How to Build a High-Converting Email Marketing Funnel

• Faucet into click-boosting techniques. Create a way of FOMO (concern of lacking out) by incorporating Curiosity Indicators (e.g. “50 customers are checking this out!”). Some Litmus prospects have seen a 116% increase in click-through charges (CTR) utilizing this strategy. Moreover, stay polls have confirmed efficient; entrepreneurs have reported a 53% rise in CTR, with some even doubling their rates!

Harness the ability of electronic mail personalization

Create 1:1 experiences utilizing electronic mail personalization that goes past “Hiya, %%first_name%%” with dynamic and real-time content material.

Personalize better

Consideration stage: showcase and reveal your choices

Not all subscribers will turn out to be prospects, but when they’ve made it onto your electronic mail checklist and have been opening and fascinating together with your collection of emails, there’s the next probability they’ll convert. As soon as a subscriber enters the consideration stage, they transition from being a subscriber to a prospect, offering a possibility to seize leads.

Potential prospects are actively evaluating your services or products to find out in the event that they meet their wants. That is your alternative to supply compelling proof that units you aside from the competitors. By showcasing the worth of your choices by means of your electronic mail program, you possibly can assist information their decision-making course of.

Listed below are some methods and content material concepts to fold into these emails:

• Product demos: present video or interactive demonstrations that present the advantages of your product or companies, highlighting their options and advantages.
• Case research/testimonials: showcase success tales, buyer testimonials, case research, social proof, and optimistic experiences from happy prospects, constructing belief and credibility.
• Comparability guides: content material that evaluate your choices with these of opponents, serving to prospects make knowledgeable selections primarily based on clear benefits.
• Behind-the-scenes content material: present a glimpse into your organization’s processes, values, or the folks behind your merchandise, serving to to construct belief and connection.
• How-it-works content material: clarify the performance behind your services or products, addressing frequent questions and considerations to ease the decision-making course of.

Conversion stage: flip leads into prospects

The conversion stage of the e-mail advertising and marketing funnel comes into play when potential prospects are primed to make a purchase order or convert. Subscribers are on the point of determination, and your emails are important for creating confidence in your product and companies—and urgency to transform.

That is the second to leverage your electronic mail content material to supply that last nudge wanted to transform leads into paying prospects.

E mail communication that works properly on the conversion stage of the e-mail funnel consists of:

• Promotional gives: ship unique reductions, limited-time gives, or particular promotions to incentivize purchases and create urgency with a transparent “purchase now” message and powerful call to action (CTA).
• Free trials/consultations: invite potential prospects to expertise your services or products for gratis, or supply a session to showcase your experience and make a persuasive gross sales pitch, together with detailed pricing data.
• Deserted cart emails: attain out to prospects who depart gadgets of their procuring carts with out finishing their buy, encouraging them to return and finalize their transaction.

By frequent A/B email testing, you possibly can considerably enhance your conversion price and maximize the affect of your digital advertising and marketing efforts.

Onboarding stage: the beginning of a brand new relationship

Congratulations—your subscriber has formally turn out to be a buyer! Now it’s time to set the stage for what they will anticipate shifting ahead. Whereas this isn’t the primary time they’ve heard from you, the onboarding part is simply as essential as that preliminary introduction. Your new prospects have entered your world, and it’s your job to be a gracious host.

To maintain them engaged and foster buyer loyalty, they should see fast worth in what you supply. Your first electronic mail within the onboarding collection ought to make a powerful impression, highlighting the way to get probably the most out of your product.

It doesn’t need to be a collection of emails, both. Decide what works finest on your model—a single, complete onboarding electronic mail may be simply as efficient. This onboarding electronic mail from Stark illustrates this successfully:

A rigorously crafted collection of onboarding emails will information them by means of their preliminary expertise. The aim is to make it as straightforward as attainable for them to navigate your services or products. This strategy is vital to enhancing buyer retention and guaranteeing long-term satisfaction.

Onboarding emails are nice contenders for marketing automation: arrange a follow-up, triggered electronic mail (or electronic mail collection) that sends as soon as a subscriber converts from a prospect to buyer.

