Thank B2C & B2B Customers for Loyalty

Consider saying 'thank you' to B2C and B2B customers as a worthwhile business investment. Whether or not you realize, a thank you message contributes  to customer loyalty & retention because, when done very well, good customer communication provides a positive customer experience (CX). Consider one of my experiences. Some time ago, I needed to place an order but did not want to proceed until my supplier had a second (less important) item in stock that I can add to the order, in part to justify the shipping costs. For a few weeks, the sales person apologized repeatedly for not having yet received the second item as promised. The situation became awkward. When I could no longer wait until the continually delayed second item was stocked, I ordered the single item anyway and just grit my teeth over the shipping costs. When I opened the package, I was delighted! Although my single-item order had been for a half - kg bag, a 2 - kg tub was shipped along with a bright blue bow. The gesture was the sincerest way to tell me 'thank you for your patience and choosing us' ... not in words but in action. Perhaps the surprise came in part too because I these were hardware products, not even your touchy feely, 'wrap it in tissue paper' type of products where that type of gesture is more common. Ultimately, the feeling of having my expectations exceeded ... and that silly, imperfectly tied bow have left an indelible mark on my mind. I felt endeared to this company and staff. 

Since all 'thank you's are not delivered equally, consider the following DO's and DON'T's to make your 'thank you' count. 

DO'S

• Start with a personal salutation along with your customer's name. Avoid just saying 'Hi' before launching into the message because that approach seems like a template note. It also sounds more personal to use the salutation rather than only the customer's name. Examples: "Hi Pete", "Dear Pete", "Hello Don Pete" sound more personal than just 'Hello' or 'Dear customer'.
• Pursue the perfection in imperfection. Handwrite the note. Your imperfect handwriting is perfect, much like the un-fancy, imperfectly tied blue bow was in my case. If you use electronic media, do not use a Tina Turner GIF meme saying 'You're Simply the Best!'. Allow your imperfect and scratchy voice to say, sing or, God-forbid, dance to it.
• Use simple, non-branded material. Some businesses have a basic notepad that only has printed something like "thank you for choosing us". However, the salesperson can then include a handwritten note that is personal. Design and set aside stationary for this purpose as it is a worthwhile investment.
• Make the message feel personal in part by referring to your interaction, particular product selection. Whenever possible, be specific. Use calls to actions (CTAs) when appropriate or possible to encourage ongoing engagement.
• Hi Penny, Thanks for choosing Product X. Please tell me how you find it. Take care, your personal representative [CTA], Paola.
• It was a pleasure working with you today.
• Thanks for being such a loyal customer.
• As I mentioned in our meeting, call me if you need any further help understanding how to use the product.
• Thanks again for your support. I am keen to hear how you find product X [Implied CTA].
• I really hope you enjoy product X as it is one of our best sellers and, since I have the same [pain point] as you, my personal favorite. But please tell me how you find it [CTA].
• Your profile caught my attention because of our common problem with [pain point (like oily skin)]. This product worked very well for me personally. I also wanted to slip a sample of another product that also worked when I experience [related pain point (like the odd pimple). No obligation! Tell me if you like it or would rather try other samples[CTA]].
• As my case shows, use saying 'thank you' to turn around an otherwise bad customer service situation. This is a great way of handing customer complaints, even when customers have not voiced them (as in my case above).
• When possible, let your actions speak louder ..... In my case above, I never logged a complaint over their customer service fail. We never discussed what had gone wrong. However, we both knew what went wrong. An outsider looking on at the end would have just assumed that I was lucky to have just out of the blue gotten free product because I had not even received a note. In fact, all of these circumstances feel all the more sincere to me than words ever could have. 
• Keep 'thank you' notes short, preferably under 50 words.
• Say 'thanks' for things that convey relationship building (over transactions) like 'your support', 'choosing us'. OR say 'I really appreciate ...your support'.
• Include the note in the customer's package
• Even B2B thankyou notes should be personalized. Examples:
• Dear Jose, 

Our discussion today have left me feeling more confident about our partnership in the X program. Thank you for highlighting how your team can work with us to improve __. We look forward to working with you in the foreseeable future.

Thanks, Rebecca.

• Hi Jake, Thanks for buying from us. My industry is quite saturated with other manufacturers of the product same type (X). I am therefore thrilled by your decision to buy from us. Thank you for your support. We look forward to working with you. 

