Creating an Autoresponder campaign that works

One of the most important resources for small business owners is your email subscribers. You should be constantly building your list to ensure you generate fresh leads every month.

But don’t be fooled into thinking that, once somebody subscribes, your job is done. Not by a long shot!

You need to ensure the people signed up to your email list are the right fit for your business and that they stay subscribed long enough to make a purchase.

Something businesses fail to realise is that the likelihood of someone buying your service straightaway is very slim.

Keeping your subscribers connected is key. If your emails are not strategic and you don’t have a sequence then you risk subscribers forgetting about you and ultimately unsubscribing from your list. This calls for autoresponder emails.

 

What is an autoresponder?

Autoresponder emails aren’t as techy as they sound. They’re simply a series of emails that get delivered every time someone subscribes to your email list. It goes out in a certain sequence, at a pre-determined time, giving subscribers the impression that these emails are being sent to them personally. The goal of your sequence is to develop a strong, trustworthy relationship with your readers and hopefully nurture them down the funnel of becoming a paying customer.

 

What content to use in your autoresponder emails

Before you jump into a new Word document and start writing out a bunch of emails, you need to firstly establish your end goal. What do you want to achieve from your autoresponder sequence?

Maybe you want to sell your services or just create a buzz about your business. You might have a new product launch coming up or simply want to become dominant in your field. Whatever your goal – set it in stone. You need to do this for your email sequence to truly work.

The most common end-goal is selling a product or service. Here is a simple series in which you can base your autoresponder campaign on:

 

Email 1: Introduce yourself and say thanks for subscribing.
Email 2: Give them something in reward for subscribing (Free eBook etc.)
Email 3: Share with them a customer testimonial showing your business works.
Email 4: Send them a link to a blog post talking about your service or product. (Preferably on your website blog)
Email 5: Give them another benefit of using your product
Email 6: Make an offer
Email 7: Make the same offer in a different way

 

How many emails should my sequence have?

This is a common question that clients ask us and, in all honesty, there isn’t one answer to this. It totally depends on your end goal. Some businesses like to nurture their subscribers through a steady process, others choose to be more aggressive and get their promotion out there in the first two or three emails.

It totally depends on you and your business.

Our email autoresponder campaigns differ from time to time, however, we usually stay within the figures of 7-12 emails. This provides a nice steady nurture, which doesn’t have readers feeling pressurised into buying your product or service. It also allows time to build trust and credibility.

 

Writing emails to get results.

Once you have your goal set, your strategy in place and the order of your sequence, it’s time to start creating them emails.

If this is your first autoresponder campaign then you want to be extra focused. Don’t just start churning out all of your emails in 30 minutes flat! You need to take your time – this may be the only impression you get to make on these readers, it needs to count! Here are some tips when writing your emails…

 

Make it personal.

Your subscribers are not numbers, they’re real people. You must treat them like you’re emailing a friend. Be friendly and speak with a personal tone. Don’t make the mistake of writing too formally. Ditch the corporate talk and don’t sound like a spammer. You want to sound like you are writing an email personally to each reader rather than a press release going out to thousands.

 

Use a genuine email address.

As email marketing has progressed, so have readers. People can easily define when an email is spam or been sent to them as a batch email campaign. Be smart when creating yours. Something readers tend to look at is who the email is from, especially when they look to reply. For emails that are wrote from you or a member of your team, use your personal business email address rather than hello@businessname.com. This will entice more engagement as your email will feel more personal.

 

Highlight the benefits.

Banging on about how great your products or services are is boring – extremely boring. Rather than telling your readers how good it is, show it!

Show readers what will happen after they have purchased: Better body shape, rock hard abs, or better joint movement? Whatever it is – tell them!

 

Grab attention with your email subject lines.

Very simple, yet very effective. Make your subject lines stand out. Remember, your subscribers are more than likely subscribed to a number of other businesses too. Their inbox may be quite crowded. You need to use a subject line that stands out and gives them more incentive to open your email.

 

Proofread your emails.

Using correct grammar, spelling and punctuation is a must in any emails, not just your autoresponders. The quality of your emails and marketing makes a statement about you being a true professional. Something you cannot cut corners on. If you need help doing this then do so.

 

Preview and test emails.

Always preview or test your emails to make sure everything looks and works fine. The images should be appealing, the links should be working and paragraphs should be short and to the point. Try to use bullet points and make the overall email nice and easy to read.

 

Call to action.

Every one of your emails in your sequence should have a call to action. Do you want them to click a link, buy something, and watch a video? No matter what, always provide a good CTA to push readers further through your funnel.

 

Don’t spam.

Lastly, if you don’t have permission to add somebody to your email list then don’t. Simple really. Adding people without their permission can be quite damaging to your marketing and you could even be blacklisted from some websites like Mailchimp etc. Be honest and respect people’s privacy – don’t share subscriber’s details with third parties.

 

Final Thought

A well thought out and executed autoresponder campaign can bring great success to your business. Not only does it help push warm leads to purchase, it also helps to build trust and credibility.

Think carefully about your offers and your strategy. Don’t jump into this. You may only have one chance to impress these subscribers – make it a good one!

Want to talk more about autoresponders? Simply comment below and I will be more than happy to chat!