Entrepreneurs seeking a quick injection of cash often overlook the most powerful tool at their disposal – email.
And, whether you’re a B2C or B2B marketer, you’ll quickly discover that focusing your efforts on email automation will see you drive your sales through any plateaus you may have been experiencing to date, without you having to pull your hair out.
You see, it’s estimated that you can generate a $39.40 return on investment for every $1 invested in email marketing.
The problem, email marketing automation has made us lazy!
Savvy business owners and entrepreneurs are setting up “evergreen campaigns” that automatically fire off a sequence of emails to their customers to sell…
…but there’s a problem.
Many of these automated sequences only send one email to a prospect and totally ignore those that didn’t open the email or click a link within the email that would have helped build momentum up to the first sale to help close the deal and bring in cash, not to mention subsequent sales.
This is of great concern, especially after a prospect has opted in for a free resource and you’ve invested money upfront on Facebook advertising to generate that lead.
They’re interested, they’re ready to buy, but they simply get forgotten by your automation.
You see, email deliverability isn’t guaranteed, which means there’s great news, you can take action to increase its effectiveness with ease and quickly turn $10,000 per month in sales into $20,000 or double whatever you’re doing right now.
Which is why, you need to pay especially close attention to the following.
When an email is sent, a whole range of factors go into play as to whether or not your potential customer sees it and you make a sale;
- Time of day it was sent
- Ending up in their spam folder due to specific words being used/image heavy
- A subject line that would put even the most enthusiastic person to sleep
- An uninspiring “call to action” to buy or upgrade.
- Ending up in the Gmail “Promotions” tab and buried with all of your competitors’ dead emails (it’s like an email graveyard in there!)
- Your website’s standing with email providers, i.e. Gmail, Hotmail, etc.
- And so on…
Put simply, if your prospect doesn’t open or click the links in your emails…
…your sales are going to plateau and your sales funnel will haemorrhage tens of thousands of dollars – more if you’ve managed to scale your business into six-figure monthly sales.
Thankfully, there are a lot of powerful strategies you can use to improve your open and clickthrough rates.
The highest open rate Ben Angel’s team achieved recently is 57.7%. They almost fell off their chairs when they saw it jump up so high.
To put that in context, testing their subject lines and how they use email automation has helped them to quite literally Double their sales by taking a few simple extra, yet powerful measures that boost cash and drive profit margins up, all without spending one extra dollar on advertising.
They’re maximising every single opportunity on their email list to the greatest extent in the most effective way.
And, in this highly detailed post, you’re going to be stepped through precisely what they do to achieve an open rate as high as 57.7% and what you can do to double your sales by taking a few simple, yet incredibly powerful steps. Including, screenshots to show you how they set it up with the most powerful email automation software on the market, Infusionsoft.
Turn $10k into $20k with Behavioural Segmentation – Easier than it Sounds!
One of the most overlooked opportunities to double your open rates, and your sales, is by leveraging behavioural segmentation.
How does this work?
Let us break it down for you now with a real world example.
When people subscribe to benangel.co, they’re then entered into its sales funnel using the Infusionsoft platform.
After they’ve gone through a 4-part engagement series that provides free content that asserts the site’s authority within its field, including a mix of text and video that have key credibility factors that influence conversion rates, the team then introduces them to a low barrier to entry offer, i.e. low commitment, not overly expensive with a cancel anytime promise to back it up to gain their trust.
Or, simply put, the team helps them dip their toe in the waters of benangel.co.
Hmm, that does sound weird right!?
You get what we mean!
In this promotional email series there are 8 emails to promote the offer, but when a person clicks on a link to check out the landing page, the team immediately moves them up in the funnel (see screenshot below) to enter an abandoned shopping cart series, otherwise known as an ABS at benangel.co.
Typically an ABS series would contain two emails to follow up an individual that has not purchased within 20 minutes of checking out your product / service.
Why?