• Dear Hazel, 

I just noticed that you recently stocked up on the new product X. Thanks for that. Please tell me how your customers like it.

I wish to show my appreciation by offering you this "preferred customer" code 'Hazel10'. You can use it to get a 10% discount off of your next order (of any product). 

Thanks once again. Looking forward to getting your feedback.

Rebecca.

• End the message in a personal way. Examples:
• Take care, Jane
• Sincerely, Jane
• Saludos, Juanita

DON'TS

• You may have gathered the common message running through the various points is to personalize your message as far as possibble. Consequently, this point serves to reinforce that point. Specifically, avoid sounding transactional wih wording like 'thanks for' the 'business', 'patronage', 'order' and so on. These word choices are too impersonal and sound like you see the customer only as a number and are happy only to get their money.
• Similarly, avoid a sales pitch. Remember, your aim is to simply say 'thank you', knowing that sales will come as a consequence.

CONTENT RELATED TO SAYING THANKS TO CUSTOMERS

• Learn more about loyalty / retention marketing.
• Managing customer complaints.

Push VS Pull Marketing

Push versus Pull Marketing aka Outbound versus Inbound Marketing respectively describes a marketer's approach when communicating with the market. Since each approach type is better at helping marketers to meet different aims and objectives, marketers can benefit from evaluating their marketing design plans based on how well the chosen approach meets the desired objective. In short, marketers can use such an assessment as a type of KPI when designing promotions or other forms of communication. This post explains these 2 approaches, gives examples and discusses their ideal application.

If considered in a visual way, the concepts of push and pull occur from the perspective of the marketer at the moment of engagement, where 'engagement' refers to interaction between your brand and customer. Push marketing can be likened to the marketer pushing a message onto the public via a megaphone with the hope of capturing the attention of at least some individuals, ie  lead generation. The messages are usually general, non-personalized in nature like your business' name, the announcement of a new product launch, the announcement of a store wide sale and so on. Since the public encounters your message when people are likely just getting on with their lives, this form of interaction is somewhat forceful, intrusive and even interruptive. Another analogy is that of a fisherman casting a huge net in search of tuna. However, of the thousand organisms he reaches with his net, he only captures 2 tunas. In short, push marketing provides a relatively low return. This approach  to advertising is mostly what large companies used before the age of the internet.

Conversely, pull marketing involves establishing a form of passive and continuous marketing  to attract customers to find your brand and initiate the engagement, ie to initiate the interaction with your brand with the use of tools like content marketing with appropriate search engine optimization (SEO) and automatic email nurturing. Quite fittingly, pull marketing is often illustrated as a magnet that is set up beforehand but which exerts a magnetic pull on customers towards itself. This form of engagement allows marketers to demonstrate the brand's expertise which will engender a sense of trust in potential customers. So thanks to the new age of the internet, it is possible to use techniques like search engine optimization to attract customers who already have an interest in finding the solution that your product provides when their search is based on something like "how to treat acne" or "how to unclog pores naturally?". Consequently and in contrast with the more general approach of push marketing, your pull marketing message is related to resolving very specific problems. In many cases, your potential customers no longer need the overly general nature of the push approach. This is because they are already advancing beyond those preliminary stages within their buying decision process / funnel. As a marketer, you only have to 'pull' them (deeper) through your sales funnel (with further engagement). To apply the earlier fishing analogy again; this time, the fishing gear would have a smaller reach of only 30 hooks that are left suspended while the fisherman waits for fish to bite before he attempts to pull up the fish. However, each hook has bait that comprises a favorite food for tunas. In the end, of the 30 bites, 20 are tunas. In contrast to push marketing, pull marketing is so targeted that it generally renders considerably higher conversion rates. 

In short, 'push' marketing aims to create demand while 'pull' marketing aims to satisfy that demand. 

Example: Your company sells 'natural' cosmetics through several product lines.

Your push advertisements may include paid Facebook ads, posters on the noticeboard of your gym and an ad in the free tourist magazine. Such ads offer limited opportunity for more than a basic and general message. So they mention the name of your company and show before and after images for avatars that represent target customers for each product line. 

