakes marketers make is to have people sign up on their email list – and then either sell, sell, sell, or ignore them entirely.
Let’s make it our purpose to treat our list with respect. We want to give them something of value – on a continuing basis.
As we do that, these “names” become friends and many of them will become partners on our marketing journey.
by Suellen | Email Marketing, Online Success
I think back to when I first started online.
I had written my first book and “they” told me I needed a website and needed to be active online. So I got my first very amateurish site up, and thought I was doing great.
About this time, one of the marketers I had signed with sent an email advertising a Social Media Summit – where I could learn from the experts. It included 6 weeks of biweekly sessions with about 17 experts – and I mean, experts. Cocky at the moment, I thought, sure I’ll sign up for that.
It was great, and I did learn a lot.
However, it was like I had just mastered my Multiplication Tables and was thrown into an Advanced Calculus class. Everyone was throwing out terms and jargon which meant nothing to me. The others understood each other, and they would be talking back and forth, obviously learning from each other.
Much of the time, I had no idea what they were talking about.
I made a promise to myself. I was never going to “assume” that my people knew things about the internet. Or websites. Or writing. Or blogging. Or any of the things I wanted to share.
I was going to explain.
So here goes. Today I want to share some of the email marketing terms we throw around. Even if you know it all, you might want to have a refresher.
Email Marketing: This applies to the science – and art – of using email to market your products or yourself. As you send emails to people, they will get to know you. You want to provide good information – not just sell, sell, sell. Yet there can be some links for them to go to your blog or your offers. That’s how you sell.
Content: Content refers to written word, photos, videos, or speech which you provide to your audience. Your blog is content. So is your podcast. Or your YouTube offering. Also the messages you send in your emails are considered content. (And none other than Bill Gates said that Content is King).
Email List: Your email list is the group of people who have signed up to receive emails from you. Many people say that your list is your most valuable business asset. It’s like they have raised their hand saying, “Yes. I want to hear from you.” Treat them well, and they will continue to be your friends. Note: It’s not a good idea to purchase a list. Reputable email providers require that your list be made up of people who have requested something from you. Otherwise, you could be accused of sending spam.
Email Provider: The company which handles your emails. There are some really great providers which allow you to send and schedule emails and segment your lists. Some even have a Landing Page service and Webinar option. I love GetResponse. I have tried several services and GetResponse is my favorite. They have lots of great services, super training, and unbeatable customer service.
List Segmentation: Some providers allow you to tag the names on your list so that they will receive only certain emails. But not others. This really helps to target your audience with what works for them.
Autoresponder: An autoresponder is an amazing tool. You can set up a series of emails and schedule them to go out on the time frame you choose. For instance, when they first sign up, there can be a welcoming email – and then a progression of emails sent out every day or two (as you set it up) automatically. This can run indefinitely, as you choose.
Funnel: The funnel is the complete system you set up to go out automatically. It’s on your autoresponder and goes out even when you sleep. From the signing up for your email to a few emails you may send and then finally for a purchase you have set up. You will have many funnels as you grow. For new customers and for each offer you set up.
Link: A link is a web address you put into your emails. When your readers click on this address, they are sent to your offer, a blog post, or such.
Opt-In: An opt-in is your signup form for email. You can have one designed by your provider, or you can design your own at your website. Often this will include a free offer in exchange for their email address.
Double Opt-in: A double opt-in means that when someone signs up for your email, the first email they receive is a confirmation that they really want to receive your emails. There is a link to click, verifying that they really want to sign up. (This option is to ensure that they aren’t receiving spam).
Landing Page: A landing page is an opt-in page or a product page which includes your signup form or a button to download a product. The way this works is you have a link from social media or your website with an offer. An ebook, a tip sheet, or such. When they click the link, then they are sent to the signup page. (Landing pages work especially well with social media. You don’t have to pay for an ad; you just have a link).
Thank You Page: The thank you page is after the signup or click for an offer. You thank the customer and include the download button to access the offer.
