In this blog I’m going to share some insights into the role of a Fractional CMO and why it is important for Startups.
We will explore what duties a fractional CMO typically has, the benefits of hiring one, and how much they can earn.
Finally, we will compare the potential of a fractional CMO to that of a full–time CMO.
With the insights gained from this blog, you can make an informed decision on whether or not a fractional CMO is the right fit for your business. 🚀
If you’re looking for a powerful outbound strategy to reach customers, then email marketing is the way. Remember that it requires focus and an understanding of how your business works.
What is an Email Marketing Funnel?
An email marketing funnel is basically a path where users pass through on their way to becoming your customers.
The purpose of a funnel is to guide your readers through a series of actions. The benefit of this is that it will increase the chances of them buying from you.
The first step to creating an effective email marketing funnel is to identify the different buying stages that exists within a funnel. This is also known as the funnel steps.
Three Easy Steps to Creating a High-Converting Email Marketing Funnel
Even though there are numerous ways you can get people into your email marketing funnel, there are three easy steps to help you engage positively with your subscribers.
Step 1: Generate Leads
There’s one phrase you’ll hear most email marketers say, and that is, “The money is in the list.” Even though this isn’t the only email funnel stage, it is the start of a solid marketing strategy.
Unlike your followers on social media, your email list is your own, and you’ve got better control over how you communicate with them.
You can gather email addresses using two excellent ways, and they include dedicated landing pages and opt-in forms. Or you could also use Prelo 😊
You can embed email opt-ins on your blogs or websites, and the fields usually include only the name and email address of the user.
The focus of dedicated landing pages is on a single lead magnet, which can be a free trial or guide that entices users to enter your email marketing funnel.
As a business owner, you can generate leads for your business with platforms like Prelo. Prospecting platforms like Prelo help you discover and access your ideal customers.
They are very effective, and this will spare you the time you’ll spend creating a landing page and testing ads for your email marketing campaigns.
Step Two: Nurture your Leads
As soon as you’ve found your ideal lead gen tactic, the next step is to begin your outreach. You can segment your leads to offer each lead the best value proposition, review, product, and so on.
Audience segmentation is an activity that you should build into your lead qualification process. Segment your leads dynamically with the right platform, which will happen the moment they sign up.
Segmentation is typically based on demographic data, content interaction and/or website behavior.
To demonstrate the credibility of your brand, customize your lead nurturing emails, make them targeted, valuable and personalized.
Every email is a new chance to develop a relationship with them and help you personalize your emails more based on the activity of your leads. There are even email templates you can find online to help you with the best emails to nurture your leads.
Types of emails to nurture your subscribers:
- A welcome email introducing your business and product/service.
- An “introductory” product offer or discount code for new subscribers only.
- The launch of a new product or service offering, with further information about how best to use it and why customers might find it valuable.
- A follow-up survey asking customers how useful they found the product offer and whether they would be interested in other similar products etc.
While the average email open rate across all industries is 17.92%. For your emails, you should aim for an open rate of over 35%.
There are several email templates online to help you achieve the best open rate. Prelo has created a list of 80 high-converting email templates, and you can check them out here.
Step Three: Convert Subscribers into Clients
Once your subscribers have gotten to Step 3 you are through the first phase of nurturing. You’re now ready to convert them.
Make your subscribers more emotionally attracted to your brand by offering value and building a relationship
You are now at the bottom of the funnel. What you want to do is to continue sending more personalized emails with a focus on an in-depth conversion strategy.
Retaining Your Customers
Once you’ve turned your subscriber into a client, your next task is to retain your them and develop long-term loyalty as this will help extend their LTV (lifetime value). This will increase your marketing return on investment (ROI).
Here are some ways you can retain your customers:
- Keep them engaged with your services or products through a technical update or weekly or monthly progress report subsequently allowing you to stay on top of the mind of your customers
- Match cross-sell and upsell products based on the purchase history of your customers to promote better offers. What you need to take note of here is that you shouldn’t come off salesy; you should rather make them know that you’re providing a better solution.
- Provide referral loyalty campaigns, as this will encourage your customers to tell others about your brand. The offers should include something like earning some points, which will help them get a free item or maybe some percentage off their orders in the future.