Retention stage: preserve prospects engaged and happy

On the retention stage, the main target shifts to nurturing your current prospects and guaranteeing they continue to be engaged and happy together with your model. Efficient retention methods not solely encourage repeat enterprise but additionally foster long-term buyer loyalty.

That is the place you possibly can encourage repeat enterprise by means of a thoughtfully designed collection of electronic mail campaigns tailor-made for this particular section of your electronic mail subscribers.

With a sound email segmentation technique, you possibly can ship personalised content material that resonates with their pursuits and wishes. Particularly for those who’ve arrange first-party knowledge seize factors (e.g. with live polls), now’s the right time to let that knowledge shine and give you the results you want.

Your email service provider (ESP) is a good start line for segmentation, however to refine your technique, contemplate an email marketing analytics software like Litmus Email Analytics for superior viewers insights like email read rates, cellular vs. desktop engagement, and extra.

A/B testing will make it easier to refine your messaging and determine the emails that convert finest, guaranteeing that your communications stay related and efficient. Bear in mind, happy prospects usually tend to advocate on your model and refer others, making a cycle of engagement that drives development.

To measure retention, make cross-functional mates

Buyer retention doesn’t occur in a vacuum. Step one to getting aligned on KPIs is working throughout groups.

• Arrange time to speak to different departments, like buyer success and gross sales, about their targets and challenges
• Plot out the whole buyer lifecycle and multi-channel touchpoints with different departments to determine gaps
• Recurrently share electronic mail insights and hearken to different groups about what they study

Examples of buyer retention emails embody:

• Submit-purchase drip campaigns: a collection of automated emails despatched after a purchase order to information prospects by means of product utilization, share suggestions, and encourage suggestions. For instance, a speaker firm would possibly ship a collection of emails that element the way to arrange a newly bought system, troubleshooting suggestions, and buyer help contacts.
• Product suggestions: personalised ideas primarily based on earlier purchases or shopping conduct, enhancing the procuring expertise. As an example, an eCommerce clothes retailer would possibly suggest matching equipment or comparable types to earlier purchases, making it simpler for purchasers to seek out what they love.
• Loyalty applications: emails that promote unique rewards and advantages for returning prospects, encouraging them to take part in loyalty applications. An instance can be a espresso store sending month-to-month updates on reward factors earned and particular gives for loyalty members, fostering a way of belonging and worth.
• Milestone emails: celebrating important moments in a buyer’s journey, equivalent to anniversaries or buy milestones. A subscription service would possibly ship a particular thank-you electronic mail on the anniversary of a buyer’s subscription, providing a reduction on their subsequent field as a gesture of appreciation.
• Birthday emails: sending personalised birthday messages that embody particular gives or reductions to have a good time the client’s big day. For instance, a cosmetics model would possibly ship a birthday electronic mail with a singular coupon code for 20% off any buy, making prospects really feel valued and appreciated.

What does that seem like in motion? Let’s dive into dynamic content email examples for inspiration throughout this part.

PrettyLittleThing

This electronic mail from PrettyLittleThing leverages two key components: 1) CRM knowledge (a subscriber’s birthday) and a pair of) personalised imagery because the hero picture:

With advertising and marketing instruments like Litmus Personalize by your aspect, personalization for eCommerce is  straightforward to create and straightforward to scale.

This message is distributed on a subscriber’s birthday (due to email automation), serving to them personalize at scale.

SurveyMonkey

​​If a buyer has been together with your firm for some time, it’s value celebrating! SurveyMonkey, for instance, sends customers an anniversary electronic mail once they attain their first yr with the platform.

This electronic mail is an ideal instance of the way to successfully use product utilization or CRM data to point out subscribers you really know and worth them.

Incorporating methods like these will assist preserve your prospects engaged and happy, in the end resulting in elevated buyer loyalty and repeat enterprise.

Stand out in crowded inboxes

Create 1:1 experiences at scale with Litmus Personalize. Use stay polls, countdown timers, and extra to captivate subscribers.

Create & engage

Loyalty/advocacy stage: flip happy prospects into model advocates

Who higher to evangelize your corporation than glad prospects? Now that you realize extra about your prospects, sending personalised emails makes them really feel valued and encourages them to unfold the phrase about their expertise.

