Building an efficient email list is all that is required to generate successful sales online. To do so, you must first master the art of creating an email marketing funnel. Even if email marketing can provide an ROI of up to 4.400%, you won't see returns if your emails aren't even viewed, let alone read. What if there was a way to improve the likelihood that your customers would open and read your emails?
An email marketing funnel accomplishes this by assisting you in sending the appropriate emails to your customers based on where they are in their purchase cycle.
Don't fret if this seems unfamiliar and perplexing. This article will explain what an email marketing funnel is, why it is essential to maintain one, and how to do so.
What is an Email Marketing Funnel?
The challenge is, how can you turn users who haven't purchased anything from you into devoted clients? An email marketing funnel can help with this.
A marketing funnel depicts the path taken by a prospect to become a client. An email marketing funnel is the same as a marketing funnel, however, it only relates to email marketing. When we discuss email marketing funnels, we're referring to the process of converting visitors into buyers through the use of the email marketing strategy.
There is a widespread belief that email marketing is no longer effective. It's understandable why some people are pulled to that perception. The email has been around for quite a long, so it's hardly a brand-new utility. And, with so many fresh and interesting ways to sell your goods, email is inevitably ignored.
Email may seem aged and weathered, but it is far from obsolete. In fact, email marketing is still used by 83% of B2b businesses. Now, just 58% of that 83% find email marketing successful, but it doesn't mean email marketing doesn't work; it just means that you'll have to execute it properly in converting inputs into useful outputs.
Every basic email marketing funnel includes the following five stages:
- Brand recognition
- Interest
- Conversion
- Loyalty
- Advocacy
It should be noted that an email marketing funnel does not have to be one-size-fits-all. For instance, if your company sells to wholesalers or retailers, your email marketing funnel would be different than if you sell directly to customers.
Feel free to modify it to reflect the distinct style of your company and how your target audience generally engages with your product. Already pondering how to create a personalized email marketing funnel? Not to fear, we've got you covered.
Advantages of Email Marketing Funnel
1. Makes the Customer Experience Easier
How often have you questioned what your next email should be to your customers?
An email marketing funnel can assist you in answering this issue by providing a better understanding of your client experience. It outlines your consumers' decision-making cycle at each point of their experience.
You can strategically reach your audience this way since you understand how your customers progress through the purchase process.
With a streamlined user experience, you have access to data that allows you to design an email marketing plan without assumptions.
As a result, the following email you send will move your followers from one stage of the funnel to the next.
2. Provides for Email Marketing Customization
An email marketing funnel is a valuable resource for tailoring your communications. Because customization in email marketing has been shown to raise email open rates by 29% and click-through rates by 41%, having an email marketing funnel becomes even more vital.
Do more than simply beginning each email with the first name of your recipients. Directly address their needs.
How do you determine what these requirements are? Create a poll, research their browsing data, and so forth.
For instance, if a customer is in the brand recognition phase, you'll need to send emails that will assist them to get acquainted with your business. If they are in the conversion stage, you may want to send them emails with coupon codes to entice them to purchase more.
An email marketing funnel, in short, will aid you in developing email content that your customers can connect to at their stage of the buying process.
3. It Aids in Customer Engagement
When connecting with your customers, you must interest them sufficiently to entice them to remain and connect with your company. Because emails are one of the ways you communicate with people, having a good email marketing funnel plan can help you make your emails worth their time.
An email marketing sales funnel is a wonderful approach to foster your readers towards performing any of these activities, whether your goal is to create sales for your e-commerce platform or physical shop, increase traffic to your website or persuade users to subscribe to your premium courses.
Email marketing funnels not only guide you in developing email content for your clients but also assist you to pick which lead magnets to leverage for different types of customers.
4. It can be quantified
You may use an email marketing funnel to determine exactly how the emails you send affect your ROI. It's a nice thing to be able to track the success of your email marketing campaigns.
This is because you will be able to see what is performing and what isn't, and you will be able to make changes as needed.
