Email is still a wonder of the marketing world.
Businesses all over the world are realizing how much power they have with an email list and a keyboard. They can reach all their customers and prospects at once without ever having to fight an algorithm.
In this session, you'll learn the importance of email campaigns and how to structure one.
Let's look at why email is such a powerful tool for you to invest in.
Why You Should Invest In An Email Campaign
1. Email is still effective.
The latest stats say email marketing returns $44 for every dollar you invest in it. That stat came from a marketer so do what you want with it. My own experience shows that it is effective.
2. Email marketing is cheap or free to get started.
Who doesn't love free or cheap when you're getting a new marketing initiative started? There's little risk to setting something up and trying it. It's not like you have to film a new commercial or design a new website. If an email campaign is not working for whatever reason, you can just tweak a few words or two or add something that's missing so that it connects.
This budget-friendly feature makes it ideal for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
3. Everyone is still using email.
I bet one of the first things you did today was check your email. You don’t have to say where you checked it. Just nod your head if opening up your phone and checking your email is one of the first things you did today. Am I right? Everyone is still using email to communicate.
And finally, email is effective because it is both direct and personal. With email you have a chance to connect with practically everybody. Who doesn’t have an email address these days?
This is a huge opportunity. This is especially big since you’ve already have done the hard work of putting together that lead magnet from last session.
But if you’re like most of us, you face a bit of “resistance” when you sit down to create a marketing email, especially an email campaign. Something holds you back. What keeps most people away from doing email marketing is the fact that they have to actually write out the emails. We all write emails every day so why are these ones difficult? A lot of the hard work of building an email campaign is clarifying your thinking and making your writing interesting.
In this video, I’m going to lay out the steps for writing a great email campaign. As a whole, an email campaign can be intimidating. When you break it up, it’s not so bad.
The Six Emails You Need To Send
Email One: The Welcome/Offer Email
After you capture an email, it’s time to deliver that requested piece of value and then deliver ongoing value. You’re going to show that you and your company are value machines...that’s what you do. You deliver value over and over again.
This email makes the introduction. It delivers on the promise and includes an invitation to opt-out. They gave you their email address to receive something, you have given what you said in return. You have fulfilled your part of the bargain. The order is fulfilled. That’s all anyone has agreed to. Now you can invite them to continue on with more value. Tell them about the kinds of emails you’ll be sending them. Get them excited for what is to come and hopefully they’ll want more from you.
But if anybody ever opts out on you, that’s totally fine. It’s totally normal. You didn’t want them as a customer so there’s no point having them on your list.
Now we move on to nurturing the relationship.
Email Two: The Problem and Solution Email
Let me teach you one of the oldest marketing frameworks in the book. It’s the problem and solution framework. You use it in the first email to show that you know what your customers are facing and that you are competent to solve it.
Choose another problem your customer is facing that is preventing them from getting what they want. Or maybe you take the same problem you addressed in your resource and give it another angle or some reinforcement.
Then take a few sentences to solve it for them. If there’s more to share, write a blog about it and link to it on your website.
The point of this email is to make a strong impression as to the kind of value they can expect for the rest of this digital relationship you are growing. To really nail this email, you’ll want to clearly empathize with your subscriber’s pain. Find their bruise, and then put a bit of pressure on it. Then, introduce your offering as the solution. Talk about your product or service as the resolution to easing that exact pain point.
You’re doing this strategically to build on the reputation you’re developing as the problem solver for a particular type of pain. When it comes time that they are ready to make a decision about a solution, you want to be top of mind.
That’s the problem and solution email. Next, we show that you have a history of solving problems.
Email Three: The Client Success Email
The third email that you will send to your new subscribers is the testimonial email. To do this effectively, you’ll want to find a client who had one of the problems you’ve identified already and has experienced success with your product or service. Whether it be by highlighting a review, writing out their story or even filming it for online viewing, you want the successful client to share their success to other potential customers.
This is so much more powerful than you talking about how great you are. Let your clients do it instead.
There are three components to an effective success story:
- When gathering this testimonial, capture the problem your customer was facing before buying your product.
- Have them explain how your product resolved their pain points.
- Ask the customer to describe the successful results they have experienced.
This testimonial email will reinforce the problem/solution positioning that you set up in your previous email and give potential customers more trust in your brand.
Hopefully, this wins them over. You can even do a second one if you want. But I’m convinced that they may have some questions or objections before signing on with you. We address those in the next email of your campaign.
Email Four: Answering Possible Objections
In email number four, you’ll need to overcome an objection that your potential customers have. Do you know why most people do NOT buy your product or service? This is the time to speak to that common resistance. Then overcome it with your response, along with the specific benefits the customer will experience.
Just a word of caution: Don’t overwhelm potential customers with all the objections people have all at once. That wouldn’t be great brand building. For this email, narrow it down to the one, main objection that customers have and then write your response in the email. If you need to address another one, do it in another email. If you have more than ten objections to doing business with you, you may want to consider doing something else for work. Then again, maybe you’re just really misunderstood and this is your chance to clear the air. It’s your relationship with the prospect, you do what you need.
Addressing objections and offering the truth will lift resistance that customers have against your brand and develop more trust in your business. Next, we’ll show how you are different from your competitors or the way things used to be.
Email Five: “It Used To Be This But Now It Is Something Else” Email
I’m sure you have a scarecrow business. That is, you’re outstanding in your field…This email shows how your product or service is outstanding. You’re different than your competition or the status quo. The easiest way to do this is to highlight how your customer’s current way of thinking is costing them something.
In this email you’re going to explain how the way you approach your product or service is different and better. This is your opportunity to cast a vision for how things are different than what’s currently not working in the market. In business, we call this a “paradigm shift’.
Many business owners begin their paradigm shift email by talking about a common way a customer sees their product or service. It shows why this isn’t working. Then it encourages the customer that they deserve better and offers a better way.
Let it be said that you don’t need to call out or insult the competition in this email. You simply need to highlight what’s not working and how your brand is doing things differently.
Here’s how I do it with selling websites: In the past, websites were tough to build and the software made it incredibly difficult to manage a website. Because of this, nobody made changes to their website. Websites, the front door of your company, went stale and out of date. Companies got embarrassed because they didn’t know how to make changes and so they ignored their website. As a result, they lost countless opportunities to leverage the power of online marketing and lost marketshare. Today, we have a website builder that makes it easy, simple and even fun to add content to your website. You can make updates in seconds so that your website always stays current with fresh content that anyone on your team can deliver. This isn’t your dad’s website anymore. It’s a new day for business websites.
See the difference? It used to be this way but now it is something else. Its a paradigm shift you’re offering. It’s changing expectations and giving people hope that there is a better way than what they’re used to.
Start with a common way of thinking about your business and shift the customer’s mindset through a new, compelling perspective. Once you’ve given them hope, it’s time to hit them with the ask.
Email Six: The Sales Email
The final email that you need in your nurturing sequence is the sales email. This is one of the most important emails you will send.
You’ve done all this work to build trust. It’s time to close the deal and get a sale. In this email, you can use a combination of the earlier emails that we’ve listed in this sequence. Be sure to position your product/service as the solution, include testimonials and compelling reasons why a customer should buy from you, and encourage them to look at your brand differently.
The point of this email is to close the deal. A potential customer that has been engaging with your emails up to this point wants to be sold to. So, give them what they want.
You can also add an extra incentive by offering a discount or special sale. This will ensure that your sales email works and your revenue goes through the roof.
While you likely included a Call To Action in your previous emails (especially #2 and #4), this final email is where you want to do a “hard sell”. You’re throwing everything at them to get a sale. That’s why it can be the hardest to write.
Six Tips For Writing A Great Email
1. Include a direct call to action multiple times.
You want to give people clear instruction about the action you want them to take. If you want them to click a link, then tell them “click this link”. If you want them to give you a call, tell them: “Here’s my number. Call me right now!” Maybe it’s something simple like, “If you’re in, hit reply to this email.” Or, "click this link to buy now.”
2. Talk about the SUCCESS people will achieve when they buy your product or service.
Cast a vision for them of what life will look like after they invest with you. Be specific and clear!
3. Be Confident
Remember, if you truly believe in your product or service, then you truly believe it will make people’s lives better. And if it will really make their life better, then you owe it to them to do whatever you can to get them to buy in. Don’t be sleazy… but be confident!
4. Spend Time Crafting Your Subject Line
If you don’t have an interesting subject line, your email will not be read. Headline writers for newspapers know how important that first line is. They spend hours working on it. I’m not saying you should spend hours on every subject line.
However, it’s not uncommon for writers to spend just as much time working on the subject of the email as they do for the content itself. If you don’t have a catchy subject line, the recipient will look at the unread email and swipe it into oblivion.
5. Test, Measure and Adjust
If you have a decent CRM you’ll soon have data you can use to see what is working. What emails are being opened? Which ones are generating clicks or sales? Once you get really good at it, you should test multiple versions of your subject lines. You’d be amazed at how little tweaks, can swing your open rates considerably.
6. Add A P.S. at the End
Email marketing gurus encourage us to write a little P.S. at the end of our emails. Sometimes this is the only part that gets read. Seriously, an email will be opened and there’s something in human nature that causes some people just to scroll to the PS.
It’s a little teaser, a promotion, or one last thought. Don’t miss this opportunity to add something extra to your email knowing that it’s the only thing some people will see.
Summary
Put all these emails together and send them out throughout a few days or weeks. We promise you’ll see results.
To recap, we recommend six simple emails in your email marketing campaign:
- Welcome & Offer
- Problem/Solution
- Client Success Testimonial
- Overcome Possible Objections
- The Paradigm Shift
- Sales Email
Once you have completed them all, you can start over again.
Keep writing and put your list into a nurture sequence where you’re sending consistent content that’s valuable and keeps you at the front of their mind.
We know you write a lot of emails every day. It's time you start getting paid for writing them.
