by Suellen | Email Marketing, Online Success
Okay, you are sending out an impressive offer with your emails.
Did you know that, even with a terrific offer, only about two percent of sales are made on the first initial contact?
This means those who use email marketing successfully see most of their profits through their follow-up strategies. If you don’t follow up with your subscribers after the initial contact, you are not using email marketing correctly or to its fullest potential.
Every great sales person knows that you have to reach out and communicate with a person more than once to grab their attention and hook their interest.
Here is an interesting statistic: research shows that nearly eighty percent of sales come from the fifth contact, which jumps significantly compared to the two to ten percent of sales you see from the first to the fourth follow-up.
Meaning you shouldn’t be the one to opt-out or give up; leave that up to the readers and implement these four follow-up strategies to improve your email marketing sales:
Say Thank You and Ask for Feedback (more…)
by Suellen | Email Marketing, Online Success
Are they looking at your stuff? When you have a great offer, are they wanting to see it?
In other words, are they clicking on the links in your emails and going to your site to buy your products? Or at least taking a look at your products?
This is called a click-through rate, and it needs to be monitored. Your click-through rate describes the percentage of subscribers who see the links and click the links within your email after they have opened them. This rate allows you to determine how effective your email content is.
Many email providers determine this rate for you, but it’s good to know what it means. And how to figure it for yourself.
To determine your click-through rate, you need to take the number of links clicked and divide it by the number of emails delivered. Then times it by one hundred to get the correct percentage. For example, say you sent four hundred emails and noticed around twenty of them have opened and clicked the link inside.
The formula would break down as follows:
(Link Clicks / Number of Emails Sent) x 100 = Click-Through Rate
(20/400) x 100 =
0.05 x 100 = 5%
The higher the click-through rate, the higher your effectiveness
Let’s talk about five proven ways to increase your email click-through rate:
Keep Email’s Organized, Clear, and Direct
Your emails should be short and direct but with enough information to get your point across and provide value to your subscribers. For example, instead of providing your full blog in the email, provide a link for them to read the rest.
Emails should be used as a summary or overview. The longer they are, the more likely your readers will get disinterested and click off the email. Make sure each email you send has one main objective. This way, your readers don’t get distracted or confused on what direction they need to take next.
Use List Segmentation
We’ve talked about this earlier.
Personalized and targeted content is key to increasing your open and click-through rates. This is because list segmentation helps you organize and divide your customers in a way that makes it easier to communicate with them.
Segmentation involves dividing your list according to characteristics or interests. Demographics, worldviews, and professions are some areas you might want to consider when you are dividing your list.
The idea is to make sure only those truly interested will receive the content, improving your conversions and not wasting their time.
Make it Smart Phone Friendly
Nearly eighty-four percent of those who use a smartphone have reported it as being their primary tool for checking email. This means if your email is not mobile-friendly, you are likely missing out on many opportunities for your subscribers to opt-in and click-through.
If the process is frustrating, they won’t want to participate.
Add Social Sharing
You can increase your click-through rate by as much as thirty percent, according to an Econsultancy report, by adding three or more social sharing options.
Every email you send may not be useful to your readers, but that doesn’t mean they don’t know a friend, loved one, or coworker who could use the information instead.
Enhance your Call-To-Action
Use one obvious call-to-action through your email sequence. Some people make it the first and last thing they see so customers find it easy to click through.
All of us have received emails which were all over the place with info and ideas. Sometimes they have been very informative, but there would be no clear direction about what we would find if we clicked a link. So we haven’t clicked the link.
So be clear and direct. That’s when you’ll find greater participation in your projects.
There you have it. Five ways to improve your click-through rates.
Remember: Monitoring this aspect of your email projects will definitely improve your effectiveness. And improve your bottom line.
We can do this!!
by Suellen | Email Marketing, Online Success
Six Secrets to Creating the Perfect Email Funnels
Email marketing has by far one of the largest returns on investment compared to other forms of marketing. However, that doesn’t mean it is straight forward nor will you see results just because you have a campaign set up. Like most things in life, there are important rules to follow to get to success.
Here are six secrets to creating a powerful email marketing funnel:
Lead With Your Goals in Mind
Before you develop any content, you need to clarify your marketing goals. For example, are you looking for more exposure to increase your sales? Are you hoping to educate your audience? Or both?
