email campaign – Almost An Author

Welcome Email Series Example: Part 1

When a new subscriber signs up for a Lead Magnet (those 3–10-page free resources we offer in exchange for a subscriber’s first name and email address), we’re wise to send them a Welcome email series.

Why?

To connect with them person-to-person instead of digitally “tossing” them the promised resource and then returning to whatever we were doing.

Below you’ll see the first of the four actual emails I sent when delivering–in this case–a free resource titled Titles That Fit. It coordinates with a workshop I delivered by that same name at a conference.

Watch for the remaining three Welcome emails over the next three months.

(Notice the red asterisks and their coordinating, strategic comments after the email content.)

***

Email #1 Title: Do You Write Titles or Craft Them?

Content: Hi, [first name]! Good to (digitally) meet you at (insert conference title here ’23)!

I enjoyed serving you via my workshop, Titles That Fit.

Thanks very much for requesting my workshop’s Slide Deck. It will arrive *tomorrow. I pray you find it a valuable reference.

** For now, let’s chat about you, shall we? 🙂

What’s the difference between writing a title and crafting one?

The first seems simple. We begin our project with a working title then invest hours, months, or years writing our content. We know it well. Tweaking our title’s final version should be a cinch, yes?

Strangely, that familiarity can keep us from writing our best title. Why?

Because when we’re so close to our content, we often come up with a title that’s generic without realizing it. Trying to capture the overall concept, we may go too broad.

Imagine attending a party when a new acquaintance asks why you do / did love your spouse. How can you choose The Perfect Answer in only 30 seconds?

In such situations, we go wide instead of deep, weakening our answer at the very moment we want to be precise.

It’s like that with our titles sometimes.

On the other hand, great titles are crafted. Let’s talk about that next time.

Watch for my email ***tomorrow (unless today’s Sunday–then it will be sent out Monday).

It will include the link to my Slide Deck for Titles That Fit.

Till next time,

Patricia

**** P.S. I usually attend (insert name of conference here) but could not this year, so be sure to give me a hug at next year’s conference. Deal? 🙂

————————————–

Strategies for Email #1

In the Strategy List below, you’ll find a duplicate of every sentence above shown with an asterisk, then my strategy, so you don’t have to scroll up and down the page constantly. You’re welcome. 🙂

#1: It will arrive in your Inbox *tomorrow.

(Why not just send the Lead Magnet’s link with this first email or attach it to the email? Because I want a valid reason to connect with them again very soon after my initial contact.)

#2: **For now, let’s chat about you, shall we? 🙂

(The first three sentences in this paragraph contain our “business.”

In this fourth sentence in my first Welcome email, I turn the conversation fully upon the reader by sharing an awkward story describing a situation we’ve all suffered through. Writing in a conversational manner, I hope my choice of words creates a sense of “you and I are in this together” mindset for my reader.

If they’ve been in an awkward situation–even if it’s not the one I shared–we have an additional point of connection. That’s a good thing. 🙂

#3: Watch for my email ***tomorrow (unless today’s Sunday–then it will be sent out Monday).

(This is a casual, non-aggressive reminder that I fully intend to deliver the promised free resource, but not today. It’s bolded so it will draw their eye–they’re more likely to read it. And it’s above my signature instead of randomly placed in a paragraph “somewhere” on the page.

The italicized text lets my reader know I don’t send emails on Sundays.

This is a personal choice and not a typical one, so it needs to be mentioned. No need to explain how or why I made that decision; that’s not the point.

The point is if they subscribe on a Sunday, they can expect the promised information on Monday.

#4: **** P.S. I usually attend (insert name of conference here) but could not this year, so be sure to give me a hug at next year’s conference. Deal? 🙂

(This is a subtle way to let my subscriber know I’m familiar with the conference mentioned. I’m a member of the same group, so I’m part of their world, not just “the world at large.”

I’m inviting them to connect with me in person without using those words.

