So you’ve taken the plunge and invested in an exciting new automation tool to improve your email marketing. Ontraport, ActiveCampaign, or something else – any of these tools will provide you the capabilities to target your audience effectively, create powerful and compelling campaigns, and achieve high conversions which lead to sales. But many businesses aren’t using close to the full capabilities of these wonderful systems. With some planning, integrations with your website and sales platforms, there are a whole range of tactics you can try to make your business more successful. Let’s explore some ways that you can best utilise these systems to your advantage!
> Ask for reviews
Especially when you’re building up your business, reviews can be incredibly powerful when it comes to helping your potential customers gain trust in your brand. Not only that, but they can be used as content elsewhere, such as your social media. But people often forget to leave a review, unless they are EXTREMELY unhappy, or EXTREMELY happy. But why not send a quick email a week or two after their order was due to arrive or a job completed, with a direct link to your Facebook review tab or Google listing, and ask them to take 5 minutes to give you a review! Setting this up as an automated email is a simple task, and as an added incentive you could offer them a discount on their next purchase for doing so.
> Save time with Auto Reply FAQs
Many retailers find customers email asking the same questions again and again – such as;
How long will it take for my product to arrive? Do you accept returns if I don’t like the item? Using your automation tool of choice, you can set up a polite auto-response email answering their key questions and this may just save you the time of responding to non-urgent queries such as this. While it’s still important to get back to your enquiries, this basic setup will allow you to focus on the important and the urgent tasks.
>Increase your conversions with ‘Abandoned Cart’ emails
Don’t underestimate the amount of increased conversions you can capture with a simple abandoned cart email! If your automation tool can do this, THIS will be a game changer for your business! There are so many reasons a visitor to your website might leave mid-way through a transaction. Perhaps their laptop died, they got distracted with something else, who knows? Setting up an automated email to these customers reminding them that you’ve ‘saved’ their cart is a great way to increase your sales without having to do a whole lot more work.
> Maximise return customers with a ‘Thanks for your order!’ Email
Your ‘Thank you for ordering’ email doesn’t have to be cut and dry with simple information on their order. Don’t forget – offer a discount on their next order or to share with friends, ask them to tag your business Instagram in any photos or add a hashtag, remind them to like your Facebook page for updates on offers and competitions!
> Turn prospects into customers
While you may have a significant number of contacts on your subscription list who aren’t ready to buy from you just yet, sharing consistent, useful content and offering some insights into how you may be able to help is a key way to gain trust, credibility and hopefully – a sale. You can do this using any basic automation tools, and send a series of emails as a follow up, after a prospect has gotten in touch with you. They may sign up for a free resource, ask for a quote, or simply visit your website. In terms of what content to include in your emails, ask yourself – as a customer, what type of information would help inform you, and help you make a decision? Taking the time to setup these ‘nurture’ campaigns will minimise the amount of back-and-forth with leads that didn’t quite convert, and build a relationship in the long term.
We’ve spent years helping businesses of all sizes and from many industries optimise their automation and campaigns when just getting started – we’d love to do the same for you! Get in touch and setup a time to chat – click here.
Jovana Vujnic
Head Honcho | Marketing Automation Expert | Evil Twin Sister
Jovana is the Founder of Bumper Leads - a marketing automation agency that helps businesses simplify and automate their sales and marketing systems to help them save time and money.
She is a former body builder turned fast food junkie turned automation geek.
When she is not watching Cobra Kai on Netflix, she shares interesting marketing advice on our podcast called Marketing Automation Made Simple. This is where she helps overwhelmed business owners build smart marketing growth systems so they feel excited and in control of growing their businesses.
You can always follow her on social media to see what she's up to.