Email Funnels

An email funnel is an automated chain of messages that market a service or product in a non-invasive way. It is supposed to be gentle guiding towards a purchase.

Some of the benefits are:

• a steady stream of new leads

• a marketing system that works around the clock

• a process that builds not just customers but fans

• increases opportunities to sell

An email funnel can be made of a minimum of three emails and work up to a much higher number of more sophisticated funnels inside of funnels.

There are so many ways to write an email funnel. This class proposes one way that is, by no means, the ONLY way.

The email funnel you will write will consist of the following parts:

• Lead Magnet

• Tripwire

• Welcome Email

• Awareness of Product or Service Email

• Pain Point Email

• Solution to Pain Point Email - offer the sale

• FAQ Email

• Hard Sell Email

• Thank-You Email

Get ready to do a lot of writing! Before you write, read an example of each type of writing that you will produce for your business.

Here is the model:

Read the model and:

1) identify the main idea, claim or theme (the message and purpose);

2) critique how effective the message was in fulfilling the purpose;

3) justify your answer with contextual evidence and examples from the real world.

You do not need to write this out - you may discuss it with your teacher!

Assessment Criteria: ELA 1.2 Green

The success of an email campaign can be measured in several ways. One of those is through open rates.

Open rates are calculated on the percentage of delivered emails that are opened and the images are enabled or an internal link is used. The average open rate in 2020 was 21.3% (MacDonald).

The higher the open rate, the more likely you are to make a sale. The more sales you make, the more money you earn. Therefore, it is important to optimize emails to get people opening them. On average, a typical office worker receives 120 emails a day! Your job is to optimize your emails in such a way that they WANT to open yours.

Typically, the welcome email has an extremely high open rate. That means that this is prime real estate! Your welcome email will set the tone for future emails and whether they get opened or not.

There are so many aspects to email marketing that you can study and apply to your emails, but for this assignment, let's start with the basics.

1. Optimize for mobile reading. 81% of all emails are opened on a mobile device and if they are not optimized, then 80% delete it immediately!

2. Use a name in your email address.

3. A subject line of 6-10 words that catches the reader's attention

Email Content

Once the email has been opened, the content must be easy to read and engaging. Look at this email below. It is not a welcome email, but it's got a lot going for it - great subject line, broken down into small chunks, utilizes bold words, has a cute Gif video...it's so good.

Email Open Rates: A Scientific, Step by Step Guide for 2021 (superoffice.com)

Nobody will buy anything if they don't first have complete understanding of two things:

1. What it is

2. How it will be of benefit to them

This email is all about raising awareness of your company and your services. It should focus on what your company offers that others don't - what makes you different from the competitors.

Use the guide below to complete assignment 5 and write the Awareness Email.

A pain point is a specific problem that prospective customers are experiencing. Here are some examples:

"Ah, if I could just buy a product to solve my problem, I would be so happy!"

This is the feeling that people want!

Your product or service should make them fell like they absolutely cant' live without whatever you are offering.

This is it.

Time to sell!

Your last email really got your potential customer thinking about the problem. So, you should probably refer back to that email. Remember that a funnel is a sequence - one email builds off of the other.

Now, comes the solution.

Use the guide in Assignment 7: Solution to Pain Point Email to construct an email that solves problems!

FAQ Emails and even website pages are SO. GOOD.

Think like your potential customer and ask questions they might have. If you need help, ask someone who is part of your target audience to think of some potential questions.

Structure it like a Q & A.

Easy peasy.

Ugh, this is the hard one - at least for me.

It's the "LAST CHANCE" and "DON'T MISS OUT!" email that is the hard sell.

The real secret is to put pressure on the potential customer to buy, but not be pushy or salesy. So hard to do.

In this email, you can remind the potential customer of their pain point and that this is the best solution - better than the competitors. You can also put some gentle pressure by writing:

• what a great deal they are getting

• time is running out and the price is going to go up

• money back guarantee (if you offer one)

• client testimonials

The example below is such a great example of a "last call" email that is fun, not pushy, but super-motivating!

The long-standing culture of sending thank-you notes might be dying, but the truth is that everyone loves to be thanked!

Don't forget to thank you customer for...

...trusting you.

...supporting your business.

...choosing you over the competition.

...loving your product.

You can use this email to ask for testimonials too! Then, you can turn around and use those tesitimonials on your site and in future email funnels.

Now that you have finished your email funnel, schedule a discussion with your teacher and three peers.

Before the discussion, you will need to prepare information to present to the group and questions to ask them. Use this guide to prepare:

1. Create norms and present them to the group. Ask for feedback - if anyone wants to add or change any of the norms.

2. Be prepared to explain to the group what the purpose and function of an email funnel is.

3. Develop questions to ask the group that are related to buying, selling, and marketing. You can also ask questions that lead to specific feedback on your project.

You can do this either on a blank Google Doc on on the document embedded below:

Assessment: ELA 3.1 and 3.2 - see continuua below