See how it can work? 🙂

Patricia Durgin is an Online Marketing Coach and Facebook Live Expert. She trains Christian writers and speakers exclusively, helping them develop their messaging, marketing funnels, conversational emails, and Facebook Live programs. Patricia hosted 505 (60-minute) Facebook Live programs from 2018-2020. That program is on indefinite hiatus. She’s also a regular faculty member at Christian writers and speakers conferences around the country.

Website: marketersonamission.com
Facebook: MarketersOnAMission

Your Guide to Writing Effective Email Drip Campaigns

Email campaigns work wonders. It’s true that emerging college graduates consider email an outdated form of communication, but the rest of us still happily open and read the informative goodies stashed in our inboxes.

Companies, in particular, rely on email. It’s cheap and effective. So they send us information, articles, coupons, stories, and videos through email. Most marketers use a drip campaign, which is a series of automated emails created in advance, sent over time, and intended to accomplish a single goal.

The folks at Pinpointe Marketing tell us that drip campaigns get 80% higher open rates than single emails and generate 50% more sales ready leads. These leads make larger purchases more often than those who don’t experience the drip campaign.

What does all that mean for us writers? Drip campaigns make money for businesses and nonprofits. In turn, they fork out cash to savvy copywriters who create their email content.

How to write an email drip campaign:

Add value to your reader’s life.

Do you read every email you get from all the lists you signed up for? Of course not. No one does. You open the messages that appear to give you something valuable, such as a coupon, a free gift, helpful information, or valuable connections.

When you compose a marketing campaign, send something free with each email. It can be a link to a blog article or ebook, a short video clip, or a coupon. You don’t have to give 50% off every time, but you do need to make sure your recipients have a reason to click “open.”

Test everything.

Unless you’ve run tests, you don’t know what works for your readers. Choose different kinds of subject lines. Vary the length of your emails. Try image-heavy versus text-heavy content. Send the emails on different days of the week and under different signatures.

Too many writers decide that short form copy works or that images aren’t necessary without knowing for sure what engages their unique audience. If you have 5-10 emails in a campaign, you have a lot of opportunities to uncover the truth about what your readership will respond to.

Use a warm, friendly style.

Gone are the days when marketers could send out emails that sounded like corporate memos or old-timey letters. Today, few readers perceive a formal message as respectful. Instead, they think it’s cold or impersonal.

How can you sound friendly in online communication?

Avoid corporate speak such as “attached, please find a copy of the document referenced above.”
Use first and second person pronouns. “I” and “you” are friendly words.
Be positive. A single negative sentence may convey powerful emotion. More than that, and your email starts to sound whiney and critical.
Use contractions. I know your teachers told you never to do that, but I’m telling you it’s time for a contraction revolution.
Strive for the active voice. It’s unbelievable how sneakily the passive voice can creep into your writing. To fix it, copy your text into Hemingway. This free app highlights in green every passive voice sentence in your document. Rephrase your passive voice sentences until the green disappears.
Don’t overdo it. There’s a fine line between corny and creative. If a client, editor, or friend says a line is hokey, they’re right. Cut it.

Remember the P.S.? It’s the best part of the whole email!

As a kid, I thought it was so cool that you could add something after the signature just by saying P.S. (I was easily enchanted.) But guess what? Everybody loves the P.S. When scanning a letter or email, your reader looks for their own name, the signature, the P.S., and the first line before deciding if they want to read it.

What do you include in a P.S.? Try to encapsulate your entire message into one or two sentences. If that’s not possible without Herculean effort, go for restating the call to action.

Send one last email.

After the campaign ends, write one last email to your readers. Thank those who responded. To those who didn’t respond, tell them they missed out and you’re a little annoyed. It hurts to send this email, but often that final (slightly huffy) message gets results from fence-sitters who don’t respond to charm. Send it when you have nothing to lose.

Email drip campaigns are one of content marketing’s most effective and cost-friendly strategies. Learn to write them well, and you’ll improve your value to your customers.

What’s in your inbox? Have you seen some great examples of valuable emails from companies or non-profits you support? Share them with us in the comments!

Holland Webb is a full-time freelance copywriter based in the lush upstate of South Carolina. His writing focuses on making technology accessible to non-techies and selling household goods to urban-dwelling Millennials. He can be found at www.hollandwebb.com.