Email Funnel Marketing: Optimize Conversions with Clever Automation Workflows
Automated success for your business: give your customers what they want with the right email funnels.
A good product on its own does not attract any customers – nor does it convince them to buy it. You need to draw the attention to your products and get your customers excited about the product they didn’t know they desire.
Automated email funnels come in extremely handy. While lifecycle email marketing in particular serves for strengthening customer retention – which is also an essential component when it comes to increasing conversions – automated newsletter funnels help arousing attention and generating the wish to buy your products.
Creating Your Own Funnels with the AIDA Model
But what actually is “Funnel Marketing”? Funnel can be understood literally: in the upper wide part of the funnel, a customer doesn’t really know your product yet but first takes notice of it. The more they start comparing and researching, the deeper they dive into the funnel until, in the best case, they become active and buy your product.
The oldest form of this funnel is the AIDA model that still applies even to complex customer journeys of each customer:
- Attention: Your customer gets to know a product or solution.
- Interest: They get interested in your product or solution.
- Desire: They are convinced of the product/ solution and want it.
- Action: They buy the product or solution.
You want to address your customer in a way they get the max of relevant information they need at the stage of their customer journey. Create the right emails for each stage of the funnel and increase engagement with your content and products – and eventually also your conversions.
Building Up an Email Funnel: These Automation Workflows Are Part of it!
This targeted approach via newsletter requires a precise analysis. Give thought to these central questions:
- Which target group(s) do you want to address? Incorporate personal data (age, gender, etc.) to define your target group.
- What stage of the customer journey are your customers in: prospects, new customers, existing customers or inactive customers?
- What’s the trigger: a subscription, purchase, abandoned cart etc.?
Depending on the stage of the customer journey your (potential) customers are in, you can react to the needs of your target group with email marketing automation:
Email Automation Workflows for Prospects and New Customers
Prospects of your offer just want to “take a look around” – in this early stage of the funnel you can already generate micro-conversions, e.g. through a click on exciting blog posts on your website. Sending out attractive specials via email arouses interest and desire in your customers and lures them deeper into your sales funnel.
For prospects:
- Prompt prospects to subscribe to your newsletter
- Automated welcome email/ series after a subscription
- First trigger emails, e.g. including starter offers (discounts) after a click in your welcome email
For new customers:
- Thank You email with a follow-up discount for their next purchase
- Neat transactional email (e.g. on the delivery status of their order)
- Multi-level campaigns with cross- and up-selling offers
- Themed emails for several occasions, e.g. Christmas
- Satisfaction surveys after a purchase
Customer Retention via Newsletter Funnel
The first purchase is done – congratulations! Now it’s your task to keep your new customers loyal in the long run. Occasional online shop discounts are a good way to go, however, you should not rely on discounts alone. Helpful tips on your products (especially if they’re in need of explanation) and details on your latest launches you make customers feel like you’re still with them on every step of their journey and they don’t miss out on anything that’s going on in your business.
Email automation workflows suited for existing customers:
- Product recommendations based on previous purchases
- Follow-up emails for unopened newsletters
- Exclusive offers
- Birthday and anniversary emails
- Service reminders
Keep the Churn Rate Low with Email Automation
It often is the run of events that you lose at least some of your customers from time to time. To keep this churn rate as low as possible, you should react to the slightest hints of leaving with email automation workflows. Approach inactive newsletter subscribers in particular with an email funnel and try to be helpful to them:
Automated reactivation emails:
- Reactivation emails containing special offers
- Reminder emails, e.g. on not yet redeemed discounts
- Abandoned Cart Emails
- Supporting newsletters, e.g. help on filling out information
- Survey emails, e.g. “How can we help you?”
Take your marketing to the next level with CleverReach!
Register now for free and get started:
Email Funnel Marketing
Setting up an email marketing funnel has never been easier: once you have created them, each recipient in your database gets the right automated newsletter at the right time, including personalized and relevant content.
Set up the conditions for sending out your automation email in your CleverReach account in our THEA Automation Center. Not only can you schedule a series of emails, but also set up branches. Our automation tool recognizes who has or hasn’t opened your email or clicked a link. This detail is reported back to the funnel and depending on their actions, your subscribers receive a follow-up or different email then other subscribers. You just need to create these emails once and then sit back.
You’ll see – developing and setting up all the automation emails you need is worth it. Even after just a short period of time you’ll notice the immediate effects. Send your subscribers content based on their behavior: that automatically makes your customer communication a lot more personal and profitable!
