13+ Email Marketing Automation Best Practices For Small Businesses – Part 1
You’ve probably heard it said over and over, email marketing is key to a successful lead generation campaign. But, how do you come up with an effective email marketing strategy — especially if this is your first time doing it?
Email marketing, like other digital marketing techniques, has several moving parts, such as frequency of sending emails, email marketing ideas for content, email marketing segmentation, etc.
It could get overwhelming, but when you know email marketing best practices to follow, it could be a walk in the park too!
I’d like to help you with your email marketing process. Today, I will be sharing with you:
- Ways to do your email marketing segmentation
- How to plan your email marketing sequence
- How NOT to run out of email marketing ideas
- Things to consider when creating your email marketing strategy
Using email marketing for your business is exciting. Not only can it help you convert leads, but it also lets you nurture and develop a good relationship with your target customers. Give it a try and let us know how it goes!
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Part 1 of this series: Follow-Ups – 10 Email Marketing Automation Best Practices
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ActiveCampaign Free Trial : www.47links.com/activecampaign
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Email Sequences, Ideas, Examples, Templates…
www.47links.com/dotcomsecrets >> Follow Up Funnels chapter
VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:
“In this episode, we are starting a series on email marketing automation best practices. You’ll find out about 13+ best practices for small businesses over this…
… and the upcoming episodes including one on how a former champion wrestler, a 90s’ TV show, and a simple 7-letter word are the SECRET to SKYROCKET your email marketing results.
My name is Istvan Bujdoso and welcome to The 47 Marketing Show that helps entrepreneurs like you to get more done in less time…
…grow your business, and gain freedom through marketing automation, delegation, and processes.
If these topics are interesting to you, then make sure to subscribe on YouTube and hit the bell button so you get notified of the NEW episode every week. And now, let’s get started.
OK, let’s dive into the first of the email marketing best practices on our list. No. 1: Stay On Topic.
Sooner or later, most entrepreneurs find themselves in the situation of running out of email marketing ideas.
And not knowing what to send to your email list can lead to one of the crucial mistakes When your potential leads arrive at your landing page they see a PROMISE to get CERTAIN information.
They enter their email address with an expectation to learn about a SPECIFIC topic. The LESS you fulfill that PROMISE, the MORE confused and unsatisfied your list will be.
Then they won’t read your emails, they probably even unsubscribe, and never come back. Imagine this: Let’s say, leads opt-in to your email list to learn about ‘how to grow an online business’.
And besides emails on that topic, you’d start sending them emails on ‘how to lose weight’, promotions of a ‘cat hotel,’ discounts of a ‘cake baking class’, and videos on ‘scuba diving.’
Topics and offers that are really different from the original promise. As you’d guess, most leads would be unhappy on your list, and would leave and never return.
The best practice is to fulfill the original PROMISE in your emails, and stay on topic or close to that.
If you want to switch topics, build a separate email list for the new topic or use the loophole you’ll find out about later in this episode.
OK, the next email marketing strategy and best practice is, No. 2: The RIGHT Frequency.
It’s a common question among entrepreneurs: “How often should you email your list?” The short answer: as often as it brings the most results, and doesn’t annoy most of your email list.
Let me explain.
When I started many years ago, I used an email marketing process of getting leads on my list and emailing them a few times a week.
The first mistake was that I didn’t tell them at the beginning how many emails they could expect.
So some people were unhappy because they expected more, others because they expected less. And quite a lot of them unsubscribed.
When people opt-in to your email list, tell them how often they can expect emails from you like multiple times a day, or once daily, or a few times a week. Then, stick with that frequency for a while.
The other mistake I made a long time ago: suddenly, without any announcement, I switched from emailing a few times a WEEK to a ‘multiple-times-a-DAY’ frequency.
Because of that sudden frequency change, I lost quite a lot of subscribers quickly.
The second part of this best practice is, if you want to change frequency, tell your list, do the change slowly, maybe even step-by-step, over a longer period of time so you won’t annoy and lose your leads.
At the end of the day, all lists are different. So test your list.
What is that balanced frequency where you can make the most money long term, and your list stays happy as well. Generally, emailing once a day is that balanced frequency.
But obviously, test what the best for your list.
The next one of the best practices and email marketing tips is, No. 3: Never Stop.
When you stop emailing your list, you can miss out on the days when your leads are ready to buy. And they may end up spending their money with your competitors.
Also, when you stop emailing your list, the leads get colder and colder. And either you lose them, or it takes time to warm them up again.
The bottom line is when you stop emailing your list, you can lose money. That’s why this best practice on the list: NEVER stop emailing your list.
If you’re like most entrepreneurs, and it feels a HUGE challenge to keep adding new emails to your email marketing sequence, then you’ll love what’s coming up.
Later in this SERIES, you’ll see email marketing hacks and shortcuts to overcome that challenge easily and fast, including a best practice in THIS episode on how a former champion wrestler…
…a 90s’ TV show, and a simple 7-letter word are the SECRET to SKYROCKET your email marketing results.
Best practice no. 4: Email Marketing Segmentation.
In life, in different situations, we naturally talk to others in different ways. And to do that, is one of the KEY email automation best practices as well.
Imagine the following situations: There are always people who’ve just joined an email list, and most likely barely know anything about the entrepreneur they don’t like and trust him or her YET.
Others on a list have just looked at one sales page, BUT haven’t bought. Some people have just clicked on the order button, BUT have left without actually paying and ordering.
