The web pages that make up your sales or opt-in funnel are only the beginning. To cultivate and encourage sales, you need to stay in contact with your subscribers with an email sequence. The easiest way to do that is through your email manager (Mailchimp, Constant Contact, etc), by sending periodic emails with various related offers. And, best of all, an automated email sequence can save you time!
Let’s take a look at a typical follow-up email sequence for a free opt-in series. In this case, your subscriber has attended a free webinar that promoted a high-ticket training program. In the days that follow, you’ll want to stay in contact with an autoresponder sequence that automatically sends an email at specific intervals. Keep you email sequence simple to start and create 5 emails.
A Simple Email Sequence
Email #01
This is going to be the first email that goes out after they confirm. It should give the reader access to your free webinar, so that can be a link to the replay or the instructions to join you for the live event. You will likely also want to include a couple of reminder emails if you are hosting a live event.
Email #02
This is the replay email for a live event, or the first follow-up if the original webinar was a replay. In this email, it’s a good idea to offer a few bullet points of what they learned, encouragement to watch the replay (if you can legitimately say it’s only available for the next XX days, even better), plus an offer to purchase the training program.
Email #03
A few days later, you’ll want to follow-up again. This time, consider including a case study or testimonials of people who have been through your training program. When combined with a great offer, reading about the results someone else achieved can be a powerful motivator.
Email #04
Use this follow-up message to remind readers that the replay is going away (if it is), and also to answer any objections. For example, you might list some FAQs or even questions you’ve received about your refund policy, who the program is for, or payment options. Make sure to remind them about the offer and why it is great.
Email #05
This is your final reminder that the offer is going away soon. At this point, you may want to encourage the reader to email you with questions (if you have the systems in place to manage a lot of emails, that is).
Email #06 & More
If your subscriber reaches this point without buying, then it may be that your product is just not right for her/him. From this point forward, you should continue to stay in contact by offering great information, case studies, tips, and other interesting content, but also to offer other products that might be of interest.
Final Thoughts
One important thing to remember about this email sequence: if your reader buys your program at any point, you must remove them from the sequence. It will make no sense for them to get email #5 with that final offer reminder if they’ve already purchased your program after email #3. Most autoresponder services, such as MailChimp and AWeber, have automation built in that allows you to move subscribers from one list to another based on their actions, so be sure to set that up as you’re building your funnel emails.
This kind of hand’s off approach to email marketing is what will help you build a true passive sales funnel, so look for opportunities to use this system as you build your business. Have questions about how to incorporate a follow-up email sequence into your sales process? Ask me below.