As you can see, these are important questions. Answering these and similar ones can lead you to the type of information you need to create. Also, how you can develop the right calls-to-action to see proper results.
Add Readers to Multiple Sequences and Segments
Remember, your readers can be on different journeys. Some will be brand new, and others will be avid users of your products. Meaning they shouldn’t be on the same email sequences or segments.
Likewise, if you have multiple products, they may not all be interested, making segmentation important. Welcome emails, abandon carts, or re-engagement emails are a few different examples.
In my case, some of my people are writers and want to improve their skills. Others are primarily interested in the income they will need to continue their blogging. Thus, they are more interested i affiliate marketing.
So you can see that to be more effective, I should be sending out different emails to address the different needs and desires of my audiences.
You can evaluate your audience. What do they want and need? That’s how you can segment them. If you are not certain about segmenting your emails, GetResponse has excellent training videos to improve your skills.
Keep Your Content Funnels Varied
In other words, don’t just sell to your readers. Make sure there is a mix of value, promotional and fun. If all you do is sell, sell, sell, your audience is more likely to be turned off and eventually unsubscribe to your email campaign.
The best policy is to lead with generosity. You don’t need to make a sale after every email you send. Providing value without anything in monetary return is often the best way to see success.
This is what establishes your credibility, trust, and awareness as a brand. Eventually these work together to bring you more influence and more profits.
Take Advantage of Your Titles
Titles are the most important part of the funnel. Sure, you need their email address. Yet just having their address and sending them emails doesn’t mean they will read them.
So you still need to capture their attention, and your titles and subject lines will do that.
A special tip here is to create more than one subject title and test them on different readers.
So Test Your Funnels
We’ve talked about testing several items. Open rates for certain times, etc. One of the most important is the subject line (title) you share.
HubSpot’s “Ultimate List of Marketing Statistics for 2021” report stated, that nearly 47% of marketers test different titles to see which ones perform the best.
Some key aspects for successful titles include clarity, urgency, curiosity, and relevance. In other words, make sure they know what they will get but don’t give too much away.
Then be sure that the email you present to them satisfies the expectations of the title.
Focus on Retention of Your Customers.
You got the sale, but that doesn’t mean the work is over. You must further nurture and inspire your customers to keep them interested and coming back for more. One sale won’t lead to sustainability.
So there we have Six Secrets for greater productivity in your email campaigns.
Be sure you get the results you need from your email marketing campaign by following these six secrets to creating a powerful email marketing funnel.
As long as you have the secrets, take action, and continue, you will see the results.
Sign up for this 30 Day Email Marketing Challenge Here.
by Suellen | Email Marketing, Meeting the Challenges, Online Success
As you know, I’m a writer, and love to write about inspirational topics.
So when I first started writing blog posts and emails, I would write – and that would be it. I had a sidebar with some offers – just a few – because I definitely didn’t want to be “spammy,”
And even though I spent quite a bit on training, my endeavor was costing me. Big time. Certainly not making much money.
Then one day i came to my senses and realized that I wasn’t going to ever make much money with my blog if I didn’t have anything to sell. (What was I expecting? Donations?)…
So I timidly dipped my toe into a few things. Bundle sales. A few offers. A little cash rolled in, but still not a lot.
Well several years have passed and I am much bolder now. In fact, this year my goal is to increase my boldness even more.
I would like to make money through several streams so that I can still offer a lot of free inspirational content. I want to impact lives.
And make money.
And help others do the same. Impact lives and make money.
So here’s the start.
Email marketing is the foundation of every successful online business I know. By mastering the art and the science of email mastery, you and I can increase our income many times over.
The key is learning to create effective email funnels, which will inspire our audiences enough for them to purchase or sign up for our products. (If you don’t exactly understand the concept, just hang on. We will explain).
In the next few blog posts, we are going to dig down deep into these funnels so that we can master them and optimize their effectiveness.
So here we go. How does this work? Just as a funnel can add oil to your car engine, online funnels can add people to your email list or cash to your bank account.
The first funnel we deal with is the sign up for your email. There is an opt-in which promises something in exchange for the email address. Once you have their information, you move to the next type of funnel. Through well-timed and targeted emails, you can offer products, courses, and affiliate sales.
These emails should be full of information to establish your authority and trust further.
Next you can lead your readers right out of the funnel to your landing page, and hopefully turn them into brand-new customers. Lastly, the funnel repeats, or the reader is thrown into a new funnel to further continue the process in the hopes of a repeat purchase.
