Using Marketing Automation to Turn Subscribers Into Valuable Clients

For most companies the goal is to generate more business from their email marketing and marketing automation. So how do you turn subscribers into clients?

With the helpful ideas in this article, combined with the use of marketing automation features, you can more easily and efficiently create campaigns that increase conversions.

1. Use Surveys to Refine Your Content

By getting to know your subscribers, your business benefits in at least two different ways:

• By understanding the needs of your subscribers, you’ll produce better content for your emails and website. Content plays an important role in addressing your target audiences, so improving your content based on gauging the needs of your target audience, is likely to increase bottom line.
• You’ll be able to segment your email list better, which results in more opens, engagement and higher conversions.

2. Develop an Email Content Strategy

Before developing a strategy, make sure you read this entire article first, because the information in the other sections is necessary for the planning in this one.

In marketing automation the alpha is to build rapport with the new contact. Trust and credibility are baseline requirements that lead to results both directly and in the long run.

This means providing excellent content in a continues manner. You can translate your brand image and to the email communication to achieve a more consistent brand experience. Drip email campaign are a perfect method to do so and align your content with their buying phase. A plan could be to start off with an educational series of 5 – 8 emails in a 30 day stretch. Before adding the new contacts to your regular email program.

Your emails to new subscribers should represent a warm welcome, think about the value represented in the next elements to include:

• A reminder about how they arrived on your list.
• Your business brand and contact information – or a link to it.
• An overview of what they will receive in the future.
• Something to delight them.

After setting up the automated welcome email, use a workflow planner to set conditions, triggers and filters, to send the right emails to new subscribers. More on that in the next section.

Important aspects to take into account:

• Spend time on optimizing subject lines; if they aren’t enticing, emails likely won’t be opened.
• Make your brand message engaging.

3. Make Use of Behavioural Activation Messaging

Use behavioural activation messaging to get better email results. For instance, let’s say you’re an online retailer. You could plan a workflow that goes something like this: a subscriber who opens the welcome email and uses the coupon to get 10% off. A  new subscriber who opens the welcome email but does not click to use the coupon, an email two days later to remind them of their discount, would be a good idea. After purchase they receive another email 3 days later explaining how to use massage to get rid of stress.

Source: GetResponse workflow planner

Grouping people by their behavior and adjusting the email flow can make a big difference.

The emails each group receives are relevant to that specific group. It will show higher open rates and more conversions. A study from MailChimp showed a 14.52% increase in open rates, and a 58.21% increase in clicks from segmentation by their users across the board.

When including emails to elicit sales, continue focusing on the value-add for the contacts. So be sure to show your email list some love and get more in return.

4. Map to the Buying Stage

Statistics show that most of your subscribers will never become paying clients, and it requires careful planning to turn subscribers into clients. This is where the marketing funnel is handy, to help guide you in your email planning.

There are five stages in the marketing funnel. From awareness, when a person first becomes aware of a need for a product / solution all the way down to purchase. Consider mapping your content to fit with the stage someone is in. After you have some rapport with your prospects and they have experienced helpfulness, you will see the subscribers that are ready for it, to become more intentional about what you offer. At this stage, it is appropriate to provide compelling content that goes into your offering.

5. Use Webinars / Demos to See Who is Intentional

The question of course remains, who is ready to buy. A company can use lead scoring, a topic for a whole other article. Even if you haven’t refined your lead scoring tactics. Webinars are a good eway to see who is ready to promote themselves to sales ready leads. At the same time attendees can see how your solution fits their needs, and a demonstration of how your offering can help them.

Once the (live) webinar has taken place, it can be made into a video, so that you can direct other prospects to it.

Summary

Most entrepreneurs are aware they need to incorporate email marketing and marketing automation into their plan to get more customers, but they don’t know how to use emails to solicit sales. By using a marketing automation platform that offers these features, you can tap into ways of turning subscribers into clients.

About Jordie van Rijn

Jordie van Rijn is an independent email marketing consultant and online influencer with a focus on email marketing, marketing automation.