On the other hand, my pull advertisements may include content marketing with blogs about skin care. One blog may be titled something highly specific like 'All natural solutions for acne'. This post allows you to showcase your business as an industry expert. For instance, you can discuss the structure of the skin and how sulfur dissolves dead skin on the epidermis. You may also mention findings of peer reviewed scientific studies that showed a significant change at the usage rate of 10% and how sulfur offers a gentler, less drying effect than a competing ingredient like salicylic acid. At some point, you can introduce your product which has 10% sulfur, along with other secondary ingredients that together provide an amplified synergistic effect against acne. Your communication need not be such an overt advertisement either. For instance, you may also simply discuss matters that generally keep the attention of your target like how they can correctly identify their skin type, correct techniques  for hand washing and so on.

Is one approach better than the other?

Neither approach is inherently better than the other. Rather, one may be better suited than the other for meeting current objectives. Here are some examples.

• Objective: brand awareness of a new unknown product or brand; to reach a wide audience.
• Approach: Push marketing of a general, non-personalized message that simply allows the public to know that the product exists that helps with lead generation. The brand is not yet known like Coca Cola for instance and therefore needs your definite manipulation to get recognition. Examples include the use of billboards, advertisements on the back of buses, radio and television advertisements, curbside store promoters handing out fliers, Point of Purchase (PoP) displays like shelf talkers that say 'New', a social media post that says 'New Line' and so on. NB In addition to applying push marketing, a new product and brand may also need to use pull markering within a single store. 

• Objective: customer engagement to encourage a long term relationship via continual engagement.
• Approach: Examples include the use of shelf talkers that promote specific benefits of individual products, announcements of a limited or special editions whose design is based on the usual theme of the already liked brand, a blog with topics that are relevant to the target market.

• Objective: to differentiate your brand in a saturated industry (like clothing).
• Approach: Use pull marketing. Examples include celebrity (including influencers) posts showing them using the product. 

• Objective: A salesman wants his high commission brand to compete favorably with other competing brands in an environment with lots of 'competitive noise'.
• Approach: Use push marketing.  This approach is far more capable of manipulating the outcome (than pull which allows the customer to take action when or if he wants). However, beware, pushing can force people into sales with which they are dis-satisfied and is less likely to help in building long lasting customer relationships. It is therefore better used for small ticket items that do not require research or any form of due diligence. Examples include the salesman tells customers about the brand he tries to sell them. He does not allow customers to amble through the store alone to allow the shelf talkers to work.

Objective: To sell a high end, high consideration big-ticket product.

Approach: Use pull marketing that is not pushy or manipulative (like push marketing). This approach encourages greater trust. You listen more closely, responding directly to personal concerns. Examples include one-on-one discussions, live chat technology, encourage customers to leave reviews.

CONTENT RELATED TO PUSH AND PULL MARKETING

• Tribal marketing relies on pull marketing messages to connect with tribe members.

Automated MailChimp Email Campaigns aka Workflows

An automated MailChimp email campaign delivers emails to 'audience' lists or a part of a list based on triggers and timelines. It is different to a 'regular campaign' because an automated campaign is triggered by a qualification event and can be sent out repeatedly once members of the audience list qualifies (ie versus a one-off message that 'Mary gave birth to a baby boy this morning' which is spent and can not be triggered after being sent the first time). This post illustrates how to create an automated MailChimp email campaign that involves a trigger. 

Scenario for onboarding new customers or onboarding new employees 
This example will be for the latter (ie onboarding new employees). After reviewing the 'Data' department qualification job interview (via live chat such as Tawk.to), you wish to begin onboarding the candidate. Before running the campaign, you have already collected her email address (in the pre-chat form). You use this email address to create her MailChimp account. Additionally, to trigger the auto response email campaign aka 'workflow' in MailChimp, within her account, you will append a tag '2a data - pending' (an internally designed code to tell you that this person will go into the Data department and must be served the campaign that aligns with the talent pipeline stage numbered 2a). In the 1st email, you congratulate the qualified candidate for being selected and invite her to update her profile by clicking the link to the update profile webpage. If she clicks on the link, she will set off another trigger, specifically a post-email action that removes the 'pending' tag from her account. Additionally, by clicking the link to complete her profile, her account will automatically receive the 'Data' department tag (to show that she is now a member of that segment). Her having clicked the link to complete the profile also triggers an email that will be sent within an hour to inform her of the next step (orientation), reminding her that it is contingent upon her completing the profile.

