Okay - it's time to move on with ....
THE 14-STEP RECIPE FOR EFFECTIVE AUTOMATED EMAIL FOLLOW UP
This is obviously the first, and most important step. But it might also be important at this point to mention that we are talking here exclusively about opt-in (or permission-based) email marketing, and not about any form of spam, email address harvesting, or other unethical (and illegal!) rubbish.
A true "opt-in" subscriber has volunteered her address and given you "permission" to send emails to her address - usually in exchange for something of value that you offer free of charge on your website.
And at the risk of redundancy, I'll say it again - in this guide we're talking only about opt-in subcribers that you gather from your website .... the only kind you should want to begin with.Still, Step 1 - getting individuals to give a stranger their email address - is probably the most difficult to accomplish of all the steps involved. To help that process along, I always add a "privacy" statement below my sign up forms that looks something like this one:
Note also that I'm asking only for a first name and email address. Asking for too much information on the first contact can seriously reduce the response to your offer. Remember that the trust factor, while critical to your long term success, must be earned and developed over time. Don't take it for granted.
There are several ways you can entice visitors to submit your form. You can offer them a free subscription to your newsletter, a mini email course, a special report, an ebook, and so on; basically anything that doesn't cost you much to deliver, but will still be of high perceived value to the prospect.
But that may not be as easy as it seems. At least, not anymore.A few years back we could gather new subscribers in droves with the simplest of offers. Internet users were hungry for new knowledge, and they responded well to practically any offer for free information or a free download.
Later, as always seems to happen, the water became muddied by crooks, scammers, and the grossly untalented who caught on to this tactic as well.
They burned a lot of people (and still do) by providing trashy products and information - cramming inboxes with junk mail - selling subscriber addresses to spammers. It's no wonder that many Internet users are now gun-shy, even toward a legitimate free offer.
Not much different than making sales, where your offer must be better than your competition, even your free offers must be so good the new subscriber just can't resist. This will require a bit of work and imagination on your part, and probably a bit of research to see what your competitors are doing.
In fact, your free offer should be so good that it could command a price.But at the same time, be careful that you don't reveal everything on the first rattle. The free material you offer should provide only a small taste - a sample - just enough to whet the prospect's appetite and make them want more.
Think for a minute about the sample servers you see in your local supermarket. They will gladly tweak your taste buds with a small tidbit of some new delicacy impaled on a toothpick.Their only purpose however, is to arouse your desire for the product - to make you want more. But you're not allowed to stand there and eat the entire plate for free! If you want to eat more - you must buy it.
And of course, they have stacks of that delicious product conveniently within arm's reach, ready for you to buy. Then, if you don't buy immediately, they will at least keep you "on the hook" by offering you a coupon toward a later purchase.
So to keep new subscribers "on the hook" - I also tell them that I will send out an additional bonus within the next few days, and to watch their email for the announcement.
I’m doing this for two reasons:
1 - I don’t want them to immediately unsubscribe after they receive the first free offer
2 - I want to create a sense of anticipation in their minds (Very important!)
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One issue you should consider at this point is whether to use a "single opt-in" or a "double opt-in" sign up process for your new subscribers.
Single opt-in means that once they complete and submit your form, your new subscriber will immediately be added to your list.
Double opt-in requires the new subscriber to complete a two-part process.
1. complete and submit your form. 2. click a confirmation link in the first email that is sent to them.
In a double opt-in process, the new subscriber will not be added to your list until s/he receives the first email and clicks the confirmation link.
It is generally acknowledged by experienced email marketers that the double opt-in process provides better protection (for you) against false spam complaints, and will often produce a more responsive list.
However, when using the double opt-in process a percentage of new subscribers will (for whatever reason) never click the confirmation link in the first email, and will not be added to your mailing list. Therefore, the number of new subscribers you actually get over any period of time will be at least somewhat reduced.
This is just my opinion, so take it or leave it as you see fit. But I would prefer to have a smaller yet more responsive (and safer to work) double opt-in list as opposed to a larger list of lazy or uncommitted people who will not follow through with a simple double opt-in process.
Of course, the method you use is yours to choose.Most good autoresponder softwares provide double opt-in capability, and some online autoresponder services now require all new subscribers to confirm their subscription through a double opt-in process before they will be added to your mailing list.
------- END SIDEBAR ------The next autoresponder message in the sequence thanks them for downloading the special report and asks if everything went okay. "Were there any problems downloading or viewing the file?"
With this email, I also include a very short report containing answers to some common downloading/viewing questions that I would usually get from people. A small troubleshooting article, if you will.
I then inform them about the additional bonus they will receive from me, a free subscription to my popular 'marketing newsletter' which they will start receiving within the next few days. I also tell them that they can unsubscribe at any time, if they choose to do so.
If they liked the 'special report' I sent to them in Step 1, there's a pretty good chance that they will want to check out my newsletter. In this note, I also list a "summary of benefits" of my newsletter. In other words, I give them lots of reasons to want to try out my newsletter.
Now...why am I not offering them a newsletter subscription to begin with instead of starting with a special report first?Because, I've found that it's much easier to get them to try a one-time deal (an article) than to have them subscribe to a regular (weekly/monthly) publication. This is why I offer the newsletter in Step 2, after they've gotten a taste of my work through the article requested in Step 1.
See, I am getting them to take "baby-steps" towards my desired outcome instead of asking them to jump in with both feet. The latter gets much more resistance.(Mini email courses seem to work well for Step 1 as well, which is basically an ebook or a large article, broken up and mailed out in sections.)
NOTE: You'll want the reader to become accustomed to receiving emails from you. So the subject line of all your emails (within each particular autoresponder sequence) should start with the same words.
This is very important because it lets the reader know right away who the email is from, and what it probably contains. If you've done a good job of creating anticipation in the reader’s mind, she will always be responsive when your emails arrive. And that is exactly what you want.