Welcome new subscribers The first email you should send is a welcome email. And perhaps most importantly, what is the next step you can encourage subscribers to take toward a purchase? These are both ways to encourage subscribers to take the first step toward a purchase. Space your emails out over time When it’s time to get started with your email autoresponder list, the first thing you need to decide is how often you want to send them. This is particularly effective when launching a course, as most people will have questions about the course that they want to be answered before buying. By including an email autoresponder encouraging users to get a friend to sign up, you can increase the ROI of your email campaign without any massive changes. Personalize your emails with their name One of the biggest problems with an email autoresponder is that it can feel like an autoresponder. Every time a customer adds to a cart on your e-commerce site and leaves, it’s a sign that he or she is interested in buying. You might tell a story of how you started your business, or what it’s like to be an employee at your company. How will you increase sales with an email autoresponder sequence?
If you’re hoping to increase online sales, look no further than email.
While social media has been getting all the hype for the past few years, the simple truth is that email is the quiet giant doing most of the selling behind the scenes.
If you don’t believe me, just look at what other marketers have to say.
Recent data shows that 89% of decision-makers in B2C companies say that email is the most valuable piece of customer identification information they own.
The simple truth is that email is how modern business is done. It’s not going anywhere soon.
But there’s one game-changing tool that maximizes the effectiveness of any email marketing campaign: autoresponders.
Autoresponders are pre-programmed emails that your program delivers to clients in a certain time frame. You can design that system to extend for as along as you’d like.
It’s a phenomenal way to interact with clients and build sales, and I’ve found it hugely beneficial in my own business.
I spend lots of time making my website perform at peak efficiency to acquire emails, and my autoresponder picks up where the website leaves off.
Here are my top strategies for increasing sales using autoresponders.
1. Welcome new subscribers
The first email you should send is a welcome email. This is a basic tactic, and most companies already have a welcome email of some sort.
If you’re growing your email list quickly, you need to reach out to those new potential customers and explain what you’re all about as soon as possible.
But instead of something generic, focus on the unique needs of those new subscribers. What are they looking for? How you can you explain how your company can help?
And perhaps most importantly, what is the next step you can encourage subscribers to take toward a purchase?
E-commerce site Dormify knew they needed to welcome new customers. As a new company, they knew that email subscribers wouldn’t really understand what the company was all about.
To remedy that, they send an email welcoming new subscribers “to the fam.”
Dormify also included a few introductory calls to action. First, they included a 15% discount as a special welcome offer.
Second, they gave readers a free design plan as a special bonus. These are both ways to encourage subscribers to take the first step toward a purchase.
The results were clear. The new email campaign brought a 92% increase in email revenue through their e-commerce store.
Depending on your needs, however, you may want to start off more slowly. Instead of directly selling to the prospect, you may want to start by welcoming with rapport.
Social media management platform Buffer does a great job with this. Their welcome email focuses on customer service and provides a help email address and Twitter handle.
A friendly face and name leave the reader feeling like it’s an email from an old friend who’s eager to help them get set up.
But you’ll notice there’s a call to action, as well. Ultimately, Buffer wants the reader of this email to download their browser extension.
It’s a small ask, to be sure, but one that will provide users with additional ways to use the app and get used to its functionality. This might lead to an upgrade to a paid plan later on.
2. Space your emails out over time
When it’s time to get started with your email autoresponder list, the first thing you need to decide is how often you want to send them.
I recommend spacing them out over the course of a few days or even a few weeks.
Marketing consultant Peter Boyle writes on FunnelEnvy that you should have a minimum of nine emails, with every third email selling something.
This is a good framework to start with, though I also recommend you test to see if this works best for your industry and audience.
There are some conflicting opinions about how often you should send out your emails, but I recommend only sending one a day, with a few exceptions.
For example, Product Hunt has built a huge business by sending one email each day.
One of the reasons for the success of Product Hunt’s email campaign is that the one email builds a daily habit, according to Jimmy Daly on Vero.
