People are much more likely to buy from an email than straight from a social media platform.
Yet, it’s underused and overlooked by many small businesses who associate email marketing with newsletters only, or worse, spam.
So today I want to share 7 different ways you can boost your sales using e-mail marketing, that you might not have thought about.
1. Welcome your subscribers with a sequence of emails.
After confirming subscription and delivering a freebie, many businesses will do one of the following:
A – Not email their subscribers again until they have something to sell.
B – Add them straight to their regular newsletter without further introductions or value.
This is a huge miss opportunity to introduce your new subscribers to your business and to connect with them on a deeper level.
People are most interested in your business when they first subscribe. So much so, that open rates for welcome emails can reach 70%.
Take this opportunity and WOW your audience by sending a sequence of emails that tells them:
Who you are, what you do and why you do it.
Your story and why they should care.
Share your best content.
Ask them to follow you on social media.
Ask them a question to help you understand and serve them better.
When you make an offer, your subscribers will know who you are and why they’re receiving an email from you, increasing your chances of selling.
2. Set up Automated Sales Funnels
You can use your e-mail software to set up automated email sequences with the aim of selling your products and services.
A sales sequence can be part of your welcome sequence but not necessarily.
A small percentage of people will buy soon after discovering you. But most people will need time to get to know you, like you and trust you.
It’s important to set up sales sequences at difference stages of the customer journey, moving your subscribers from leads to first time buyers, repeat customers, and premium customers.
Depending on your business and industry, a sales email sequence can look somewhat like this:
1. Make an offer
2. Testimonials, reviews or case study
3. FAQs
4. Reminder of your offer (time sensitive)
With modern email software you can tag people based on their interests, past behavior and previous purchases to help you make relevant offers.
3. Research your audience and tailor your offers.
Email shouldn’t be a one-way road. You can use it to ask questions, research your audience, and have conversations with your subscribers, which will lead to:
– A loyal audience who believe you care about them.
– Great insights into your market, their needs, wants, and frustrations, which you can use to tailor your offers.
You will sell more if you make your offers relevant to the people you send them to.
4. Set up abandoned cart e-mails to recover “lost” sales.
If you sell products, an abandoned cart email sequence is a must.
Data shows that about 70% of people abandon cart without finalizing their purchase. That number hurts!
It’s important to check that your website checkout process is as smooth as can be. But bear in mind that people are busy and easily distracted, which leads to abandoned carts.
By sending a short email sequence reminding your customers they forgot to complete their purchase will help you recover around 15% of your sales.
That’s an easy and inexpensive thing to do in order to increase your sales by 15%.
5. Promote special offers.
Special occasions can help boost your sales throughout the year.
Create a promotional calendar, including special dates, and send your subscribers an email, or a sequence of emails, promoting your:
EOFY sales
Black Friday deals
Mother’s Day
Father’s Day
Christmas and Boxing Day
Easter
Valentine’s Day
Your business anniversary
Your customers’ birthdays (if you have the data)
Don’t just promote your special offers on social media. Promote them to your subscribers too.
6. Re-order products or follow up service
If you sell products, they will finish or become old and obsolete at some point.
You can set up emails based on when your products were purchased reminding previous customers to re-order them. Don’t leave it to chance, they might buy the same product from your competitors.
If you sell services, you can also send an email offering a follow up appointment, or yet, a different service altogether.
For example, a chiropractor can offer a follow up appointment or offer a massage.
It’s much easier to sell again to previous customers than to acquire new ones.
7. Support your paid advertising campaigns
If you’re using paid advertising, you should support your campaign by coordinating your emails to promote the same offer.
Ensure your email campaigns and paid advertising are related and support one another.
Some studies show a 20% increase in sales when email marketing and paid advertising are combined into one cohesive campaign. Not bad hey!
These tips barely scratch the surface of what you can achieve using email marketing. But if you apply some of these tips to your business, you’ll see an increase in sales and customer retention.
