Marketing automation is our forte, and one major feature to email software is drip campaigns. We’ve compiled five tips for making the most out of this crucial email tactic.
Drip emails take the stress off the marketing team because they have a pre-designed template for specific lead generation efforts. And for similar reasons, it’s less stressful for the sales team because they already have automated messages for hot and cold leads without having to contact the marketing department every day.
When using a marketing automation platform like SharpSpring, HubSpot, or Pardot, one of the first things you’ll want to do is implement several drip campaigns. This will be a series of emails sent out to potential customers who signed up for a newsletter, attended a webinar, made a purchase, added a product to a shopping cart, or more.
Once a user undertakes one of these calls to action, you can request their email and boom! Now you can start sending them automated messages to recapture their attention until they follow through with a conversion (whether that be more purchases, signing up for a membership, etc.).
1. Create a Story
Each email will be sent individually with a period of time (typically a week or a month) in between. For this reason, it might be hard to see the emails within a bigger picture. Creating all the emails at once is helpful to remind yourself of the overarching goal. Every email should have a separate theme or topic, but make sure the entire nurture campaign is guiding the viewer toward a single objective.
2. Remember Your Goal
The most important piece of an email is the CTA (call to action). This is a button or icon with a phrase like “shop now,” “sign up now,” or “contact us.” Always make sure the email embodies this CTA and convinces the subscriber it’s worth their while to proceed by clicking the button. Don’t get too distracted! Keep these emails short and sweet with the focus on the CTA.
3. Don’t Make Everything Promotional
Customers are getting more and more skeptical of marketing tactics. In return, marketers and getting smarter and smarter about being discreet with their objectives. Before potential leads click the CTA button, win over their hearts. Depending on your audience, this might be achieved through funny copy, pro tips for your industry, or transparency about your company’s goals. Avoid robotic messaging and prove to these subscribers that you care about them as a person, and not just a lead.
4. Add a Personal Touch
You most likely gained these contacts from a popup signup form online or a signup list at an event. Such lists will ask for their name, so you might as well take advantage of this information! Personalize your emails by greeting them by their first name in the introduction or subject line. You’ll make a better impression because these little differences show you care.
5. Keep Engaging
Great news! You hooked a new customer. But now what? You’ll remove them from the current drip campaign (it would be really embarrassing if you didn’t), but that doesn’t mean you’ll never email them again. Depending on their course of action, you probably want to add them to another series of drips. Most companies have numerous chains of different nurture campaigns. The more you engage with them the better. Loyal customers are also more likely to read your emails, so take the opportunity to dive deep and send them longer messages.
Now that you have an idea of how you want to write your campaigns, do you need help generating these emails? REAS Marketing is a full-service email marketing agency offering consulting for numerous marketing automation platforms (we just became a SharpSpring platinum partner!). If you want to ensure these drip campaigns receive the utmost attention from your subscribers, please contact us today to learn more.