Step 0 - Preparatory Steps (Create a list)

• See steps to create a MailChimp list. NB once you have attached a list to the workflow, you can not change it.
• Create a signup form
• Get the link to the signup form

Step 1 - Create the campaign tag(s) and attach them to relevant contacts

Let's say you will attach a tag with the suffix 'PENDING' for a campaign example 'Talent pipeline Stage 2 for DATA' for onboarding personnel. When the want that tag to be automatically removed when the campaign has been sent, do the following.

a - Create the tag

• Lists
• Select the list (example athletes)
• Manage contacts. A dropdown menu should appear
• Tags
• Create tag. I like descriptive names like 'X Pipeline Stage 2a - DATA - PENDING' 
  
• Create
• Repeat the steps above for the tag which will be automatically appended to contacts after the campaign. Example 'DATA'.

b - Attach the tag to relevant contacts

• Lists
• Select the list (example 'athletes')
• Check the box in the left column next to the relevant contact(s). The heading should change to reveal new options, among which include 'add or remove tags'
• Select 'add or remove tags'
• click once on the tag(s) to be added and twice on any to be removed. 
  
• Verify that the tag(s) have been attached successfully. Do this by looking at the 'tags' column for the contact(s). If the tag(s) were attached, they will appear in this 'tags' column.

Step 2. Create the campaign

• Campaigns
• Email
• Automated
• Subscriber Activity
• Welcome new subscribers
• Onboarding series (as pictured immediately below)

• Name the campaign, preferably something descriptive, like 'Workflow trigger: 2a Data segment pending tag - Profile request'
• Select a list, etc
• Click 'Begin'
• From this point forward, it will be a matter of completing a checklist that appears within the Campaign creation interface. Each email is preceded by a trigger. You have the option to add another email, which will automatically add a new preceding trigger field. 
• Select the trigger
• Click 'Edit' next to the default 'Trigger' setting. 
  
• Change trigger (in the Edit trigger' section)
• Select 'List Manager'
• Select 'Added Trigger'
• Select the time frame, whether immediate or delayed and, in the 'settings' field, the tag that will be the trigger, in this example the tag with the 'Pending' suffix.
  
• Edit the email details. Consider descriptive names like 'Email 1 of 2 in Pipeline Stage 2 workflow - Profile request - trig: DATA pending tag'
• NB. Since your recipient already has a MailChimp account, do NOT send her a link to the new profile setup form. Rather, send the update profile form with the use of the *|UPDATE_PROFILE|* merge tag. You can add this merge tag as you would any other hyperlink. 
• In the Content section of the Campaign Builder, click Edit Design. 
• On the Design step, click the text content block you want to edit. 
• Type the text you want to link, like 'Update Profile', into the editing pane.
• Highlight the text, and click the Link icon in the toolbar. 
• Type or paste *|UPDATE_PROFILE|* into the Web Address (URL) field, and click Insert. 
• Click Save & Close.

Step 3. Test the Campaign

Even if you send tests to list members, the experience is slightly different in some ways. For instance, test subjects will not be allowed to update profile preferences and their names will not appear where the merge tags exist for inserting names. 

• Campaigns
• Click 'Design Email' to see the email content. Either read your email(s) aloud or listen to it while an audio reader reads the content aloud. If necessary, make changes.  
• To send the test, click the arrow for the dropdown menu in the top level campaign. Then select 'send a test email'
  
• Open and review test emails not only on your desktop but also on a mobile device. This is extremely important given the fact that people open emails on their mobile devices at an ever growing rate. Ensure the experience is good. For instance, recipients should not need to scroll from left to right to read the content of the email. 

Step 4. Run the Campaign
If you already have details regarding your market's login times, schedule your campaign accordingly to enhance the open and response rates.

CONTENT RELATED TO AUTOMATED MAILCHIMP EMAIL CAMPAIGNS / WORKFLOWS

• MailChimp Lists
• Introduction to Drip Email Marketing Campaigns
• Plan content for a drip email marketing campaign / an autoresponder email campaign

Drip Email Marketing Campaigns

Drip Email Marketing Campaigns - An Introduction

A drip email marketing campaign is an (automated) sequence of emails sent to a sales prospect over time. It aims to trigger a response (specifically a step that advances the prospect further through the sales funnel). The drip campaign can be applied in many ways that include the following.