But there may be times when you want to send more than one email in a day.
I’d recommend using this only when something is time-sensitive in hours or even minutes.
For example, if you’re going to close the launch of your course or launch a webinar, it may be a good idea to send an email in the morning and then another a few hours away.
Beware, however. Many subscribers may find this frequency too over-the-top and unsubscribe. Be sure you have a justified reason to send them so many emails!
3. Deliver a case study
It’s no surprise that a case study is one of my top recommendations. The truth is that case studies are one of the most powerful ways to sell anything.
When customers are looking to buy the product you offer, there are always doubts in their minds. Sometimes these are simple doubts and involve simple solutions, like the price.
But most of the time they are complex. People want to know if your product will work for them and their specific situation.
Since it’s impossible to predict every situation, you should use case studies instead.
This allows potential customers to put themselves in the mind of the case-study customer and envision success.
Even better, case studies work for both B2C and B2B companies. Structural manufacturing firm Strongwell struggled to manage every lead with their small sales team.
To handle all the requests, they created an email newsletter featuring case studies.
The newsletter served as a way to nurture leads, and it provided an opportunity for outreach if the subscribers were interested in purchasing.
Their lead nurturing campaign was the best-performing email campaign they had ever run.
It allowed Strongwell to pull in a $30,000 project from the funnel they had created with email automation.
Even if you aren’t directly selling anything, you can use case studies to inspire your email subscribers.
Design app Canva does a great job with frequent case studies in their email marketing. They use big-name brands like Starbucks and Oreo to inspire designers for smaller projects.
Using a case study in your email autoresponder is one of the smartest moves you can make to sell more.
4. Offer a quick tip
One of the quickest ways to get customer buy-in is a quick tip.
I know from personal experience that people are much more likely to get started with something small than a huge task they need to complete.
Instead of sending an “Ultimate Guide” to your product, focus on the first few steps that will give your subscribers the best results for small tasks.
Early in its email welcome sequence, video hosting and analytics service Wistia sends an email with the subject “A quick tip for 18% more video plays.”
The email explains a basic feature of the software, and it encourages new users to try it out.
Because the return is so large (18% more video plays!) and the solution is so simple (just customize the player), a lot of users are happy to experiment.
It’s a simple way to get people more excited about the product without feeling overwhelmed.
Evernote also does a great job with this in their onboarding email sequence. They send a drip series of five quick tips when a user first signs up.
Focusing on these tiny steps is a great way to build customer loyalty and encourage consistent use of the app.
Instead of launching a full-blown explanation of all of Evernote’s powerful features, this “five tips” sequence results in an easier way for customers to get used to Evernote’s features.
5. Answer common questions
No matter how well-designed your product or how well you think you can explain away every customer concern, you’ll still have customer questions you need to answer.
I’ve found that the best way to answer these is straightforward. Don’t try to get fancy or subtly answer questions without stating they’re really just questions.
Instead, dive straight in. You can even use a Q&A format to make it clear you’re answering questions you’ve received from customers.
This is particularly effective when launching a course, as most people will have questions about the course that they want to be answered before buying.
During the launch of his Top Performer course, learning expert Scott H. Young sent an email responding to the questions subscribers had about the course.
He took the most common questions people asked and responded to them in a Q&A format.
By being upfront about the questions and answering them in an honest way, Scott H. Young built trust and resolved customer objections at the same time.
It’s a great way to sell more while not turning away potential buyers with a hard sales pitch.
6. Ask for reviews for your e-commerce products
If you run an e-commerce store, you know the importance of customer reviews.
UK company Figleaves found that products with reviews have a 12.5% higher conversion rate than those without.
But the problem is obvious. When most customers buy from you, they forget about the product shortly thereafter.
When you’d want them to leave a positive review, they’ve moved on in their lives. It doesn’t even occur to them to comment on the product.
That’s where a carefully targeted email autoresponder can step in and handle things for you. It doesn’t need to be complicated. Just ask for reviews!
Boden does a great job by just asking…
COMMENTS