How to create automated e-mail campaigns
Thanks for joining us for the second part of this series about e-mail campaigns! If you haven’t already read part 1 of the series, be sure to check it out. In part 1 (Boosting Your Business with Automated E-mail Campaigns), we explored the purpose of e-mail campaigns, and the difference between nurture e-mail campaigns and sales e-mail campaigns. In this post, we’ll examine the different types of campaigns a little further, and discuss how to create e-mail campaigns.
The goal of automated e-mail campaigns
The goal of automated e-mail campaigns is to remind your customers that you exist and can help them. They’ve already downloaded your lead generator in exchange for their e-mail address. By doing so, they’ve shown interest in your company, but most likely have not yet purchased your product or service.
An automated e-mail campaign automatically reaches out to customers after they’ve offered you their e-mail address. It is a prewritten chain of e-mails that begin when a person is added to your list. Basically, once your campaign is set up, you won’t really even need to touch it.
Nurture e-mail campaigns
Remember, nurture e-mails nurture your relationship with your clients. These ongoing e-mail campaigns are sometimes called drip campaigns, because they drip information to your clients before they purchase. Nurture e-mails give them the exposure to your product that they’ll need in order to be confident enough to buy.
What should a nurture e-mail accomplish?
In the next section, we will talk about some ideas for nurture e-mails. First, though, let’s look at what a nurture e-mail should accomplish.
- Position yourself as the client’s guide. You are here to solve your customer’s problem. Speak to the problem, and offer a solution to that problem. What information, tips, or products do you have that can help them?
- Give them value. Offer something of substance in your e-mail, like an idea, tip, or other helpful information.
- Point customers to your website. They’ve already visited your website and downloaded your lead generator. Bring them back to your website now that they’ve shown interest and become more exposed to your product. This time, they might be ready to buy.
Ideas for nurture e-mail campaigns
Not sure how to create e-mail campaigns? Here are some ideas for what to include in your nurture e-mails.
- Weekly tips. This could be something consistent, like a weekly recipe or an idea to improve your workout routine. Alternatively, you could switch it up each week. What do your clients need help with? What information could you offer that would make their daily life smoother, easier, or quicker?
- Weekly announcements. What’s new in your world this week? Do you have a workshop coming up? A new blog post coming out? If you make podcasts, what will this week’s episode be on?
The options are virtually endless when it comes to nurture campaigns. Just be sure to offer value, and offer to solve your customer’s problem. While nurture e-mail campaigns do not specifically ask for the sale, it’s a good idea to at least mention your product or service in your e-mail. Need more ideas? Check out the list below. Once you get started, you may find that the ideas just keep coming. Make a list, and start writing those e-mails. Schedule them out for the next few months or year, so that your customers get a nice drip of information from you on a regular basis.
More ideas for nurture e-mails:
- Vacation destination ideas
- Tips for keeping your house clean
- Social media tips
- Time management techniques
- Snack ideas for kids
- Tips for dog training
- Weekly calendar
- New products or services
- Weekly specials
- How-to videos
If you’ve already made a list of lead generators but didn’t make lead generators out of all of them, the rest may make great ideas for e-mail campaigns.
Sales e-mail campaigns
You’ve been adding value and creating trust with your customers through your nurture e-mail campaign. Now, it’s time to ask your readers for the sale. Sales e-mail campaigns are not shy about offering your product or service and asking the reader to take action. This is the time when you go all in, whether your customer accepts or rejects your offer. You’ll certainly be rejected quite a bit, but don’t let this stop you. Remember, though you certainly want to be kind, friendly, and helpful, this is a business relationship.
Tips for writing your sales e-mail campaign
- Focus on one product or service. Typically, it’s best to focus on one thing in your sales campaign. This tends to be less confusing for customers. If you have different products and services that you offer, you can offer these in separate emails.
- Discuss the problem your product solves. This can be short and sweet, but be sure to remind the reader why they should buy your product. How is it going to make their life better?
- Include a call to action. Remember, this is your chance to ask for the sale. The primary focus is to challenge customers to place an order. If you really believe in your product, you should be able to boldly ask for the sale, trusting that your product will actually help the client. Be bold in asking them to “buy now”, “schedule an appointment today”, or “take advantage of this deal”.
- Create a sense of urgency. Offer a deal or an opportunity that won’t last forever. Give your clients a short window of time in which to buy. If the deal will always be there, they won’t be as motivated to buy.
Starting your e-mail campaign
As we discussed in our previous post, a good rule of thumb is to send about one e-mail per week. Consider sending three nurture e-mails for every one sales e-mail. However, neither of these are hard and fast rules. Use your judgment and be creative.
What software should you use?
Let us know how it goes!
We hope this post was helpful in showing you how to create e-mail campaigns. If you’ve already started your automated e-mail campaigns, let us know how it’s going! We’d love to hear from you.
At Lifedge, we are continually working to help our customers succeed in digital marketing. Our team at Lifedge is a small group of professionals who help customers with everything from website creation, to graphic design, to social media management, and much more. Check out our marketing services to see how we can help you achieve your marketing goals and succeed online.
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