Do Email Marketing Campaigns Work Any More?
Despite the fact that social media marketing is used heavily in the online marketing industry now, the tried-and-true direct 
email marketing strategy is still alive. Having said that, over the past 3 years many online business owners have seen their opt in rates drop dramatically.
- It’s harder to get a prospect to opt in to your list
- Once that person is on your list it’s harder to get engagement.
Direct e-mail marketers have questions about email campaigns, and usually the questions are:
- How many emails are too many emails? I’ve heard many times from clients who “don’t want to bother their list” more than once a week or even once a month.
- How should I structure my email campaigns?
Here’s a real, live email marketing campaign structure that works for this entrepreneur
I thought it would be fun to break down an online business owner’s email campaign. This is woman entrepreneur who offers a service, as many of us do. She has been in business about 3 years, and she has come close to hitting the 7 figure mark, but has not quite yet broken that figure.
It wasn’t hard for me to take a look at this woman’s e-mail campaign sequence (you may call it a funnel) and see that she uses a structure similar to Russell Brunson’s Click Funnels. If you aren’t familiar with Russell’s training let me recommend one of his books, DotCom Secrets. Another book that is very helpful to e-mail marketers is Brian Johnson’s Trust Funnel.
But back to what this woman does in her email marketing campaign.
How Many Emails are too Many Emails?
After a new prospect opts in to this woman’s list she receives a total of 15 emails in 21 days. On three of those days the prospect receives two separate emails on the same day. The emails are a combination of calls to action and content marketing, which I talk more about below.
The strategy many online entrepreneurs use is to build top of mind awareness quickly and push hard to get some type of financial engagement while they are building the know/like/trust factor. Most of the time my clients don’t come close to sending 15 emails in 21 days. If you feel like this is too much remember that in 3 years this woman has built to nearly a million dollar a year business.
Calls to Action
There are four main calls to action in this 21 day email campaign.
- Download the free opt-in
- Purchase a low-cost $7 upsell offer (this is sometimes called a tripwire)
- Join a membership site
- Attend a free webinar
From the prospect’s perspective there is a choice (after receiving the opt in gift) of what to do next. If she doesn’t immediately agree to the $7 upsell she can also eventually choose to try the monthly membership ($1 for the first month) or attend a free webinar.
From the entrepreneur’s perspective she first tries to get a small purchase ($7) immediately after the opt in. If that doesn’t work she goes for a $1 purchase to try her membership. And if that doesn’t work she backs it down to offering a free webinar (which pitches the monthly membership again). Her objective is to engage her prospect to take a next step. If none of that is appealing to her prospect she knows that this person is not her ideal client.
Content Marketing
This woman offers solid content throughout her e-mail campaign, which helps her to establish her expertise and build her know/like/trust factor.
- The opt in offer is a step-by-step how to that is visually appealing and useful
- The immediate $7 offer is a template with step by step fill in the blanks
- One email offers social proof and establishes the credibility of the business
- One email shares the business owner’s own story
- Half the emails offer a graphic branded to the business owner that can be easily shared to social media
- Two emails ask a question and encourage the prospect to respond with her answer
- One email shares more about the business owner’s own philosophy for her life and business
- One email gives a 7 point tip sheet for building a service based business
- Two of the emails (the ones that pitch the monthly membership) offer a long-form sales letter that includes videos, half a dozen client testimonials, and an outline of the system she teaches
Half of the 15 emails offer content, half offer information about the woman and her business, and some of both types offer sharable visual content (a graphic with a quote, ready to share on social). All of the emails included at least one photo or video. Of these, half was shareable content for social and half was a photo of the business owner either alone or with a client.
The goal of this email campaign is the same as almost every email campaign I’ve ever seen – this entrepreneur wants to attract prospects and then get them involved with her and buying something small. For her business this particular structure works. Here’s why it works for her:
- It is pulled together well
- It has consistent and frequent touches
- It offers good content
- It helps her showcase her expertise and what she offers.
I’d love to know your reactions to this. Would you do an email campaign that included 15 emails in 21 days? While I cannot share the exact numbers with you, I know that this women, after 3 years in business full-time (it’s not a side hustle) is very close to breaking a million dollars a year in sales.
If you’ve done a similar campaign please share your general results in the comment section below. Or, if you would not do this, please let me know why. So many others will read your comments and benefit!
By the way, if you need help structuring your own email campaign we can do that in a consultation or as part of an ongoing consulting relationships. Please go to this link for my two hour consultation or email me (sue@confidentmarketer.com) to set up a quick chat. And if you don’t have a system in place to send mail to your list of prospects I recommend Aweber for many of my clients. It’s cost effective and widely used in the online industry.
For more helpful posts about online entrepreneurship please go to my home page and sign up for my emails.
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