Well, here’s some powerful statistics on shopping cart abandonment emails if you think that’s a little heavy-handed:
- ABS emails sent within 20 minutes achieved on average a 5.2% conversion rate
- ABS emails sent within an hour achieved on average a 4.5% conversion rate
- ABS emails sent over 24 hours after a basket was abandoned achieved on average a 2.6% conversion rate (literally drops by half!!!)
ABS emails alone contribute anywhere from 50-60% of their monthly sales revenue.
Which means, if you’re making $10,000 per month in sales… and you’re not doing this, you could be making $20,000 plus!
Yup, now you’re listening!
Well, here’s where they get super sleuth and do something even the most advanced marketers don’t do.
They include 6 ABS emails instead.
Yup, that’s right, 6!
Seems like a lot?
Well, don’t freak out yet, we’re going to explain everything.
Each of these ABS emails is achieving a 50% plus open rate and even get as high as an 8.9% click through rate! That’s almost unheard of.
So why are the open rates so staggeringly high?
Well, the emails are focused specifically on what they were looking for in the first place in regards to the ‘context’ of the product offering, i.e. the solution to their problem and the lead magnet that they opted in for. They were triggered based on their behaviour, not just randomly sending promotional emails to individuals who you’re not sure what their key needs are as of yet.
And, because they clicked on the link initially because they were interested in finding out more, they’re highly qualified to take the next step and buy, as long as you show them how to take that step you’ll increase your sales quickly.
But, here’s where it gets interesting…
The original promotional series for this product has 8 emails in it that are spaced out over 2 weeks. Emails 3 through 6 in the ABS series are in fact the same ones as in the original promotional series (don’t worry if you’re confused, we’re about to break it down for you).
So why are these emails repeated?
Well, if they don’t purchase off the first two ABS emails, there are 4 other opportunities to gain the sale and establish trust with 4 different approaches.
To do this, they use powerful subject lines and strong copy that trigger specific emotions that make them want to take action immediately and buy right now, right this second.
But, in the case that those in the very first sequence don’t open or click a link (which, let’s face it with the hurdles an email goes through to get into someone’s inbox, the chances are it’s highly likely they’ll miss it), they’ll go through the entire series itself, thereby doubling our open and click through rates and taking into account, not everyone is going to read every email you send!
Shocking, we know right!?
And, if you’re trying to get your head around how this looks, here’s the breakdown of a. the main email promotional series, and b. the ABS.
Here’s the flow of the “main email promotional series”
These emails are spaced out 24hrs apart from one another and are only sent to highly targeted prospects based on their lead generation strategies (that’s a conversation for another time):
Email / Day One: Need help getting new clients?
Email / Day Two: Did you hit your sales targets?
Email / Day Three: This is bad…
Email / Day Four: Have you got a marketing plan yet?
Email / Day Five: I owe you $7.95
Email / Day Six: Marketing plan valued at $500 Free – ends tonight!
The following two emails are sent 10 days later if they’ve not clicked on any of the links in the emails above:
Email Seven: Survey One
Email Eight: Survey Two
Many make the mistake of sending only a couple emails to promote a product / service. You, in fact, lose credibility because you look inconsistent with your marketing.
And, before you cry out loud…
“Everyone’s going to opt-out!”
Our opt-out rates are in fact incredibly low, because once again, our emails and funnel are so targeted.
Now, back to work…
Here’s the flow of the “ABS series” (you’ll notice where the emails above are repeated).
Each of these emails is spaced out 24hrs apart from one another. Once again, the open rates in this ABS series are close to 60%!!!
Which is totally unheard of? Reason why?
They’re qualified leads, and they’ve indicated they’re interested in this specific offering, they just weren’t ready to pull the trigger yet or, they didn’t see the email!
It’s up to us as entrepreneurs and marketers to give them an extra incentive and in some cases, lower the barrier to entry even further as they continue to go along in the sales funnel without purchasing.