And then, there are those on a list who have already bought something from the business, BUT not yet regular clients.
Also, let’s mention the regular clients on the email list who are happy and maybe ready to go to the next level. These are just a few KEY scenarios that happen for small businesses who sell something online.
In each of these situations, if you want to achieve the desired results, you need to talk to those people in DIFFERENT ways.
For example, if somebody has just joined your list, the goal is to build a certain level of know, like, and trust, and direct them to a sales funnel.
On the other hand, in a different situation, like when somebody abandons the cart, you’ll have different goals and things to say like reminding them and urging them to complete their order.
And in other situations, your goals and ways are DIFFERENT again. As a best practice, think through all the KEY scenarios that your leads and customers can go through…
…and for each, create a separate email marketing automation follow-up sequence.
And based on how people behave throughout your marketing, keep segmenting your email list and direct them into the relevant email automations.
This way, you can talk to everybody on your email list according to where they are on their own specific journey. A great tool to use for email marketing, segmentation, and more is ActiveCampaign.
You can find the link to it in the description.
Let me interrupt this episode for a moment. If you find these best practices useful then click on the like button right now.
With that, you can give us feedback and help more people with this content. Thank you for your “like”. And now, let’s continue.
Best practice no. 5: Email Marketing Welcome Sequence.
Once your leads join your email list, the goal is to turn them into regular readers who actually look out for your emails. They open and read the emails, and engage with the call to actions.
Because you’ll have the MOST chance with those regular readers to really get them to know you, like you, and trust you. AND ultimately, to turn them into customers and long-term clients.
The BEST way to turn the fresh leads on your list into regular readers and fans is with an email marketing welcome series.
First, let me give you an outline of that email sequence, and then we’ll talk about the details.
The first email is about how can they get what they opted-in for and what can they expect on this email list? And a hook to make them really curious to look out for your next email.
The second email, “Who are you?” A few cool things about you. Your short story on how you started what you do, and why.
What happened that shifted you on your journey? And because of that, what are you doing now and why? And of course, a call to action to reply, or click on a link, and a hook to the next email.
The third email in the series is about what do you do?
The time when it became clear that others have the same problem you have already found the solution to, how you learned or earned that solution…
…and when did you realize that you were meant to do what you do? Plus, a CTA and hook to the end of the email.
Can you start seeing the pattern? Every email ends with a call to action to reply, or click on a link to check out a sales page, and with a hook to get the readers curious to read the next email as well.
OK, the fourth email is about how do you do what you do? How does it work for you? For others? How did you figure it out? What did you have to change to make things happen?
And the emotional side of why you do what you do? And finishing up the CTA and hook. The next email, the fifth one, “How did you learn or earn the knowledge and expertise of what you do?”
What was your life like BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER that? Then a call to action and hook. The sixth email is about who do you do it for? What type of people do you help? And have already helped.
How did you come across them? What was THEIR life like BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER that? Then finish it up with a CTA and hook.
And the last email of this series is about how can you do ‘what you do’ for the reader? Your mission, and why it is important for you to help others. Who is your ideal customer that you can help the most?
Explain in what ways you can help them to achieve their goals. And why do you offer those different ways? Then a call to action to visit your sales page.
Although this is the end of the email sequence, you can still have a hook to get the readers curious to read your future emails. This was an outline of the welcome email sequence.
As there’s not enough time in this episode to go through all the details, I’ll leave you additional resources in the description. Those will help you to craft your own BEST welcome email series.
With that said, it’s time to talk about No. 6: Use This Trick Every Day. This is the “loophole” I mentioned in best practice no. 1.
And also, it is the one on how a former champion wrestler, a 90s’ TV show, and a simple 7-letter word are the SECRET to SKYROCKET your email marketing results.
In 2017, from the UK, I flew to the US to a sales conference. One of the speakers was Russell Brunson, who is currently among the best of the top marketers.
That was pretty much the first time I heard about him. I loved his presentation a lot and wanted to find out more about him and his work in the marketing industry.
So I read his DotCom Secrets book when I got back to the UK. That’s how I found out about some cool things 15-20 years before Russell wrote the book, he won a wrestling state championship.
But more importantly, I learnt the SECRET on how to never run out of email ideas and how to SKYROCKET email marketing results with the same secret.
In the “Follow-Up Funnels” chapter, I found a section titled “DAILY SEINFELD EMAILS.” Seinfeld was a really popular sitcom TV show of the ’90s. But what was it really about?
Well, a lot of people used a simple 7-letter word to answer that, “NOTHING”. It was a show about nothing. 4 friends lived their everyday life.
YET it was funny and entertaining that people kept watching and episode by episode the viewers got to know and like the characters.
And as the DotCom Secrets reveals, that’s the perfect strategy to use for follow-ups as well after the welcome sequence. 90% entertainment and 10% content in the emails. Stories about you and your life.
Things that you are doing, experiencing, learning, planning, etc. in your life. And ALL the stories related back to your offers, products, and services.
With that, email by email, the leads on your email list are getting to know you, like you, and trust you.
And as people buy from people who they know, like, and trust, it can SKYROCKET your email marketing results your readership, opens, clicks and sales.
In the book, you can find more details on this follow-up best practice, and multiple email examples. I’ll leave you a link to it in the description.
If you enjoyed this video, click on the like button. It helps the channel a bit.
And make sure to subscribe and hit the bell so you get notified of the future videos just like this one.
Thank you for watching. And see you in the next one.”
END OF VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION
