An email funnel is a highly effective marketing tool when it comes to generating sales. But as simple as it sounds, there are some very basic questions that you need to ask yourself before you opt for a funnel strategy.
Questions such as;
- What number of emails needs to be sent out?
- What should be the content of these emails?
- Should there be various emails for various sets of an audience?
- How to generate conversions from the leads?
Although there are numerous funnel emails that can be crafted and sent out depending upon the nature of a business and the audience segment, the following 5 types of emails are considered essential when it comes to email funnel marketing.
1. Segmentation
The audience lists can be segmented into multiple groups in order to send out more precise messages depending upon the awareness level of receivers about your product/ service/ solution.
The segments can be based upon;
Geographics
Demographics
Psychographics
Behaviour patterns
So you might be thinking, where do you find/ gather the useable data to segregate your audience into groups?
Basic information, such as geographic and demographics, can be gathered through an initial form that your contacts will be requested to fill when they opt-in.
Behavioural patterns can be tracked keeping in sight how the audience interacts with your emails (what links they click on) and website (e.g., filling and then abandoning a buying cart/basket).
You can further segregate people based on what they say they are interested in. This can easily be set up by sending out emails with clickable buttons. When they click one of the buttons they are tagged with ‘Interested in [Product/Service]’.
2. Limited Time Offers
The fear of losing or missing out (FOMO) on an opportunity often leads people to act differently. Emails using copies like “20% discount until midnight” or “First 50 customers will get a free gift voucher” can derive your contacts to make a purchase, which they otherwise might not, because they think they might lose this opportunity if they won’t take immediate action.
“Any kind of “Booster” like scarcity or discounts only work if there is an interest in the product, to begin with. No use dangling a carrot if your lead doesn’t want a carrot.”- Jordie van Rijn
3. Personalised Solution
When you try to sell something, one of the first questions that your audience tends to ask themselves is, “would this work for me?” especially when their email inboxes are bombarded with emails claiming to offer solutions to all of their problems.
Your job is to make your audience believe that your product / service offers unique solutions well suited for their personality. Consider the following example:
You are offering an SEO course. Your potential customer thinks that this course might be great but wouldn’t work for them because they have no prior knowledge of digital marketing. How would you write convincing copy for them? Probably, the following copy would work for everyone but not for someone with a fear of having no prior knowledge in the area.
“Improve the online visibility of your business by learning the fundamentals of SEO in 10 days”
However, adding a few personalised words at the end can make this copy convincing for someone who believes they are unique as they have no prior knowledge of digital marketing.
“Improve your business’s online visibility by learning the fundamentals of SEO in 10 days, even if you are new to digital marketing”
4. Paint a Future for your Audience
“The mind thinks in pictures, you know. One good illustration is worth a thousand words. But one clear picture built up in the reader’s mind by your words is worth a thousand drawings, for the reader colours that picture with his own imagination, which is more potent than all the brushes of all the world’s artists.” – Robert Collier
Whether you are selling a product, a service or a solution, you have one goal i.e. to help your customers become a better version of themselves, by using what you have to offer. But how do you make your contacts believe that your product adds value to them or their lives?
You can do this by painting a promising and positive future for them. You can split this into three steps;
– Provide an immediate improvement
– Talk about improvement over one month
– Describe improvement in six months or so.
5. What if you don’t make a sale?
You can find yourself asking this question if you follow all the basic funnel techniques but your contact doesn’t make a purchase in the end. Don’t worry; even if you were unable to make a conversion, you still have gathered valuable data about the potential customer. You can use this information to improve your funnel for other prospects.
You can find yourself asking this question if you follow all the basic funnel techniques but your contact doesn’t make a purchase in the end. Don’t worry; even if you were unable to make a conversion, you still have gathered valuable data about the potential customer. You can use this information to improve your funnel for other prospects.
Asking yourself the following questions can help you improve your funnel for the next potential customer:
- Are there any concerns that you aren’t addressing?
- Are your scripts not convincing enough?
- Is your solution missing something that a potential customer was looking for?
There are two ways to answer these questions;
(i) Experimenting
(ii) Asking your contacts
Experimenting can not only consume more time, but it also won’t offer definitive answers. It can be much more rewarding to directly ask your customers why they didn’t make the purchase whilst reassuring them that you respect their decision and are asking solely for improving their experience.
Conclusion
Email funnels are a great way to engage customers whilst leading them to make a purchase. Conversions that help your business get new customers ultimately helps you generate more sales and increase revenue. This can be done without adding to the amount of work you do. Regardless of the technology being used, you can design a convincing funnel that not only engages your contacts but also helps you convert them into customers.
We’d certainly recommend getting starting with the basics of funnel marketing so you can take advantage of these opportunities.