• Drip campaigns help to onboard new employees like training, preparation for upcoming training.
• You may use drip campaigns to motivate leads, onboard new customers and so on. You can send promotional information that develops brand awareness, engagement or whatever the key motivation for the correspondent stage within the prospect's buying process (within the sales funnel)
• To develop your prospect's knowledge, you may deliver large, complex bodies of knowledge through smaller, more digestible parts (ie versus through a single, very long email).
• Keep your brand fresh in your prospect's mind. This is especially useful since the first contact with your brand is often not when your prospect is ready to buy. These are 'warm prospects' who may already be tied to contracts with other companies and prefer you to contact them again within the medium term future. Consequently, the occasional nurturing contact remind contacts of your brand and products until they are ready to advance through the sales funnel. 
• Nurture while you sleep. In addition to keeping your brand fresh in the minds of prospects, you may nurture at any point within the sales funnel. You essentially set and forget your marketing campaign over as extended a period as you wish. This is ideal when you see value in engaging your audience but prefer not to do so manually.
• Drip campaigns allows you to provide calls to actions to prospects. 
• Example, 'bring 10 friends to the webinar tomorrow' 
• Example, you can nudge prospects to return after they abandon carts. Merchants often report seeing over 10% increase in return rate after using drip email marketing campaigns
• Remind prospects of upcoming events (like webinars, tentpole events, etc).  

Considerations when creating drip email marketing campaigns

• Align your drip email marketing campaigns with different stages of your prospects level of buying intent and your corresponding process, specifically within a sales pipeline or talent pipeline. After all, prospects are not all alike. Consequently, create prospect tiers, ie further classify each prospect according to their current stage within the sales funnel, readiness, etc. For instance, a prospect may be new, hot, warm, cold, etc. Creating prospect tiers enhances customer experience (CX) because you tailor drip email marketing campaigns content accordingly. Prospect tiers may be labeled like 1a, 1b, etc
• Prepare your team to recognize and understand the prospect tiers. 
• Develop content for the different prospect tiers.

CONTENT RELATED TO DRIP EMAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

• Take steps to create content for a drip email marketing campaign or autoresponder email sequence. 
• Follow steps to create a drip email marketing campaign / workflow in MailChimp

Broadcast Email Marketing: Amazon's 12 Days of Christmas Deals

This post illustrates how Amazon uses Christmas-themed pre-buzz tent poling to broadcast emails over 12 consecutive days of deals from December 4th to 15th in 2016. On Dec 2, Amazon announced its upcoming 12 days of deals to its associates under the Amazon affiliate program. They use the catchy email tagline 'Get inspired for holiday gift ideas during Amazon's 12 Days of Deals even'.

Inside that email, they allow associates to see the full list of product types and corresponding sale date. This allows Amazon associates to plan their own sales according to their product interests.

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As promised, on the 2nd day after the initial announcement, the broadcast email sequence begins; delivering daily early-morning emails into inboxes of associates. This continues for duration of the 12-day event. The tagline change according to the deals of the day.

Each daily broadcast email offers 1) a list of the day's deals and even 2) the theme of the upcoming 3 days. Below is an example from day 5 on December 8.  

 

When Amazon associates click the landing page link (provided in the email), this is what they see. As highlighted below, Amazon applied the technique of urgency / scarcity by placing a countdown next to each reduced price.

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Anyone clicking on the 'All 12 Days' button (as seen on the top of the landing page) sees the following on day 5. The landing pages for the previous days are not live links.

RELATED CONTENT

• AutoResponse Email Marketing (How to plan an email sequence from start to finish)
• Tent pole Marketing
• Google Product Listing Ads / PLAs
• Craigslist advertising

Email Marketing AutoResponse Emails

Previously, we discussed how to create landing pages that convert visitors into autoresponse sales funnel leads. This post continues the discussion on email marketing by listing ideal content for autoresponder emails. When someone opts in to a mailing list (at time 0), their email address goes to an autoresponse email database.

An example of an advertisement from an external source. The lead magnet is promised. In this case, value is delivered with a tip in a Youtube video. At the end of the video, one of the calls to action (CTAs) is to a link to 'download our case studies'. This link leads to a lead generating landing page on this company's website that collects only the new lead's email address.