The following emails are triggered the second someone clicks on any link in the original promotional series above, but didn’t purchase within 20 minutes of visiting the sales landing page:
Email Day / One: Oops!
Email Day / Two: Uh oh!
Email Day / Three: I owe you $7.95 – (in main series)
Email Day / Four: Marketing plan valued at $500 Free – ends tonight! – (in main series)
The following two emails are then sent 10 days later if they’ve not clicked on any of the links in the emails above. This is to come at it from a different angle and increase the likelihood of a sale:
Email Five: Survey One – (in main series)
Email Six: Survey Two – (in main series)
The reason why this style of email marketing automation is so powerful is simple:
- Highly targeted leads, result in high open and click through rates
- Low barrier to entry on the first offer to gain trust
- Offer presented in a myriad of different ways. Don’t make the rookie mistake of promoting one product with one angle. Each product has a myriad of benefits that may appeal to the customer, you must pull out each one and find out which one hits the ‘sweet spot’ for them. They may not see that particular ‘sweet spot’ benefit until email 5 or 6. But if you only send one or two, you kill your chances of converting them into a paying customer.
Strong sales copy that hits on the emotional triggers can fire off a buying frenzy.
It also works, because you’re making the most out of your online marketing tools and automation. This is precisely what it’s designed to do, but you do need the right tools.
Let’s take a look at them now.
So, here’s what you’re going to need to get started immediately to double your sales.
No doubt, your mouth is probably watering because you want to implement this in your business right now!
Totally understandable. The first time Ben switched on an ABS campaign to help increase his ticket sales to a national tour, out of 200 tickets sold in total, it helped convert 100 of them!
Look at it like this….
If Ben hadn’t had it switched on, that’s 100 people who would not have shown up at the events!!!
That’s empty seats… I can’t stand empty seats!
That’s a loss of $10k in ticket sales before Ben even hit the road travelling, not to mention the loss in sales at the event because the numbers to support his onstage conversion rates weren’t there. The flow on impact to your revenue is greater than what you’ll fully understand until you hit ‘go!’
So, to help you hit ‘go’ faster, there are two things you’ll need to get started, thankfully they’re pretty simple and will add 6-7 figure sales to your business when used in conjunction with this powerful strategy:
- CRM System to Automate Your Emails
- A Flair for Writing High Converting Emails
Let’s kick off with number one now.
ONE: The Right Tools – CRM System to Automate Your Emails (Print Off & Take the Test)
No doubt by now, you’re wondering which CRM System Ben uses and whether or not you should make the investment in one yourself.
Well, if you can relate to the entrepreneurial scenario of a roller coaster-like ride of cash flow in your business, i.e. you’re flush with funds one minute, the next you’re searching in your pocket for change for a coffee… then it’s time to sit down and seriously consider it or consider where your existing one may or may not be performing.
You see, this roller coaster of cash flow looks something like this:
Step One: Run out of money, not enough sales
Step Two: Market your butt off, sell, sell, sell!
Step Three: Get busy servicing the new customers
Step Four: Oh crap! I’ve been so busy servicing, I’ve stopped marketing!
Step Five: Watch the cash bottom out in your business and the grey hairs pop-up on your head
Step Six: Go back to step one and go around, and around, and around, and around again!
Can you relate?
Many have mastered this. It’s not only highly stressful, it’s completely confidence shattering. You’re on top of the world one minute, the next, you’re not sure how you’re going to pay your bills.
And, if you find yourself repeating this cycle, month in and month out, it’s time to take massive action.
To do so, we want you to answer the following questions and give yourself a score out of 100.
Take the Test: Can your CRM System or Email Provider do the following?