Download: Most of your products and offers will be accessed as a download. Your offers will be housed on a cloud platform and the download button is set up with a link to that product. (I use Amazon cloud services. Aws.amazon.com. They do a great job, and it’s an inexpensive service unless your volume is huge).
Lead Generation: You want to find places to put your offer. Lead generation refers to the task of looking for prospects. You can put your offers on social media, in blogs, on business cards, or many other places.To grow your list, you need to find new leads.”
Open Rate: This refers to the percentage of people who open your emails when you send them. Don’t worry if your open rate seems low. When I first started, I was expecting a 95% open rate. That’s not realistic. many people say that 20% is a good rate. People are busy and they don’t open all of their emails.
Click-through Rate: This is a percentage of people who click on the links in your emails. This rate is much smaller tan those who open. 10%-15% is a super rate.
Conversion Rate: This is the percentage of people who actually buy, Usually a very small percent will actually purchase. That’s why you need a larger list.
These three percentages: open, click-through, and conversion are kept by your email provider. They are the metrics which you observe and try to improve to be more effective – and make more money.
Email Audit: An email audit is a good hard look at your email campaigns to see what is working and what isn’t. if nobody or only a few are signing up for an offer, then you will want to notice why. If people are opening and not clicking on your offers, ask yourself why.
This 30 Challenge we have been doing is to look at our emails and decide how to improve. How do we grow our list? How do we make better offers and put them in better places online? How do we improve our emails? The Topics? The Titles?
The goal is to end this 30 period with a much greater understanding of ur email marketing plan. And more effective email campaigns.
Remember, we an do this!
To sign up for the 30 Day Email Challenge, you can go Here.
by Suellen | Meeting the Challenges, Vision and Goals
Do you pray over your business? I do.
In fact, I often start my morning with an hour or more of spending time with God. Praying, listening, and reading the Bible.
I consider him to be the CEO of my business. I’m the COO. He’s the boss. I just carry out His plans.
So what difference does this make?
First, spending this time helps me stay focused on the right priorities. My number one priority is to serve my customers – helping them to achieve their goals. I want to offer products and services which bless them abundantly.
Second, this special time helps me gain clarity. Often as I pray, the Holy Spirit gives me new ideas and shows me where I’m not being as productive. What to pick up and what to put down. With clarity, I can approach the day with a clear picture of what I want to accomplish.
Third, praying gives me confidence. I know that I have God’s hand on my business and He is empowering me to achieve His goals. So I know that I will be successful in what I am doing because He is with me in the process.
So how about you? Do you pray over your business?
I would love to hear your thoughts about this.
by Suellen | Email Marketing, Online Success
It’s time to talk about “red flags” in your email funnels.
Now here is where the rubber meets the road. And I have to admit, this is not my favorite part. But it’s necessary to take notice, if you want to have productive emails.
To perfect your email marketing funnels, you need to be aware of certain factors that hinder your success. Many red flags are obvious if you just know where to look. Thankfully these red flags have plenty of solutions to them as well.
Here are five common email funnel red flags we need to notice.
Low Open Rate.
While this is not a metric you usually want to use on its own, a low open rate at least indicates that your subscribers are not reading your content.
This could mean several things. It could mean that your emails aren’t being delivered as they should. Or maybe your subject lines aren’t grabbing their attention. Or you are sending them at the wrong time.
Take notice of these three things. A good internet provider (such as GetResponse) will show statistics on all of these items so that you can see how you are doing.
Try different subject lines. Also try sending the emails at different times.Tweaking here and there can produce better results.
However, a high open-rate will not always translate to success, so you should always track other metrics to measure your results more accurately—for example, a high open-rate with a low click-through rate.
High Open Rate with Low Click-Through Rate
This means you are on the right track as your readers are interested, but something about the product you are advertising is off. Maybe the price is too high, or it doesn’t actually solve their problem.
High Click-Through Rate with Low Conversions
Again, this can be associated with the same problem presented above. The readers are clearly enjoying the content as they click through; however, you cannot make the final conversion.
