What if you could set your lead-conversion strategy to autopilot? What if you could educate prospects, help them evaluate your business, and convert them into customers while you sleep?
Put simply, if you want to grow and scale your business, you have two choices: hire staff and delegate tasks to them, or automate those tasks so they happen on their own. And the rule of thumb is: if it doesn’t erode your differentiation strategy, automate wherever possible.
Nowhere is this more critical than in your marketing and sales strategy. And one of the most powerful ways to automate your marketing is to deploy an automated email sequence. In fact, one of our clients increased their email ROI by 1000% (Yes, you read that correctly)! Let’s explore how you can apply it to your business.
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What is an automated email sequence & what do you need it?
An automated email sequence is a series of emails automatically sent out to a list of prospects or customers via email software – usually after filling out a web form.
Email sequences can (and should) be used at multiple stages of the customer purchase journey, including:
- nurture the relationship and build trust with prospects/leads;
- encourage prospects to become customers;
- retain customers and grow the relationship;
- motivate satisfied customers to refer others; and
- re-engage dormant customers or ‘lost’ prospects
Your lead nurturing sequence
The first (and perhaps most critical) email sequence is your lead nurturing and trust-building sequence.
Once prospects have ‘handed over’ their email address in exchange for something of value (eg. your Lead Magnet), some may consume your content and be ready to buy. But for purchases that are more expensive, risky or complicated, most won’t be ready just yet.
That’s where ‘content marketing’ steps in again. While your Lead Magnet is already an important example of content marketing, many prospects require nurturing over time with relevant, useful, engaging content. If you do that, you’ll build credibility and trust – and you’ll boost your chances of winning them over as a customer when they’re ready.
Here’s how it works:
- Once a prospect downloads your lead magnet, they should be automatically added to an email list of potential leads and be placed in an automated email sequence.
- An email sequence (often called an autoresponder) is a series of pre-written emails automatically sent out to a list of prospects or customers via email software – usually after filling out a web form.
- Each of those pre-written emails is specifically designed to educate and build trust with prospects by offering valuable content, ranging from helpful information, links to your (or others’) most popular/helpful blog posts, and anything else that contributes value.
Here’s an example from a construction equipment business:
- Prospect searches Google and sees the business’ paid ad for their product
- Prospect clicks on the ad and is taken to their website
- Prospect isn’t yet ready to buy, but clicks on the link to download their free ebook (ie. How to complete your building project 50% faster) to get a feel for their credibility
- First email is automatically sent to the prospect with a link to the lead magnet
- The next day a second email is automatically send introducing the business and checking in on how they found the ebook
- A week later a third email is sent providing valuable information (eg. case studies, links to blog articles, etc)
- A week later a fourth email offers them a free site evaluation (more content marketing)
- And finally, if they still haven’t responded, we put them into light-touch, long-term lead nurture list, which might simply receive our informative blog posts (when they come out) to keep building the relationship until they’re ready to move forward
And all of this happens while you sleep. If you set it up correctly, you can literally wake up in the morning and have inquiries in your inbox as a result on your automated campaigns. That’s exactly how one of our clients increased revenue from emails by $100k over 2 months, boosted their email conversion rate by 30% and increased their email ROI by 1000%!
If you’d like to set up an automated email campaign for your business, book in for a free strategy session to help you create your strategy. Or if you want a deeper insight into the full range of digital marketing strategies available to you, download our free Ultimate Digital Marketing Roadmap today.