- Create tailored email follow up process ____ (5)
- Send automated email campaigns based on prospects behavior____ (10)
- Send email newsletters and ‘tag’ specific interests for later segmenting ____ (5)
- Segment database to better target marketing campaigns ____ (10)
- Automate lead capture ____ (5)
- Sell online 24/7 & get paid by integrating with payment gateways ____ (10)
- Address shopping cart abandonment issues (increasing sales by 20-50%) ____ (15)
- Create web forms ____ (5)
- Create discount codes to be used in special campaigns ____ (5)
- Manage contact info ____ (5)
- Manage task and follow up activities for team members ____ (5)
- Access to templates and campaign builders that can be uploaded and implemented within just minutes, saving you hours of time ____ (10)
- Reporting for lead source ____ (10)
Your Score: ______ out of a total of 100
For most, this is an incredibly sobering experience and whilst there are countless CRM options out there that can automate your email marketing, we use Infusionsoft for several reasons:
It’s easy to build out an entire sales funnel in less than an hour, in fact, there are templates you can add within just minutes to get you up and running quickly.
It has a very real impact on your bottom line, the second Ben switched it on and set-up the ABS emails, he got his return on investment back in the very first month!
They have serious funding behind them, which means they’re continually looking to grow and improve their product – this is more crucial than you realise. Don’t go with a start-up that may or may not be around in 12 months, let alone not be able to keep up with the changes in marketing and social media.
But as with anything, we expect you to do your own due-diligence. You can grab a free demo of it if you’re serious about increasing your sales, making your life easier and growing your business fast.
Once you’ve got your CRM set-up, if you haven’t already, you’re going to need the following skill…
TWO: A Flair for Writing High Converting Emails
As you’ve no doubt realised by now, you can completely render your brand spanking new CRM system completely useless if you can’t write / source high converting emails or templates. After all, that’s the key driver that gets your hot prospects clicking through to your website and your landing pages where the sales made right!?
No opens means no clicks.
No clicks mean no sales.
The experts at benangel.co don’t achieve an open rate of over 50% with poorly written emails. In fact, they follow a few key rules that generate the serious returns, including:
1. The basic premise of your email “could” be condensed into an SMS.
Why?
We tend to skim when we’re reading long emails, but when they’re short, we’re more inclined to read every word. The goal is to get the click and let the landing / web page do the selling.
The email sets up the sale by presenting the problem and offering a solution when they click through.
Secondly, by doing this technique, you give your ABS a serious chance at converting. And, as you can see, over 50% of our sales are a result of this one key email marketing strategy.
2. Test your email subject lines with this free online tool.
Content marketing has opened us up to powerful free online tools that can assess how we’re doing.
Am I on the right track or totally off with my email marketing?
CoSchedule’s headline analyser actually analyses your headline and gives you a score – much like a school grade.
The higher the grade, the more likely your email / article will get read. It’s simple and easy to use.
3. Active vs Passive Language
Consider this, which sounds more compelling?
- Use these 34 email templates for an immediate injection in sales
- Think about using these 34 email templates
One uses passive language, such as “think, might, maybe or you could,” whilst the other uses active, i.e. “use this, immediately, right now”.
Ben says to his team members all of the time, “you can’t be half pregnant!”
Either you are or you’re not.
The same goes when selling your products and services. They either work or they don’t. They “may” get a result, or they “will” get a result – if following the instructions carefully of course.
Take a look at your email marketing copy now and weed out the passive language, particularly in your emails or it will kill your sales. One sounds confident and authoritative, whilst the other sounds weak and unsure.
Your quick fire action checklist:
When looking for a quick injection of sales, there are a few key actions you can take immediately. Print off this list now and schedule it into your marketing calendar immediately to get a jumpstart on your competition:
- Map out your “main promotional email series”.
- Map out your “ABS email campaign”.
- Take the CRM System Quiz above to see how yours rates. If poorly, check out a demo from Infusionsoft.
Put simply, email is one of the most powerful tools you can use to double your sales and by using the advanced automated email sequence as outlined above, you’ll quickly see how much of an impact it can have on your sales.
Don’t delay.
The only mistake Ben made in employing a CRM is that he wish he’d done it sooner… and chosen the right one from day one!
Source: benangel.co
To get more email marketing tips, consult the digital marketing experts today.
