If you want to boost your online sales, the first thing you should look at is email. It’s true that social media is getting a lot of attention lately, but email is still the most tried-and-true method to do most of the selling without people realizing it. No matter what we say about social media, email remains how modern business runs, and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. There’s one thing you can do to maximize the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign and that’s by using autoresponders.
Autoresponders are emails that are pre-programmed to be delivered to your clients at a certain time, for as long as you’d like. If you’ve got a fantastic website designed to get clients’ emails, then autoresponder can step in and boost sales. These are some great suggestions to increase your sales by using autoresponders.
- The Welcome Email
Your first autoresponder should be a welcome email to new clients. This is pretty straightforward and most companies already have something like this in place. Instead of sending something generic though, try to focus on the subscribers themselves, what they’re looking for, and how your company can help. It should also include a call-to-action so you’re encouraging your subscribers to do something, by offering a welcome discount, a free information booklet or content bonus for signing up. If you don’t like the idea of selling to your prospective clients immediately, you can start building a relationship instead. Provide your customer service information and your social media links, and make it seem like you’re a friendly face to help them get oriented.
- Don’t Oversend
You also want to space your emails out so you’re not overwhelming your subscribers with messages. When you set up your email autoresponder list, you need to decide how frequently you’ll be sending emails. Jonathan Wiser, a business analyst at Writinity and Draft Beyond, explains that “they should be spaced out over a few days or even a few weeks, but it also depends on your market and your audience. You don’t want to be sending emails too frequently as it may annoy your readers and they will unsubscribe – make sure you have a reason for every email that you send.”
- Case Study Emails
This is one of my favorite recommendations because case studies are extremely effective in selling things. Customers always have doubts about buying products, whether it’s the price, or if the product will be good for them and if it fits their situation and needs. Because you can’t predict this and market to each individual, case studies are a perfect way to showcase your product by putting a face and testimonial to it. You can use case studies to show how successful your product is or to inspire your subscribers to action. This is a really smart move and one that more marketers should be doing.
- Quick Tip Emails
Quick tips are very effective to get the buy-in from your subscribers because it’s something small and easy for them to do instead of something major that requires time to think. Instead of big, lengthy guides, showcasing your product or service in quick steps will encourage users to give it a try. It’s an easy way to generate excitement without overwhelming your audience. By sending quick tips, you build an engaged customer base and encourage them to keep coming back for more quick tips.
- Frequently Asked Questions
You’re bound to have questions by customers; it’s simply inevitable regardless of how clear you are on your website or how simple or well-designed your product is. The best way to do this is to be straightforward with your customers and answer the most common questions you’ve received – you can even use a Q&A format if you prefer. This is very helpful when you’re launching a new service, product, or course, because people want to know certain things before committing or buying. This is an excellent way to sell your product without having a direct sales pitch.
- Ask for Reviews
When you have an online store, it’s very important to have customer reviews: your business depends on them. Unfortunately, once people have purchased from your online store, they’ll often forget about commenting afterwards. Peter Johnson, an entrepreneur at Research Papers UK and Last Minute Writing, shares that “this is where you can shine with an autoresponder email targeted to these individuals and will handle that interaction. This doesn’t need to be a complicated email, but instead simply and kindly ask for reviews.”
- Teach
A great way to sell a product is by teaching, similarly to case studies. To do this, you need to really understand your target audience and know what they might be having trouble with. Do you think that their purchases are affected by how much they know, or don’t know? Having an education email autoresponder will teach your subscribers the steps they need to take or the information they need to know about a service or product.
- Referral Bonus Emails
An excellent way to get more email signups and increase your sales is to offer a bonus for referrals if your subscribers get their friends to also sign up for your mailing list. If you have an email campaign going on, encourage people to get their friends subscribed, and you’ll see your campaign get a huge boost. By adding an email autoresponder that encourages exactly this, you can greatly improve your return on investment (ROI) without making big changes to your email campaign.
- Personalize Emails
The important thing to remember when you’re setting up autoresponder emails is that you don’t want your clients to feel like they’re receiving autoresponders. Most subscribers know that you’re sending mass emails, but it’s still nice to have a personalized email from a company. The way to do this is by adding the name of the subscriber to your email – this is sure to resonate well with your audience, and it’s fairly straightforward to do with email software.
Harry Conley, an editor at Lucky Assignments and Gum Essays, works with clients to develop marketing and workflow strategies to improve business’ plans and increase their sales.