Your email list is one of the most important resources you have.
But if you’re like many entrepreneurs, you aren’t quite sure how to engage with your audience in a way that converts them from readers/followers to paying customers.
Thankfully, we have help in the form of Matt Heinz, one of the Top 50 Sales and Marketing Influencers, as well as a prolific marketing author.
He has some creative tips that will help you make your follow-up email campaigns really count.
Follow-Up Email Campaigns: 25 Ways to Engage and Convert Your Audience
Are you ready to take email marketing to the next level? Here are some tips that can help!
1. Your Email Should Be a Vessel for Value
Don’t send an email just for the sake of sending an email. Your campaign needs to be one that offers something of value to your audience.
2. Customize Your Email to Your Customer Persona
Make your emails about your customers first and you’ll get better engagement. Create campaigns for each stage of the buyer’s journey. Then, send the right email to each potential customer.
3. Don’t Overthink Your Offers
You need to go from stage A to stage B – not stage A to stage D. Take baby steps to get consumers to your ultimate goal. An A to D aggressive campaign will only turn them off.
4. Make Your Offers Stand Out
You don’t want to blend in with the competition. Start by building a good reputation. Doing that will make people more inclined to open any email that you send.
5. Know When Your Ideal Customer is Likely to Open Their Email
Take your email list’s circumstances into consideration and send your emails at a time when they’re feeling relaxed – not in the middle of a busy workday.
6. Learn Through Practice
Every market and industry is different. Understand what your market wants and make sure your emails address their needs.
7. Progressive Profiling – Part I
Ask people questions. The more input you can get, the more personalized you can make your products/services and campaigns. Don’t ask questions that you could get from third-party databases.
8. Progressive Profiling – Part II
When asking your questions, make sure people understand that the value you’re providing if they answer. Try: “If you take five minutes to complete this survey, we’ll send you a complimentary report.”
9. Try Integrated Multi-Channel Marketing
This allows your audience to see consistent messaging on multiple platforms: Email, social media, paid social, and across multiple channels.
10. Know When It’s Worth It to Implement Aggressive Tactics
Take a more aggressive approach when your audience is ready for it by graduating from insight-based messages to solution-based messages.
11. Record Baselines Right From the Start
Record your open rates, click rates, and engagement over a certain period of time to find out the best frequency or sequence of your emails. Then, make adjustments as needed.
12. Request an In-Person Meeting
If you’ve gotten to a point where you have a pretty good relationship with your customer, invite them to meet up, like a roundtable with their peers.
13. Three Things in 30 Seconds
Take 30 seconds to look up someone’s LinkedIn profile or Twitter account and find three things you have in common with them. Then, reference that in your email.
14. Your P.S. Messages Should Tie-In to Your Primary Offer
There’s value in having focus and continuity in your message. Make sure your P.S. messages relate to the body of your content, maybe by providing one more bit of information.
15. Have a General Email Format
Matt recommends this formula for most early emails with new prospects:
A subject line that summarizes a portion of the insight or teases at the email’s message
A short email
A quick CTA
A P.S. that adds something extra.
16. Use Repetition to Build a Reputation
You’re not going to accomplish much with a single email. In many cases, promotional emails are deleted before they’re even read. Keep putting your message out there, though, and you’ll start to build a reputation and eventually get a response from your market.
17. Get Your CEO Involved
High-level prospects will feel like they’re getting a personal touch if you get your CEO involved. Just be sure that it’s genuine and your CEO is ready to respond if necessary.
18. Crowdsource Your Content
Tell your audience you want to feature them in your next blog post. All they need to do is answer one question with one sentence. This saves time on your end, plus is a great way to get other people to promote your content.
19. Get Feedback from Your List with Quizzes
Interactive content is a fun way to engage, and it provides you with valuable input about your customers. SnapApp makes these quizzes super fast and easy to set up, too.
20. Ask for Some Recommendations
Asking for someone’s recommendations helps you build a connection. You can build connections based on food, football, and nearly any common interest.
21. Create Serialized Content
A series of emails is a great way to get some attention. If your audience is interested in the first email, they’ll be interested in the next.
22. Develop a Community Access Platform
Another way to get your list to engage is to create a community. You can create a Facebook or LinkedIn group, which serves as a great place for people with common interests can engage.
23. Provide Easy-to-Use Templates
Offer value to your customers by creating easy-to-use templates for them. It will make their job so much easier and make them interested in what else you have to offer.
24. Try Contests and Giveaways
Get submissions from prospects in exchange for something. Ask for information, a quote, or a video, and then tag the campaign on social media. In exchange, they get some sort of prize or giveaway.
25. Use AI/Autoresponders Carefully
There are a lot of autoresponder tools that can make your life easier. But you need to be careful. It’s easy for autoresponders to feel way too impersonal.
What Are You Waiting For? Get Started with Your Follow-Up Email Campaign Today!
Email marketing is one of the best ways to convert readers/followers into customers. Don’t neglect this vital tool.
It will take an investment of time, to be sure. But with the tips above and some of the latest email marketing tools, it won’t be long before you start seeing some amazing results from your efforts.
Are you ready to take your email marketing to the next level? Make sure to check out Matt Heinz’s blog and website for more expert tips and marketing guides.
ABOUT MATT HEINZ
Prolific author and nationally recognized, award-winning blogger, Matt is President and Founder of Heinz Marketing with 15+ years of marketing, business development and sales experience from a variety of organizations and industries. He is a dynamic speaker, memorable not only for his keen insight and humor, but his actionable and motivating takeaways.
Matt’s career focuses on consistently delivering measurable results with greater sales, revenue growth, product success and customer loyalty. He has helped organizations such as Amazon, Seagate, Morgan Stanley, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and many others create predictable, repeatable sales & marketing engines to fuel growth.
Matt is a repeat winner of Top 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management and Top 50 Sales & Marketing Influencers. Matt is living through the renovation of a 105 year old historic farmhouse in Kirkland, Washington with his wife, Beth, three young children, dog and seven chickens.
You can read more from Matt on his blog, or check out his books (listed below) on Amazon.com.
Full Funnel Marketing
Modern Marketing Field Guide
Successful Social Selling
Successful Selling
Sales for Start Ups
Are You Selling Pants, Or Selling A Dream?
Move The Mouse & Make Millions!
