Automated email sequences are important because once you have gained a clients interest (through a download, event meeting etc.), the biggest challenges that most marketers and sales people face is: How do I stay in touch?
In fact, the inability to stay in touch regularly and in a personalized way is the most cited reason for not converting a prospect to a client. Research shows that at least 7-10 relevant follow-ups are needed to engage prospects and clients.
In this post we’ll show how to create an almost out of the box automated email sequence. That way you can say goodbye to writer’s block. In fact, you will also be able to add in a personalized touchpoint every few weeks in addition to your regularly scheduled automated email sequence. Also, check out our post on how to get better website conversions.
So roll up your sleeves and let your creative juices flow!
Note: A traditional lead magnet such as a PDF is very useful to prospects. However, such lead magnets don’t provide any additional context to you as the coach. So unless you gather additional information from the prospect who downloaded your PDF, you must resort to generic emails because all you have is an email address. However, if you use an interactive assessment such as a Wheel of Life on Evalinator, you can send multiple personalized messages along with your automated email sequence, and even engage them to discuss their results.
Hint: Create an online assessment or quiz quickly using Evalinator.
When someone provides you with their email address, they have done so in anticipation of immediate value, and to receive ongoing value from you. If they don’t receive that value (e.g. you keep selling, or sending generic messages), they will either unsubscribe, or stop engaging.
So the first step towards an automated email sequence is to set up a simple welcome email that provides a little more information on that initial value they have received.
If you have created an assessment on Evalinator (a Wheel of Life or another assessment), then this becomes really easy. All you have to do is to :
You can also include an offer of help in the form of a discovery session or another package you recommend as a soft sell.
In our view, the purpose of an email sequence is to build trust and set up an interaction (perhaps a paid first session depending on your business situation). The purpose is not to make a big sale because that’s hard to do for a service or complex products.
This is the most challenging part. In fact, a lot of us either don’t get to this step of automated email sequences, or abandon this step mid way because of writer’s block or we simply give up after a couple of emails.
It is indeed tough to come up with so many creative ideas that also relate to the original purpose of why the prospect gave you your email address. So what ends up happening is that generic messages are sent (or multiple sales offers are sent), and the prospect either unsubscribes, or disengages. Either way, the Return on Investment of your effort decreases dramatically.
The rule we like to follow is this: keep in sight the reason why the prospect gave us their email address in the first place. In most cases either the prospect was intrigued by our lead magnet, or they took our online assessment (e.g. the Wheel of Life), and has a related need or pain they need addressed.
So the next 10 messages (or less if you don’t have an assessment such as a Wheel of Life) are all based on this assumption.
Each message in this second step:
There is no need to sell hard. The prospect already knows you want to sell them. They are getting to know you so focus on building trust. You may include a genuine message of urgency if you like. For example, a discount between date A and date B. Don’t resort to gimmicks.
This need not be your last email in the automated email sequence. Your interactive assessment on Evalinator (and hopefully your lead magnet as well) are sources of deep knowledge. You could always keep going by adding a set of another 10 topics interspersed with your offers, e.g. a discovery session, a paid session, a group workshop etc.
However, just to wrap up the sequence, in this last email you should generally thank the prospect and confirm that they received what they were looking for. More importantly, you should get them to “proactively” subscribe to something new (e.g. your next 10 emails, another assessment, or a free workshop). That’s because a proactive subscription means that the prospect is engaged with your messages. It’s a nice affirmation of your efforts.
If you are using an interactive assessment on Evalinator such as a Wheel of Life, you can send additional personalized emails to your prospects! As opposed to PDF downloads which don’t give you any context of the prospect, your interactive assessment provides a lot of context based on which you can personalize your outreach instead of sending generic emails.
As you can see, writing automated email sequences that add value AND last for almost 3 months is not hard at all if we focus on the point of view we are bringing to help our prospects. Such an approach avoids the writer’s block completely.
Start engaging your prospects by creating your interactive Wheel of Life or another assessment. We have a risk-free trial for 21 days so there is nothing to lose.