At this level within the electronic mail advertising and marketing funnel, you’ve gotten cemented your relationship. Now, it’s time to point out your appreciation and retain their enterprise.

The loyalty/advocacy stage can be a key second to proceed offering worth whereas opening doorways for upsell alternatives.

Listed below are a number of emails that work properly throughout this stage:

• Referral program: encourage loyal prospects to refer mates or household in alternate for unique rewards or reductions.
• Gathering suggestions: ask for purchasers critiques or testimonials to achieve insights and enhance your choices, whereas additionally making prospects really feel heard. (Bear in mind to comply with up on the way you carried out their suggestions!)
• Thought management newsletters on your product and business
• Upsell alternatives: emails that promote complementary merchandise or upgrades primarily based on a buyer’s earlier purchases. For instance, a software program as a service (SaaS) firm would possibly ship an electronic mail suggesting premium options or add-ons related to the instruments a buyer has already bought, leveraging personalization data to create a tailor-made expertise.

Giving and receiving suggestions is difficult! However you possibly can take away the obstacles and make it straightforward for subscribers to share their ideas by including a Litmus Personalize Sentiment Tracker to your emails. All it takes is a click on for a subscriber to forged their vote, and no coding expertise is required to create one on your subsequent electronic mail.

Don’t overlook to maintain high-value content material a precedence! Hold delivering assets like useful guides, movies, and different types of content material to additional enrich the client expertise and proceed constructing belief properly past the preliminary buy.

Reactivation/win-back stage: reignite the spark

Has your buyer left? It’s not too late, in the event that they’re a subscriber. Present them you’re nonetheless right here, providing worth, with one thing new and thrilling to deliver them again.

A well-timed, personalised win-back electronic mail—full with a particular supply or a glimpse of what’s modified—can do wonders. Hold it contemporary, related, and remind them why they liked your model to start with.

Trade-specific electronic mail funnels & examples

Monetary companies

Ellevest promotes their electronic mail checklist on their web site and social channels, highlighting the kind of content material and worth subscribers will get from signing up. 

These subscriber’s are actually within the consciousness stage of the e-mail funnel. 

From there, subscribers begin receiving emails that warmly introduces their model, offering instructional content material, taking kind in a newsletter:

As a subscriber strikes down the gross sales funnel and ultimately converts to a buyer, they’re welcomed warmly to Ellevest with a welcome electronic mail that clearly outlines “what’s subsequent” for purchasers looking for their subsequent step: 

Following shortly is an onboarding electronic mail, reminding subscribers of the worth their platform suggests by showcasing what’s attainable by means of the Ellevest answer:

Over time, when a subscriber meets the loyalty/advocacy stage, Ellevest takes the chance to upsell different product choices:

Retail & eCommerce

To advertise their sensible dwelling line, Google sends a e-newsletter that includes a collection of movies on how Google Nest “makes studying new issues straightforward.”

A e-newsletter like that is nice for subscribers within the consciousness and retention stage.

For subscribers within the consideration stage, an electronic mail that introduces a brand new characteristic, partnership or integration may be that last push to assist a prospect turn out to be a buyer, like Nest shares under with their Zoom integration.

Right here, Nest gives a 30-day trial for Nest Conscious, a paid subscription service, driving motion with “Do much more together with your Nest gadgets” for subscribers within the retention stage.

Software program as a service (SaaS)

Campaign Monitor sends a easy “thanks” electronic mail to welcome and onboard new prospects, offering a call-to-action (CTA) for them to simply login to their account.

The following electronic mail incorporates a main call-to-action of getting prospects inside their product. They spotlight the benefit of use, encourage new prospects “Create your first electronic mail” within the topic line of the e-mail:

Parsley Well being sends a e-newsletter referred to as “Rooted,” a weekly e-newsletter stuffed with suggestions, articles, and different content material about “holistic medication necessities” that add worth to subscribers’ high quality of life.

A e-newsletter like that is nice for leads within the consciousness stage in addition to subscribers within the decrease a part of the funnel, just like the retention and loyalty/advocacy stage.

For prospects within the consideration stage, an electronic mail clearly outlines the advantages of your services or products may be efficient for nurturing on the fence subscribers. Parsley Well being does this under, and closes with a limited-time supply to sweeten the deal: