People are coming to your site and clicking to download your lead magnet. Great! Once they get the thank you and download link, you need to keep in touch. You do this using an email platform like ConvertKit, Constant Contact, or GetResponse (among many). These platforms can automatically send out a sequence of follow-up emails over a scheduled time period to help your new followers learn more about you and what you can do for them.
How can you create an effective follow-up sequence?
Add Value: No one wants to get a freebie and then have someone immediately trying to sell them something. Your first two or even three emails should add value to your prospect’s experience with you. This is a great time to display some of that hard-won knowledge and give them some helpful information, no strings attached. You can offer tips and tricks, perhaps a “bonus” training video if that works for your business, or additional information that pertains to your lead magnet.
Timing: There are some online marketers who recommend sending an email every day. Sorry, I’m not that interested in a vendor’s life and really, when you’re buying something, the other side is the vendor. You are building a list of prospects. They may have some interest in you and how you do what you do, but mostly they want to know what you can do for them. You want to email every three days or so for the first few weeks and then perhaps drop it back a bit. Too many emails that don’t add value will result in people not opening them and eventually looking at the latest email from you, wondering who you are, and clicking the unsubscribe button. You want to be top of mind, not a pain in the butt.
Consistency: That being said, once the “getting to know you” sequence is finished, you should be in touch with people on your list consistently. In your initial sequence you can let them know that you send out a weekly or monthly newsletter. Then make sure you are consistent with it. Your newsletter doesn’t have to be complex. It can really be pertinent bullet points or a few short paragraphs… as long as the information, the content is worthwhile. I receive an email from a company every week that is short and sweet. It consists of about four or five paragraphs, one of which is a quote, and the rest are food for thought, sometimes with links to an article. It takes me less than a minute to read, yet I look forward to it because the information is smart—it’s higher level.
Call to Action: The whole point of having a lead magnet and building a list is to eventually sell your product or service. Your subscribers know this. By downloading your lead magnet, they have told you that they have at least mild interest in what you do. Your follow-up sequence should include a call to action (perhaps around the third email). Many people like to make that first call to action easy to say yes to. It could be “Click to watch this video” or you could offer a free consult. You could also ask for feedback on something with a simple (and fast) poll.
Personalization: Ever get an email that said “Dear [First Name]”? Yeah. You don’t want to do that, but you do want to personalize your emails using things like people’s names in the greeting and sometimes even in the subject line. Yes, people know it’s automated, but it still makes a difference on a subconscious level. You can also personalize the sequence according to people’s interests. If you offer lead magnets or content upgrades, you can tailor the follow-up sequence to that product or service using separate lists or tags. You can also personalize the emails according to where a person is on their buyer’s journey, by using if/then choices that lead people down the path that is best for them. For instance, you can give people a choice of two or three things to click on, and depending on which choice they make, they are “tagged” and put into a new sequence that is tailored to them. It’s another level of sophistication when you are setting up your emails and you may want to use it only for premium offers… but it can be done.
Check Your Stats
Email platforms can give you the statistics on how many of your emails are opened and how many people clicked on various links in the emails. Be diligent about checking your stats. Notice which subject lines have a higher open rate, what topics engage more of your subscribers, what options they are most likely to click on. Your email stats hold a ton of valuable information as to what your subscribers like and want. Take the data and tweak your sequence to engage the most people possible. You might want to do some split testing of entire email sequences or try different calls to action at different stages. Much of marketing is just trying to find what resonates with your prospects. Your follow-up sequence can give you good guidance.
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