By Sean Tinney March 16, 2023
You could possibly spend hours designing and writing a compelling e-mail sequence that explains the wonderful advantages of your product.
However for those who don’t have a start-to-finish plan for connecting together with your prospects at each stage of their buyer journey, you’re losing your time.
Fortunately, there’s a advertising instrument that may assist you determine easy methods to talk together with your prospects and prospects whether or not they’ve simply joined your record, or they’ve been long-time prospects.
It’s known as the advertising funnel.
The advertising funnel is a instrument that helps you visualize the shopper journey, or the trail a prospect takes as they develop into aware of your organization, from introduction to conversion (and hopefully past).
Your advertising funnel ought to embody the next 5 phases: consciousness, consideration, conversion, loyalty, and advocacy.
The brand new advertising funnel
You could be aware of the cone-shaped advertising funnel. This old-school model of the advertising funnel required you to repeatedly fill the highest of the funnel with as many individuals as potential since just a few individuals traveled all over to advocacy.
But it surely’s time to throw that old-school advertising funnel out the window.
The issue with this model of the advertising funnel is that it tells you advertising efforts finish on the level of buy. After an individual turns into a paying buyer, your job is finished.
However that’s not an efficient technique to develop your small business.
As an alternative, we suggest you comply with the brand new advertising funnel that appears extra like a bow tie that’s broad on the left, slender within the center, and broad on the appropriate.
Your relationship together with your buyer shouldn’t finish on the backside of the cone-shaped advertising funnel. As an alternative, concentrate on buyer retention simply as a lot as you concentrate on lead era.
Why? As a result of completely satisfied prospects usually tend to share nice model experiences with their household and mates. These loyal prospects develop into advocates to your model and so they have the facility to drive extra leads for you.
Advertising and marketing to prospects after they purchase from you is simply as essential as advertising to prospects earlier than they purchase from you.
Want proof? The numbers converse for themselves: 84% of shoppers will take motion based mostly on suggestions from individuals they know.
And there’s a unprecedented upside to emphasizing buyer retention in your advertising funnel: more cash in your pocket. You will have heard of the Pareto Precept in advertising, which says that 80% of your income come from simply 20% of your prospects.
So for those who’re not advertising to your prospects, you’re dropping out on big income.
Let this be your wakeup name. That is your alternative to create a deeper relationship between you and your buyer. Get suggestions from them, and apply it to content material throughout all of the advertising funnel phases.
On this submit, we’ll present you easy methods to construct a robust e-mail advertising funnel.
5 advertising funnel phases
Now that you just perceive what the advertising funnel is, I’ll describe the phases of the advertising funnel and provide you with e-mail advertising methods for every stage.
1. Consciousness
Consciousness is the primary of the advertising funnel phases. Throughout this stage, prospects which are strangers to your model and firm. That is your alternative to begin constructing a trusted relationship with them.
It’s your job throughout this stage of the advertising funnel to exhibit your worth to prospects via free, instructional content material. They’re not prepared to purchase from you but — as a result of they don’t but perceive what you carry to the desk.
How you can use e-mail within the consciousness stage
Unsure what free content material to ship in your emails? Let’s say you’re a private coach who’s attempting to show your prospect into paying prospects and also you’re utilizing e-mail as your principal supply of communication. Listed below are some concepts for content material you could possibly embody in an automatic e-mail sequence to your prospects:
- Weblog posts about vitamin or health
- A meals monitoring calendar worksheet
- An book that explains the well being advantages of being match
- A stay 30-minute exercise webinar
(Listed below are 25 good lead magnet concepts to develop your e-mail record proper now.)
Right here’s an instance:
Health influencer Kayla Itsines builds a relationship along with her prospects by displaying her experience and demonstrating the worth of her companies by giving her prospects a free week of her Bikini Physique Information exercise program.
When prospects enroll, they obtain an book with a full week of exercises to allow them to check this system and see the worth of it for themselves.
2. Consideration
As soon as a prospect strikes previous the notice stage of the advertising funnel, they enter the consideration stage. Within the consideration stage, a prospect is prepared to contemplate buying your companies or merchandise. They’re involved in studying extra about you and what you’ll be able to supply them.
Since extra about your prospect on this advertising funnel stage than you probably did throughout the consciousness stage, you’ll be able to ship them extra focused content material that addresses their particular ache factors. This helps construct belief between your prospect and your model, since you’re displaying them that you just perceive them.
How you can use e-mail within the consideration stage
So what sort of content material must you ship your prospects throughout the consideration stage?