This could indicate a disconnect in your landing page from your email. Your email had enough detail to persuade them to click on the landing page; however, the expectations were not set.
Be sure you don’t have any misleading discounts and that your email and landing pages have similar expectations.
High Unsubscribe Rate
This can happen for a couple of common reasons. First, you are either marketing your opt-in copy or forms to the wrong people, sending out too many emails, or are developing copy that is not compelling enough or too spam-like for your audience.
Some marketers say that to solve this you need to keep your sequences short and direct and not send emails too often.
I have a different take on this. Of course, you don’t want your true customers to start unsubscribing. However, when people unsubscribe, I just think they aren’t my true customers. In fact I don’t want people on my list who are totally disinterested in my information.
So the idea is to know your target audience well, including how you can help them. Then you can develop the right content, products, and services to prevent a high unsubscribe rate.
Usually, your unsubscribe rate is not a problem if you start with your buyer personas in mind. There will always be a few, and you can’t worry about that.
Varying Unsubscribe Rates Per Sequence
You want to take notice of this one.
Some email sequences may be too long, too short, or seen as spam. Also, some customers may end up in the wrong sequence leading them to unsubscribe. (Thus you should be sure most of your readers are in more than one sequence).
Email marketing isn’t an exact science. You are working with many different people and many types of personalities. Don’t take it as an insult when people don’t open. don’t buy, or unsubscribe.
We notice these red flags so that we can increase our effectiveness. We continue to look for the right people and offer them an opt-in. Then we notice if they open, if they click, and if they buy.
Then we boldly and confidently try new things. We might land on a truly successful approach which will surprise us.
Successful email marketing will always require consistent reviewing and updating.
And the more we continue, the more successful we will become.
by Suellen | Email Marketing, Online Success, Success
Crafting the right Email funnels is an important marketing strategy to understand if you want to better communicate with your audience and to increase your profits. While it may be hard to believe, email marketing still out-performs social media by nearly forty percent. Not only does email marketing generate more revenue, but it is also more productive as it is three times faster.
Here are four easy steps to creating a high-converting email marketing funnel:
Step One: Find more customers and sign them up for email.
The first crucial step to creating a high-converting email funnel is to create brand awareness and find more customers. (This is often called Lead Generation). Focus on creating a process that draws in your target audience. Usually this is an offer with an opt-in form. Your offer of a free product is an incentive to get their information and start them down the email funnel. Once they opt-in, they’ll become a new subscriber and receive your hearty welcome email.
Step Two: Continue to send value-filled emails.
You will further build their interest with great content. Your emails will provide information and teach them about your products or services without focusing on promotions. This step is about building a stronger relationship with your customers to keep them around long-term. It allows you to form a deeper connection with your audience. Engaging content leads to more action.
Step Three: Content Persuasion
Once strong relationships are built with your readers, you want to persuade them further to make a certain decision. This is where the promotional content begins to flow into your sequences and your readers start to make purchases and become loyal customers.
In this step, be sure you always include an easy and obvious call-to-action, so your audience knows what to do. Your click-through rate depends on it.
Step Four: Engage and Follow Up
Nurturing your leads never stops. The step keeps going as is required to keep their interest and see more conversions. Even after your readers purchase, you want to follow up with them and keep them engaged.
Send thank you emails and invite them to other groups or platforms that teach them how to use your products or services even better. The more places and ways you can keep your audience engaged, the better and fewer chances for them to unsubscribe or become disinterested.
So there you have it.: your email funnel formula. Four steps to follow again and again. Sign up email customers, nurture them with a series of emails containing valuable information, offer them something to purchase, and continue to engage them for the follow up.
Following these steps ensures you have everything you need to create high-converting email funnels. A great marketing strategy for the highest return on your investment.
This costs little to nothing to get started, but can reap great rewards when you continue.
Forever Upward!
Suellen
P.S. If you want to know about a terrific email provider, you will want to check out Get Response. You can find them Here.