The email marketing funnel never truly ends, as you should always be nurturing your readers and create new and interesting sequences to establish their loyalty.
So how can you make your email funnels powerful?
1. They Promise a Solution to a Problem
Your audience reads your emails because you provide some value for them. You solve a problem in the form of entertainment, education, comedy, or more. It all depends on your niche and why you are starting an email funnel campaign in the first place.
2. They Are Personal
While you may be sending the same email to many readers, that is not how they see it. It goes directly into their personal email, and frequently they are reading it alone. Even better, it is personalized to them. Making them feel special, important, and connected with your brand. Allowing you to provide more value and then more easily convert them into paying customers.
3. They Create Brand Awareness, Trust, and Credibility
Emails are another great way to provide your audience education and resources, further increasing your brand awareness, trust, and credibility. The more you communicate to your audience, the more they get to know you and trust your authority, especially through quality content that solves a problem.
As you can see, if you want to build a loyal audience while turning them into paying customers, then email marketing funnels are a must. In fact, if you are not convinced yet, then it’s important to let you know that many businesses often see a return of forty-eight dollars for every one dollar they spend on email marketing — making it by far one of the most affordable and easiest ways to market and boost your sales.
For a few weeks we will be taking steps to master email funnels, I hope that you will join us.
The next post will include Four Keys to Mastering Funnels.
In the meantime, Forever Upward!
P.S. If you want to participate in our 30 Day List Building Challenge, you can sign up Here.
P.S. If you want an Email provider which is affordable, and which has great service, and great training, go Here: Get Response is my preference.
by Suellen | Meeting the Challenges, Online Success
Most entrepreneurs know that planning is essential for a successful business. If you have a brick and mortar store or if you have a professional business, the need for planning is obvious. Ordering the inventory and promoting it. Generating client appointments. And so forth.
Somehow, home businesses can start sliding in this area. The relaxed atmosphere can hinder the intentional aspect of business. Then before you know it, you find yourself not accomplishing what you wish for.
Remember the saying, If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up some place else.
So this year I plan to change that. I want to set really solid goals, and then make a plan to see them through. Finally I want to accomplish much more than ever. Inspire more people. And make more money.
Do you set aside time regularly to plan what you want to do in your business? If it’s not something you currently do, I strongly encourage you to embrace it this year.
Let’s start off by taking a look at why business planning is “the secret” to success. There are a few different factors that come into play here.
The first is efficiency. When you have a clear plan, you can focus on what’s most important. Instead of spending time trying to figure out what you should be working on, what pieces of the puzzle are missing from your product funnel, or what you need to do to break through to the next income level, you know exactly what needs to come next.
You’ve thought it through – and you’ve made your plans.
With a clear goal in mind and a plan for the year, it becomes easy to step back to create effective and efficient daily to-do lists. Work on what needs to get done each day and you will reach your goals.
Next, set big a goal for yourself, and work from there.This helps you to think outside the box.
If you don’t believe me, try it. Decide on a big income goal for the coming month. Write it down. Keep it in front of you.
Then get to work and start to notice what happens next.
You start to think of things that didn’t occur to you before.
You come up with creative ways to get more traffic.
You decide to run a fun promo that adds dollars to your bank account.
And when an important deadline comes up unexpectedly, your get-it-done attitude kicks in. Think back on that time in college when finals rolled around, or the last time your in-laws told you they would stop by later in the day. You got very creative about studying and cleaning respectively.
Last but not least, let’s talk about the subconscious. So far we’ve been focused on what we are actively doing to make progress by making a plan, setting goals and following through.
There’s another dimension to all this and that’s what’s going on in our subconscious mind. While we are busy plowing through our to-do list, cooking dinner for the family, and even sleeping, our subconscious mind is working towards those goals as well.
In short, setting goals and making a plan to reach them are real keys to the success you want so much. That means you end up with more money for yourself and your loved ones while spending less time slaving away at your desk.
So my goal is to reach many more people this year. There are many who need help with their blogs, their books, and their speaking engagements, and I want to help them.
I also want to supplement my writing income so that I can share my Christian messages freely.
My first plan is to take time analyzing and implementing my email practices. I want to grow my list and to increase my email effectiveness.
I would love to have you join me. It’s free.
You can sign up Here.