Let’s say that you’re a web-based vitamin coach attempting to get extra results in take into account buying your 8-week vitamin course. Listed below are just a few examples of content material you could possibly embody in your emails:
- A testimonial or case examine displaying how different prospects received success together with your course
- A stay vitamin webinar
- Your free podcast episodes, the place you discuss lots of the rules you train in your course
Right here’s an instance:
On this e-mail, OptimizeMe features a testimonial from a buyer who noticed nice success after buying the masterclass. The testimonial is suitable throughout the consideration stage, as a result of it pertains to prospects’ pursuits (vitamin) and introduces them to the product (8-Week Diet Necessities Masterclass) whereas displaying the worth of what they’ve to supply.
3. Conversion
It has lastly arrived: choice time. As soon as your prospect is aware of the worth of your product and you’ve got educated them on the product itself via using social proof, webinars, weblog posts, and different instructional content material, they’re able to resolve whether or not or to not buy.
When you’ve reached this advertising funnel stage, you can begin speaking about why your product and repair is healthier than your opponents’ and why it’s excellent to your prospect. Concentrate on the advantages of your product/service somewhat than simply explaining options.
How you can use e-mail within the conversion stage
Listed below are just a few ways you should utilize to persuade your prospects to buy:
- Invite prospects to a gross sales webinar the place you present them your product/service and inform them the advantages
- Create an automated e-mail sequence that describe a special advantage of your product/service
- Provide a free trial or give away samples in order that prospects can see the advantages for themselves
- Ship prospects an e-mail that provides a sale or low cost for buying inside a sure timeframe
Right here’s an instance:
By providing reductions and offers through e-mail, Freshly creates a way of urgency for his or her prospects. If prospects are involved in buying however haven’t but, this e-mail convinces them that now could be the proper time to take motion.
4. Loyalty
As soon as a prospect turns into a buyer, you could be tempted to pat your self on the again and transfer on to the following prospect. Nevertheless, forgetting about your prospects is a foul concept.
Except you have got a plan for creating buyer loyalty, you’ll in all probability lose a lot of your prospects, losing numerous your prior advertising efforts throughout the earlier advertising funnel phases.
Bear in mind the Pareto Precept? Repeat prospects are too worthwhile to disregard. So what sort of e-mail content material will increase loyalty and retention?
How you can use e-mail within the loyalty stage
Let’s say you have got a web-based espresso retailer. You promote subscriptions to your coffee-of-the-month membership, and also you don’t need your coffee-of-the-month members to lose curiosity and cancel their subscription. Listed below are just a few concepts for worthwhile content material you could possibly embody in your emails to extend retention:
- A month-to-month stay stream to YouTube that describes the coffee-of-the-month and provides espresso brewing greatest practices.
- A survey that asks prospects how completely satisfied they’re with the coffees they’re receiving and what other forms of espresso they’d prefer to get.
- Instructional content material in regards to the historical past of espresso.
- A 20 p.c low cost to prospects that buy a yearly subscription of your coffee-of-the-month membership.
Right here’s an instance:
To retain their prospects and encourage loyalty, Canva sends instructional emails to show their prospects easy methods to use Canva.
5. Advocacy
Advocacy occurs when your prospects develop into one thing greater than prospects: they develop into followers.
Bringing prospects to this stage of the advertising funnel is extraordinarily worthwhile. The simplest advertising is referral advertising. That’s when your good friend tells you a sure product is superior, you might be more likely to buy that product since you belief your good friend.
How you can use e-mail within the advocacy stage
What are some methods to make use of e-mail to show your prospects into raving followers?
- Determine prospects that love you and ship them an e-mail asking them to refer you to their mates
- Embrace a survey in an e-mail to find out how you could possibly enhance your services or products
- Begin an affiliate or loyalty program the place prospects get incentives for referring you
- Have interaction together with your advocates by replying to their emails, posting on social media, providing incentives for writing opinions and collaborating in testimonials
You additionally wish to gather suggestions throughout this stage. The extra you hearken to your prospects, the extra you’ll be able to be taught and enhance your content material so it’s according to their challenges, wants, and needs. Instruments like SurveyMonkey and SurveyGizmo make amassing suggestions simple.
Professional tip: Inside AWeber’s platform, yow will discover survey templates, too. All it’s a must to do is add your personal content material into the templates and ship it to your prospects.
Right here’s an instance:
To make their prospects really feel particular, Godiva gives reductions to their unique rewards members.
Create your personal e-mail advertising funnel
Develop your e-mail technique with the advertising funnel in thoughts. Doing so, you’ll convert extra prospects into prospects and extra prospects into followers, which implies more cash for your small business. Yay!
And with a instrument like e-mail automation, it’s simpler than ever earlier than to maneuver individuals via your funnel towards advocacy.
Automation options mean you can give every prospect the content material, info, or merchandise they want once they want it most. It personalizes their expertise in any respect areas of the funnel.
And as soon as it’s arrange, you by no means must raise a finger! You’ve successfully arrange an engine that generates passive earnings to gasoline your ardour.
Begin implementing your e-mail advertising funnel in your AWeber account. Don’t have an account but. No drawback, signing up is fast and straightforward.
