A good email marketing strategy involves a follow-up sequence, right? But what can you do if your strategy isn’t working out? Are you sure you’re getting the most out of your follow-up emails?
First of all, you’ll need to test it out and see if your email marketing strategy is faulty or if you need to fix some bigger problems relating to your products or business. To do this, you’ll need to perform a small research by testing out more than one follow-up email sequences.
Think of it like this, the purpose of your follow-up emails are to convince people to take some action, whether it’s signing up to your main email list, sign up for a trial or buy products. If this is not happening, you’re just offering hand-outs without getting anything in return.
Why doesn’t your follow-up strategy give the expected results?
You’ve written a sequence of emails for people who download your free eBook so you can transform them into regular subscribers but soon after the first numbers come in, you realize that you’re not very successful. Here are some mistakes you’re probably making:
You’re not easing up your potential clients into buying your product.
You need to understand that a good follow-up email sequence isn’t supposed to start with “hey, it’s me again. Buy this product.” You need to build up the desire to know more by providing them with quality content. If you’re going to pitch them a product in the first follow-up email, they’ll just delete your email or even move it to the SPAM folder.
Start small and gradually get to the point.
You don’t have an established schedule.
People love free resources and they don’t mind receiving follow-up emails in return but if you’re going to blast them with 5-6 emails in the first two days, you won’t get anything more from them. They’ll probably only read the first email you send then just delete the others.
Do some research, read case studies and find out what’s the best schedule for your follow-up email marketing strategy. It may be one per day, you may need to wait a few days before you get started or you could just send them more than one email each day. It’s up to you to discover the best times to send out the emails but when you do, stick to that schedule.
You’re not original.
If you thought you’re the only one who sends out follow-up emails, you’re wrong. Recent studies show that working people spend over 10 hours each week answering to emails – imagine them reading the same pitch over and over again.
You need to be original when sending out follow-up emails. Inside Scriptly you’ll find great templates for email sequences but you need to customize them and transform that content into something that bring value to your customers. Add your own spin and reap the benefits.
Are you providing them added value?
People expect more from your email sequences. If you’re only trying to sell something or to convince them to sign up to other email lists, you’re going to lose those leads. Depending on how big is your follow-up email sequence, build up the confidence by providing the receiver with more value.
They downloaded a free eBook? Send them more valuable resources, relevant for their needs.
Are you missing the point?
Extra resources are great but sooner or later you need to get to the point. You’ll need to gradually build interest and provide a clear but simple target. If you’re sending out a 4-5 email sequence that doesn’t contain strong CTAs, you’ll be missing out and you’ll fail in transforming those people into buyers.
That’s why having one or more working follow-up email sequences that work matters! Don’t forget the purpose of your emails and get to the point.
Here are some tips to help you customize your follow-up emails:
- Come up with the right subject line. There’s a high chance that people will be convinced just by reading a solid subject line.
- Write for all devices. Don’t forget that the number of people who read emails on their mobile devices is growing every month. Take this into consideration when customizing your email sequence.
- Add a sense of urgency. People hate to miss out on offers so you need to add some sort of incentive for people who act fast.
- Provide context. Most times, people forget why they’re receiving your follow-up emails. Make sure to provide context in the first emails or you’ll be marked as SPAM.
- Make it short and effective. Nobody likes reading long emails, structure your follow-up emails to make them concise and effective.
- Learn from your mistakes. All the data you get is really valuable. Are your emails not working? Do some research and find out why.