by Dave Bender The beauty of email is that it’s one of the few aspects of Internet marketing that you can truly put on autopilot. ...
by Dave Bender
The beauty of email is that it’s one of the few aspects of Internet marketing that you can truly put on autopilot.
Think about it: once you’ve automated your campaigns to respond to opt-ins, reach out to former customers or simply shoot updates
to subscribers, you can engage your user base without lifting a finger.
This type of automation is key for just about any business, big or small, looking to streamline their marketing efforts and build new revenue streams simultaneously.
Perhaps the best way to resonate with your readers is by crafting messages they can’t resist the first time around. Email autoresponders have the potential to transform your business, whether you’re looking to do any combination of the following:
- Turn existing subscribers into dedicated customers
- Spend less time responding to inquiries and more time getting down to business
- Get the most mileage out of your deals, blogs and on-site content
Email autoresponders come in many shapes and sizes: some campaigns represent a single message or two, while others may contain dozens of emails over time.
In this post i’ll help you sift through the many options you have when building your autoresponder series to single out those that work best. Here are 3 most effective emails you should have on deck, regardless of your business or industry.
1. The Handshake
Introductions matter to customers. You want to make the best first impression possible, right?
Like all of your emails, the first message in the series should be personalized to encourage more opens, reads and click-throughs. The series itself could encompass as little as three messages, but is likely much longer if you’ve got a decent amount of content already.
Your introductory autoresponder is obviously crucial and can be applied to both cold leads and opt-ins alike. The purpose of this series is relatively straightforward:
- Introduce your brand and outline expectations for future messages (if you’re going to send out offers and deals to subscribers, now’s the time to tell them)
- Push your best content to new readers (your most valuable case studies or blog posts)
- Encourage readers to take some sort of action (such as clicking through to your site or taking them through your sales funnel)
For example, a company offering web design services to small businesses may send the following handshake series to their opt-ins:
- “Joe, we’d love to help with your website!” (an introduction to the brand)
- “We studied 1,000 sites: 99% of ‘em got it wrong” (a case study detailing common design pitfalls)
- “7 Common Web Design Pitfalls (and How You Fix Them)” (a blog post displaying your expertise and outlining a problem)
- “Don’t drive traffic away when we can help” (a message offering a free consultation for services)
Remember, one of the best parts of the handshake series is that it can be repeated beyond the introduction as you create new content and roll out new deals.
2. The Helping Hand
In some cases, you may not want to push offers and deals to your subscribers. After all, there’s certainly more than one way to take advantage of email marketing, such as:
- Picking the brains of your users to find fresh ideas for content or deals
- Determining which of your leads are the warmest
- Simply trying to figure if your subscribers will respond to you
Instead of pushing for a CTA that’s monetary, consider an autoresponder series that presents your brand as a helping hand rather than a pushy salesperson.
Such a series would start with an introduction and follow up with content much like the handshake series. However, interspersed with such messages would also be emails intended to boost engagement. Using the previous web design business example again, such emails may have subject lines which encourage readers to do the following:
- Respond to a question (“Joe, what’s your biggest web design challenge?”)
- Provide their honest feedback (“How do you feel about our services so far?”)
- Pique their curiosity (“Are you jealous of your competitor’s site? You should be.”)
The purpose of such a series is to reach your subscribers on a personal level; however, what if you’re solely interested in offers and deals and an engagement series isn’t the right fit for your business?
No problem!
You can take the heavy-handed sales approach by offering your subscribers deal after deal as long as they expect such deals from you. If readers subscribe with the intention of offer emails, then a purely sales-driven series is fair game. Nevertheless, you may want to err on the side of caution to prevent overloading your readers and only send out your absolute best offers to your list.
3. The Peace Offering
While email autoresponders are ideal for current customers, they can be equally effective in bringing old leads back into your business funnel.
If you’ve segmented your list, you can specifically target opt-ins who haven’t interacted with you or your emails in a while. Such a series doesn’t need to be longer than a message or two, simply containing a combination of the following:
- A “We miss you” message, showing your gratitude for their subscription or former business
- A steep offer or deal that’s seemingly too good to refuse
- An offer or deal specifically crafted for former customers that you’re trying to get back
The peace offering series is ideal for those who’ve been out of the loop for a matter of months. Getting such users engaged with your brand is most certainly possible. Simply re-demonstrate your value and make your messages as much about them as you can.
Ready to Start Writing?
Email autoresponders represent a massive ROI for any business looking to engage customers, even while away from the keyboard. Simply put, the more you interact with your readership, the more likely they are to become customers for the long-haul.
While knowing what kind of autoresponders work is great, you’re going to need a platform that can create dynamic, personalized emails. If you’re already a part of the Sendlane family, you can start using these tips immediately. If not, that’s okay too! You can start a 14-day free trial to give us a try and kickoff your email marketing business with style.
Do you have any ‘must-have’ email types that we didn’t mention above? Be sure to let us know about them in the comments!
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