Although Email may seem an outdated business communication channel for many, it’s actually still one of the most powerful ones. For every $1 spent on email marketing, you can receive an average ROI (return of investment) of up to $32-$55. That’s a lot more than social media marketing offers! Email makes money but requires you to know how exactly to create selling email sequences. Read this detailed guide to learn how to do it to generate the highest conversion possible!
What’s an Email Sequence?
An email sequence is a series of pre-scheduled automated messages sent to a segmented list of customer emails. Every iteration is set to achieve a particular effect and take your customers through several sales funnel stages – from welcoming to selling and re-engaging. You need to set up a sequence only once and relax until you gather enough engagement statistics for amendments. Automated sequences let you reach out to thousands of potential and regular customers every day without the need for daily manual input.
How to Create an Effective Email Sequence
Creating an effective email sequence requires you to follow 7 essential steps.
1. Work out your goals
First of all, you need to be clear on what effect you want to achieve with your email sequence and what exactly you want your customers to do after reading your messages. Here are the examples of goals:
- Event sign-up promotion
- Review request
- Referral generation
- Feedback request
- Purchase repeat offer
- Customer service issue solution/reduction
- Social media sign-up promotion
- Customer education
Once the goals are clear, you need to develop a strategy. For instance, if your goal is to attract more first-time buyers, you need to start by advertising some of the most affordable goods and services on your platform. Statistics show that this approach leads new paying customers to spend more than the cost of the advertised goods.
2. Focus on the details
To benefit from a sequence the most, you need to split test different message versions to figure out which one has the highest ROI and why. Testing should include using different:
- subject lines
- CTAs (calls to action)
- timing
- content
A perfect sequence must include clear and well-placed CTAs, catchy subject lines, and as little pushiness as possible.
3. Adjust your messages to the sales funnel
Your email sequences must be arranged in the right order to work as sales funnels. This means that you need to create buyer journeys that are:
- educative;
- show your proficiency and high standards of quality;
- demonstrate the real benefits of your product in a clear way;
- call to action once a strong relationship with a buyer is established.
4. Elaborate on subject lines
Email subject lines have a very high impact on the number of opened emails. No matter how great your message body is, it’s unlikely that many users will read it if the subject line doesn’t catch their attention. It’s recommended to keep subject lines below 60 characters, but the most engaging vary from 25 to 42 characters and include from 4 to 7 words to ensure that it’s easy to read the line at a glance from both mobile devices and computers.
5. Create catchy openers
Once the great subject line is created, you need to focus on the opener, which is the first thing users see after opening your message. It only takes a glance for a user to decide whether the message is interesting or not, so it’s important to do your best and make the opener very short and highly engaging to persuade users that your message is worth reading to the end.
6. Use non-expiring content
It’s recommended to use content that doesn’t lose its value too quickly over time. It means that you should avoid talking about short-term trends, fresh news, or events. The content of your sequences must have a long-lasting value for the user at least until you launch an updated/new product or something changes in the industry you are talking about.
7. Segment your audience and personalize messages
Regardless of your business field, you will have several customer segments that are interested in different things, require specific language, or have a custom perspective on the subject. If you segment your email list properly, you can bolster the open rate for up to 14.31% (according to MailChimp). Here are the most common reference points for segmentation:
- Location
- Survey results
- Previous purchases
- Behavior patterns
- Demographic data
- Shopping cart average size
- Level of engagement
- History of interactions with the website
You should also use such personalization tricks as dynamic tags to auto-fill user names, locations, relevant product suggestions, and other variables.
Must-Use Types of Email Sequences
Below are 5 types of email sequences that you must use from the start:
- Welcome – this email sequence is all about building trust and educating newcomers about your brand. You always need to start from this campaign once you get new names in your email list. Such a sequence should include 3-5 emails and include greetings, brand value promotion, educational content, and a special promo (sometimes). Make sure that the welcome sequence starts instantly after a user signs up or finishes a survey to ensure the highest open rate possible.
- Onboarding – this sequence is aimed at nurturing fresh customers and answering the most popular questions to minimize the need to chat with customer support. The content of this sequence must be informative and valuable.
- Purchase reminder – users can get distracted from making a purchase and leave their carts abandoned. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t want your product anymore. Send 3 reminder messages. The first one (within 24 hours) to ask if the user is still interested, the second (within 48 hours) to resolve possible objections, and the third (within 72 hours) to offer discounts and provide suggestions based on the items in the cart.
- Retaining – retaining a customer is up to 5 times cheaper than gaining a new one. A retaining sequence should include helpful content to let users know your products even better or suggest similar/complementary products to promote more purchases.
- Re-engaging – this 4-message sequence is used to remind your customer about your brand, its value, etc. You need to reintroduce your brand, provide a piece of high-quality content, tell about your brand values, and advertise a special offer or a new product in the closing message.
Excel!
Now that you’re an expert in creating great email sequences to market your products and services, you should not hesitate and implement the best sequence possible to boost your sales! Use industry-leading email automation software and you will never think of stopping.