You'll also be able to see which phase of the funnel your consumers are leaving. You may then take a break and rethink your strategy.
For example, if you consistently lose customers right before they convert, you're either not persuasive enough or your conversion process is too time-consuming.
Building Email Marketing Funnels
1. Create a Customer Journey Map
The client experience you design must be unique to your company. The first step in developing an efficient email marketing funnel is to lay out a precise user experience. As a result, it is critical to understand how your clients go from prospects to paying clients.
Your marketing objectives become evident as you sketch out your consumer journey. In addition, you may track your progress.
2. Generate Leads
To get your email funnel up and going, you'll need real email addresses. Lead generation (also known as list building) is the process of gathering those emails.
It is important to note that it is feasible to acquire a million email addresses with no or few conversions to show for it. One approach to prevent this is to acquire email addresses from "prospective customers."
Make certain that anything you do to gather email addresses, such as content development, is specifically targeted at your potential consumers. It is preferable to have ten followers who reply positively to your emails than 100 who are uninterested in your company.
Having stated that here are the two phases to producing leads for your email funnel:
1. Generate Leads
Opt-in forms are designed to let you collect contact information from your users, such as email addresses, phone numbers, and so on.
2. Select an Email Marketing Tool
Select the most appropriate email marketing funnel software for your company. Email marketing tools aid in the automation of email marketing. You may use these tools to design an email sequence for each type of consumer in your email funnel. Your followers will receive these emails automatically.
3. Create Lead Magnets
Why should anyone give you their email addresses? Not unless you provide anything in exchange for the gesture. A lead magnet can help in this situation. Essentially, it is an offer you employ to get users to provide their email addresses.
It is important to realize, however, that lead magnets may be utilized for more than just collecting email addresses for your email funnel. You may also use them to entice clients to take more actions as they progress through the customer lifecycle.
However, in order to function properly, your lead magnet must be related to your target. You will receive many improved returns if it is something they can put to use right away.
At first, a new user to your website is unlikely to embrace your brand. They will be tempted to give you their contact information if you provide quality content for free in the form of a lead magnet.
Understanding your target is the simplest approach to identify what lead magnet to give. This should contain their desires or requirements, desired resolutions, and the complexity of their difficulties.
You must also comprehend how your product would achieve its goals and why they would be fascinated by what you have to offer.
4. Make contact with both new and existing customers
It's easy to get caught up in focusing on new leads while ignoring old consumers. Don't make that mistake. The rationale for this is that your current consumers may become marketing champions for you.
As a result, you must make a concerted effort to keep your current consumers. Sending them sales emails without being aggressive or obnoxious is one simple method to do this.
This, however, should not be used as an excuse to ignore potential consumers. You'll also need them to keep your company running.
How to Improve Your Email Marketing Funnel
1. Don't Forget About Your Business Objectives
Everything you do in your business should be guided by your company goals. If your company's purpose is to produce sales, make sure your email funnel is designed to lead prospects and customers to buy.
Reassess your email funnel on a regular basis and make any required changes to better reflect it with the aims of your company.
2. Create Your Own Funnel
Email marketing funnel layouts aren't awful in and of itself, but you should ensure they fairly reflect your company's client journey. If it doesn't, you'll have to customize it by incorporating missing phases and/or eliminating those that aren't relevant to your firm.
3. Select Quality above Quantity
Other factors why individuals do not read promotional emails are that they receive them too frequently or that they are just dull to read. Two emails each week may outperform five. You don't want to suffocate your customers, or they'll get dissatisfied and unsubscribe from your emails. Instead, focus on delivering high-quality material that they will find useful. You will preserve their interest in your brand and keep them moving along the customer experience in this manner.
4. Establish Quantifiable Objectives
How can you tell whether your email marketing funnel is working if you can't track the outcomes? You may choose to track the number of followers, the click-through rate, the number of downloads, or the return on investment.
You can simply determine if you have a successful email funnel or not if you have systematic and holistic goals. In this manner, you'll know where to tweak your content marketing plan, lower the number of emails, or anything else that has to be tweaked.