Time 0 Purpose: Thank you / Welcome / Congratulations with instructions

This refers to the automatic confirmation page your audience sees immediately after successfully opting in. NEVER provide the lead magnet (like a PDF or other content) within this note. From this point forward, train your audience to become used to receiving your emails with instructions for getting what they want ... even though this means instructing them away from the confirmation page on your website to their email, only to have them return again to your website later.

• CTA: Invite your target to view content that is posted on social media so they can share it there. I really loved the way in which the Trademark Factory thanked leads for booking a qualification meeting and then directed leads to a page on their website with video content that helped to leads to self-qualify and answer pertinent questions, all the while allowing persons to cancel if they realized that they do not actually qualify.
• Social network links at the bottom of the email. Social media provides additional touch points for engaging with your target market. (Use it in general for getting more email addresses).

Thank you page Example: 

Thanks! [social media buttons] Check your email to find free resources. Email from your personal account representative will display as '[His/her first name] at [business name]' If you don't see a message from us, check your Spam / Bulk folder and white list our email address. All of our free resources are listed below. Don't forget to follow us on [large social media buttons].

Email 1 - Provide a link to the Lead Magnet (value) on your website

We live in a world in which instant gratification is expected. It is therefore necessary to provide the lead magnet as soon as possible before your audience forgets about you or moves on. Again, train your audience to 1) look for your emails and then 2) to go to your website for the lead magnet. To clarify, do not send the lead magnet as an email attachment because your audience will not have any incentive to visit your website otherwise. 

• CTA: Give your audience a link to access the lead magnet on your website.
• Examples of lead magnets include the following
• 2-3 page how-to PDF document
• video instructions
• Messages: Stay tuned for __ content / webinar, etc on __[date and time]. You may even provide a list of the upcoming content in list format (especially if you prefer to set expectations to avoid surprises and even frustration of receiving your emails.) Please be sure to white-list my email address / domain name.
• Only when the volume of potential responses is manageable, encourage your leads to respond to your email. Your two-way communication will be considered normal and not spam. Examples include the following.

• Actively encourage replies with a PS that says, 'I personally read and reply to your email responses.' 

•  Encourage your leads to help you to send more targeted messages by replying to your email with a changed subject line that reflects their segment like 'MALE CLOTHING', 'FEMALE CLOTHING' or 'BOTH'.

• Personal introduction of yourself as the dedicated customer service person, showing how you add value, even if that means telling a concise particular stories, etc.

• "I am your personal customer representative. I dedicate my time to only a maximum of 15 customers whose profit margins I help to increase. In fact, last year, 5 of those customers achieved ___"

• [FOR DOUBLE OPT-IN] If you received this email by mistake, simply delete it. You won't be subscribed if you don't click the confirmation link above. For questions about this list, please contact: admin@domain.com

• Trouble integrating a third party app with MailChimp to accomplish this? Seek instructions from the customer support of the third party app. See how to integrate and sync Privvy with MailChimp. Unfortunately, integration is not a simple one-click process. Otherwise, allow the new subscriber to unsubscribe. Do this by sending a replica of the subscription confirmation content from emails and or webpages they would have received from the service provider (example MailChimp). Include buttons and links not only to unsubscribe but also update profile. 

                 

Copy all of the text. Right click on the buttons to capture the links for manage preferences (which will send the user to the page immediately below. (where you could find the URL to unsubscribe.

Get this link by either right clicking to get the option to copy it or clicking this link to the the unsubscribe webpage whose URL you can copy from the URL box

           

This is the email you can create in your lead generating service confirmation letter editor. Notice the unsubscribe link. Unfortunately, the link to 'manage personal profile preferences' in your test email  can not be used to personalize this email because the link is specific to each member of your list. Remember to place text 'Please click here to visit our website' in the ALT="" for the image.so that that text will show if the person's HTML is turned off. 

Email 2 - Unexpected Bonus

Give your audience the opportunity to feel relieved for having reached out to you ... because they keep getting things of value. Examples include the following. Ideally, the bonus should relate to the lead magnet since the will be more likely to open it. 