Terms Used in Creating an Email Marketing Funnel
Segmentation
Segmentation is the process of dividing your audience into groups based on common traits. You can segment based on demographic data, behavioral data, and even psychographic data (like what they like to read online).
Trigger emails
Use trigger emails to send a message to the customer at a specific point in time. Use them to remind customers about something they have purchased or offer them information about something they have shown interest in.
A good example of trigger email is an email that’s sent after a customer has placed an order on your site. Your trigger email can remind them about your refund and/or your exchange policy.
Another example would be an email sent after a person signs up for your mailing list with instructions on how to unsubscribe from future newsletters, along with links for social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, where users can learn more about your brand by following you there as well.
Drip campaigns
A drip campaign is a series of emails sent to customers over time. These emails are triggered by customer actions on your website or a response to an initial email.
This can be as simple as an email sequence that follows up with the user after they sign up for a free trial. Or it could be more complex and include multiple steps and goals.
For drip campaigns, you can use some email templates as a guide to help you create your own templates.
You can use drip campaigns in a variety of ways:
- Nurture leads – In this scenario, you’re trying to turn visitors into sales leads. The goal is to get people interested in your product as early as possible so you can increase sales down the line. You may also want to establish trust with potential customers so that they’ll buy from you instead of one of your competitors when they do decide it’s time for them to upgrade their current solution or purchase something new altogether.
- Lead generation – You might not have any products yet but still want some way of turning online traffic into potential customers, perhaps even future employees! Allowing people who come across your site an opportunity to at least consider working with.
Abandoned carts
If you have an e-commerce platform, you can use email to reach out to customers who have abandoned their carts. This is a great way to offer them a discount and ask them to come back and complete the purchase.
To do this, use a custom domain (e.g., @yourdomain.com) and make sure people are aware of the discount!
Re-engagement emails
Re-engagement emails are an essential part of a multi-channel marketing strategy. They can be used to keep your audience engaged and bring them back to your brand, such as after they’ve unsubscribed from your email list or abandoned the shopping cart.
Re-engagement emails are typically sent to customers who have recently made a purchase but haven’t converted into regulars yet. This means that when someone buys something from you, you should send them a re-engagement email.
Re-engagement emails can also be sent out more regularly if there is a good reason for it—for example, if someone has used their account recently but doesn’t make any purchases during that time period (or even months). For agencies and Startups this could be based on website visitors.
Customer surveys
Customer surveys are a great way to get feedback from your customers. Surveys can help you understand what your customers want, what they need, and how you can improve your service. You can use customer surveys for a variety of reasons. For example:
- Get feedback on specific products or services.
- Understand how much value a particular product or service provides
- Find out why customers choose to continue using your brand.
Email Marketing Tips
Email marketing is a powerful way to reach customers, but it requires focus and an understanding of how your business works. Here are some tips for using email marketing to engage effectively with clients in the Startup industry:
- Segmentation is key. Don’t send the same email to everyone on your list—that’s a sure-fire way to lose subscribers who are interested in what you have to say. Segmentation allows you to send specific emails based on customer interests and past behaviors like buying patterns or abandoned carts.
- Use trigger emails sparingly (but use them). Trigger emails can be helpful if used strategically but be careful to do them sparingly because they can become annoying fast if not done properly! I recommend sending trigger emails only when there’s something important happening in your business (like new product launches) or when someone hasn’t opened an email from you recently—for example: “We missed you! We’ve got some great new products coming out soon.”
- Drip campaigns are great for building relationships over time with customers who share similar interests; they’re also useful for encouraging users back into the funnel after abandoning their shopping cart during checkout (which can happen if the site loads slowly). The best part about drip campaigns? You get more data about each user, so make better decisions about how long until now before sending them another message again!
Conclusion
So, now you know more about email marketing funnels. But this only scratches the surface of what you can do with them. The key takeaway is that they’re flexible enough to work for any business and any product or service in their outbound marketing campaign.
You just need to make sure your funnel has a strong purpose and direction, then use it to guide customers toward some kind of goal (such as purchasing your digital agency or consulting service).
If you’re creating an email marketing funnel for agencies, you can use Prelo to get email marketing leads, which is the easiest way of completing the first step of your email marketing funnel.
We hope this article gave you some inspiration on how these funnels can be used in different ways depending on your industry! Happy Prospecting…
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