Before putting anything in your emails, before even choosing an email marketing template or writing any copy, you have to know what kind of email campaign you are working on. There are several, but for this article lets stick to two:
To use a real life example, let’s say that you’re a tax accountant. Many of your customers will only use your services once each year. This falls under category 2. If you have been providing them with useful information and updates throughout the year, they are likely to automatically call you when they decide to act on their taxes. This is the result of more than just familiarity. Your information will be educating them on how to save money from taxes and how to avoid problems. If you have been giving good advice, they will come to see you as the go-to person for taxes. In other words, the expert. Category 2 is for business you can wait for. This is more of a newsletter format, and your main job here is to provide information that they find valuable to read, all the while building up your authority.
Say, though, you have found a wonderful investment plan that will help them shelter their income from taxes, but the deadline for applying is a few month away, and you them to take advantage of it while the opportunity is open. Or say you have an off-season special to help with their tax planning at 30% off your usual rates. Either one of these may have time limits on them, and they may be now or never purchases. This would fall into category 1. You need a response fairly soon if you are to make this sale.
There is a rule in marketing that a potential customer must be exposed to a product or ad, on average, about 7 times before they act on making a purchase. Maybe the first time the idea is suggested, they just let it go by. By the 3rd and 4th time, they have already become comfortable with the idea that the offer exists. It is no longer new or foreign to them, and they might open up a bit to consider it for themselves. If you gently explain the offer, then follow up with social proof, give more compelling reasons to buy, and provide deeper explanations of how it applies to their situation, you might just have a buyer by the 7th email. If it’s dead on target, of course, they will buy sooner than that.
So for category 1, what do you do for the first 6 emails? Assuming they already know who you are, you can start by explaining what problem is solved by the tax shelter investment. You can explain how recent changes have made it attractive, and how recent changes have perhaps made tax shelters of the past less attractive. You might follow with a case study of clients, or even non-clients, have used this investment, and how much they saved by doing so. You might explain coming changes that will make this an important thing to decide on now.
Another mail might cover all of the possible objections the client might have. Describe how trustworthy the investment is, confirm that it is legal, describe any risk in detail. Sit down and think of anything they might be thinking that would hold them back from buying.
The mail following that might answer objection regarding cost. You can explain how this investment is not an expense, but a way to have more money in the future and protect their assets now. If you build a solid case, they may still be held back by cash flow problems. In one of your emails, find ways to make it affordable for them. Use payment plans, limited plans, or whatever else you can offer to make it easy for them to do the right thing.
You will find that the bulk of your business will come by the time they receive the 7th email. Of course, there will be business after that, but it will tail off dramatically. For most of your email marketing recipients, if they haven’t jumped by the 7th email, they probably will not buy the product or service you are offering. That’s fine, as you can revert to newsletter mode, and still make money from them in the future.