• how-to video. Free content should surpass the lead magnet. For instance, if the lead magnet gave bullet point instructions, this content is more involved with images, case studies and so on. Perhaps the bonus is the 2nd of several paid volumes
• Resource guide (involving the various tools on the website)

Email 3 - Find out Personal Pain Points

This provides valuable market insight, especially if you are new to a niche. Responses will help you to better understand your audience and their needs. It helps you to know what and how you can sell to your audience. It is important to stress your interest in 2-way communication to understand their needs. As before, train your audience to follow a link back to your website to respond. Discourage responses to that email address.

• Message: 'How can I help you?'; 'What are you struggling with?'; 
• PS. I will personally review your survey responses
• Give your audience as many opportunities to get answers to their questions:
• Link to contact form on your website. The form may involve a survey with an incentive
• Link to FAQs based on their main questions
• Do a 'Q&A' video 

Email 4 - Introductory Sale Offer with Scarcity ... and value

Aim to sell something small. Make subscribers feel special and deserving of the offer because of its exclusivity because they are on the mailing list.

• Message: 'Here is a solution to your problem'; 'This product is suitable'
• 'One-time only offer'
• Extra motivations: Discounts

As a twist to this, I will also include a hyperlink to a webpage that stresses how the company seeks to keep online credit card purchases secure.

Email 5 - Reminder of Sale Offer in email 4. Stress Scarcity

Do not be discouraged if not many people buy. Conversion generally does not exceed 5% to 10% at this stage.

• Message: 'The offer x mentioned previously ends today'; 'Last reminder: ...'

Email 6 - Unexpected 'Wow' Bonus

This should definitely provide considerable value that essentially shows the bigger product. For instance, if you sell a course, you provide some of the content for free, not simple bullet points but the actual content. The audience should be left wondering, 'If this is free, what else is offered in the paid content?'

Email 7 - Sales Pitch for Main Product, No More Freebies

The main product should be the natural progression from what people have already received in your earlier emails. BTW, do not become discouraged by a limited number of sales. Expect to sell to more than 5% to 10% of your subscribers within the first week or two. Some of those subscribers who do not buy may pass your information on to others. It is worthwhile leaving those subscribers on the list so they can see how your business works. They might eventually buy, especially since their ostensible disinterest may be due to temporary life circumstances. 

• Message: Here is some more information about that problem

Email 8 - Begin Long Term Nurture (exceed expectations)

The purpose of this email is to exceed the expectations of your audience. To do this, check in on how well they are managing (some people may have bought the splinter product), give more value about the problem just solved, get a review, other related product sale

• Message: Here is some more information about that problem 
• Message: Do you have any questions? 

Broadcast Emails

Broadcasts are one-off emails that you send out to all members within a segment or entire group. 

The sequence above was aimed at establishing the relationship. Afterwards, send general broadcast emails with frequency that is appropriate to your niche. The frequency of broadcasts should depend on your niche. However, it is common to establish a specific day when your audience can expect to hear from you and leave another day for non-routine, more random broadcasts.

Examples include the following.

• Coupon Code raffles. See how to create free coupon codes that can be used by a limited number of people.
• Deals. See how Amazon uses Christmas-themed pre-buzz tent poling to broadcast 12 days of deals from December 4th to 15th in 2016. 

Whatever you do, remember the following

• Timing is critical! Do not schedule emails at times when your target market does not check or are not in the mindset for receiving messages. This requires you to consider some of their habits around which you can plan. For instance, church on Sunday morning, Summer vacation, Christmas day, Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday and so on. Also consider the time zones. You might need to consider sending different versions of the same email according to geographic location. In short, you should aim to send email when the email will be at the top of the inbox, ie rather than accumulate with a lot of other marketing noise. The significance of this may be likened to that of the position of Google search results. Furthermore, if Google realizes your market is not opening the emails, they begin to mark the email as 'spam' or place the emails into the 'promotions' folder. You can tell your target's best day by testing and analyzing your target's open rates over time. Don't beat yourself up for not getting this perfectly all at once. This could take the average person roughly one year to figure out.

Regardless of your usual time interval, the first contact email (ie the first email after opt-in) should be soon after, roughly 1 day afterwards. This ensures that they 1) remember who you are and 2) decide whether they are sufficiently good fit by remaining or opting out. The subsequent emails should go out quick succession with roughly 2-3 emails weekly for about 2 weeks before slowing down.
Calculate the timing so that the email and big sale coincide with the period around pay day. Essentially, pay day should be treated like a tent pole. See how Amazon's Christmas email broadcast is well timed before Christmas and shortly after the November payday. 

Image by Shane Sams (of FlippedLifeStyle.com)

Do not worry that you are bombarding your audience during the first few weeks. They will remain if they are truly engaged.
Figure the frequency for autoresponse emails that your target market will appreciate. Time 0 (below) refers to the time of opt-in.

• Time 0  -  Day 1  -  Day 2  -  Day 3   -  etc

• Time 0 -   Day 3  -  Day 5  -  Day 7

• Time 0 -  Week 1  -  Week 2  -  Week 3

• Time 0 -  Month 1  -  Month 2  -  Month 3

• Use engaging subject lines. Email subject lines have considerable influence on open rate. Here are a few tips.
• Short subject lines for most forms of marketing, preferably under 50 characters. Use longer subject lines for awareness campaigns.
• Use words that explain the benefit (like 'lose x lbs in 3 days') over words that describe the email type (like 'newsletter', 'update'). 
• Use recipient's first name in the subject (line like 'Jane, this might help you cut costs)
• Highly targeted subject lines. Segment your market so that the subject lines apply to recipients
• Start with action verbs that transform email subject lines into Calls to Action (CTAs). Example 'Earn passive income' (rather than 'how to ~), 'Win a __'
• Give recipients the sense of being part of something exclusive. Example 'Exclusive Member offer', 'You are invited'
• Include urgency in subject lines. Example 'Only for today'
• Use regular title or sentence format. This therefore means avoiding the abrasive, even spam-like approaches all caps like this 'OPEN THIS EMAIL' or overuse of exclamation marks like this 'Open this email !!!!!!!'
• Use preview text (which, although not the subject line, is relevant). Set you Be mindful of the first few
• See more tips in this Adestra research project
• Do have only 1 clear purpose and CTA per email. Even if there are multiple CTA links, they should all serve the single, clear purpose (with the exception of the first email includes multiple links to social media also)
• Do use the PS to concisely repeat the gist of the email. Research shows that many people skim past the body of an email but read the PS section.
• Be clear about the purpose of each email. 
• Do not bombard subscribers with sales pitch. Instead, combine your sales pitch with perceived value (usually content). It has been estimated that an acceptable ratio is roughly 1 part sales pitch : 5 parts delivered value. As shown above in the email sequence, it is best to present value upfront.
• If the bonus content is ever in a public location, wherever possible, reserve part of the content as a printed document that people can access only if they are subscribers. Make this detail clear in the public content and encourage non-subscribers to opt-in. An element of scarcity may be useful in converting them.
• Managing inactive users. Sending emails to inactive users can be detrimental to the way in which Google perceives you. For this reason, strive to master the earlier points regarding timing to increase the potential open rate. Yes, Google analytics in people's gmail accounts are monitoring open rates to decide which emails should be considered 'spam' and or 'promotional'. Besides, depending on your emailing provider, each of those people add to your costs. Consequently, if testing the timing does not improve the open rate, remove inactive users from the main list and save them in their own segment like 'Inactive People' using a CSV file. Some people may never see your mail if you were unable to get your timing right. Regarding the unsubscribed audience, delete their addresses since you no longer have permission to contact them. Test the residual interest of still subscribed, inactive people who in the following ways.  

• Put them through a Webinar sales funnel to capture revenue you could not in earlier stages of your autoresponder email marketing sequence 

• Send a note asking whether they are still interested in hearing from you. Many will not respond, especially since their inactivity may be due to inability to receive our emails. BlueHost's email says, 'We miss you!'

• Ask whether they prefer that you correspond with them via a different email address (since some people may have submitted their work email address but can not find sufficient time at work to follow through)

• Transfer them to other media like Facebook advertising campaigns with 'reach awareness' objectives. Facebook allows you to create a 'custom audience' group to whom you can advertise. This has been known to be highly effective in reviving these otherwise inactive subscribers.

RELATED CONTENT

• Creating a landing page to convert traffic to autoresponse sales funnel leads 
• Create free coupon codes that can be used by a limited number of people
• Set up a webinar sales funnel to convert inactive leads
• Broadcast email marketing - an Amazon case study: '12 Days of Deals' before Christmas
• Some of the content found in this post was inspired by FlippedLifeStyle.com Shane Sams