You probably have a ton of leads sitting in your database. Those leads are useless if you aren’t doing anything with them.
There are many ways to engage your audience. You can try various email nurturing strategies and find the best for you. It’s best to test for yourself to see what you have the most success with and which methods you like. They all have advantages and can work better for different audiences, so it comes down to what works for you and your business.
Today, I want to focus on email funnels. Imagine a website visitor downloaded a checklist or another resource, and you want them to buy your product or service.
So, the new website visitor ends up in your database without buying or booking a call. They need to be nurtured. But you can't start and stop with nurturing. They must buy at some point, and you must provide that path.
A proper email series is how to get them there. I would like to talk specifically about the masterclass strategy.
Overview
This series could be a masterclass, free training, webinar, or whatever you want to call it. They are all slightly different but follow the same framework.
The straightforward breakdown is that you write a series of emails containing the same CTA. The goal of these emails is to get people to attend your masterclass.
At the masterclass, you will provide a TON of value; at the end, you will give a pitch. What you try to sell will depend on your business but will likely be an entry-level form of your product or service. You can sell directly or get the viewer to schedule a sales call with your team.
If they wait to convert, you will send follow-up emails with the same CTA.
If you’re more of a visual learner, try watching this video.
Otherwise, keep reading for a more in-depth breakdown of the process.
What you’ll need to build
Invite emails
This is an email series inviting your mailing list to your exclusive offer. Every email will have the same CTA.
- Overview - Tell them everything included in your offer and why they should care. Explain what will be covered, how that solves their problems, how much it costs (if it’s free, be sure to say that!), and any bonus resources they might receive.
- PAS Story - This stands for Problem, Agitate, and Solution. Determine the main problem this persona faces. Discuss it, show them you understand, and emphasize the struggle it creates. Then, position your offer as the solution to said problem.
- Who, What, Why, How - This one is self-explanatory. You can even separate the email into sections and answer each question. Who is this for? What is included? Why does it matter? How does it help/How do I sign up?
- Before & After - This one often lends itself to storytelling, although it doesn’t have to be a story. You want to set the scene of where your persona is now. Talk about their struggles, what isn’t working for them, and how that makes them feel. Then talk about a future scenario where all those problems are solved. Describe their ideal situation and have them imagine being there. Then explain how your offer is the bridge to get them from where they are now to where they want to be.
- Urgency, Short - Keep this one short and direct. Tell them time is running out, and they have 24 hours to cash in on the offer. This is the last email you’ll send them about this offer, so if they want it, they need to sign up now. Include a quick reminder of what they’ll miss out on if they don’t sign up.
This approach is what we do and have found success with. You can use whatever style of email you like best and fits your audience, you are by no means required to use what we do, but it can be a helpful place to start.
Sign up Page
This page is where your emails will be directing people to. Include some strong sales copy, everything included, and a sign-up form. It can help to write this before your invite emails so you can zero in on the offer and how you want to position it.
Watch Page and video
If your event is recorded or on-demand, this is where attendees will go to watch your videos and view resources. If you’re hosting a live event, this can be a thank you page that people get directed to after signing up. The video is critical, and the page makes it easy for them to watch.
Make sure your video, whether live or recorded, does what you say it will do. The more value you provide, the more likely your audience will convert. Show that you are an expert who can solve their problems.
It’s also a good idea to include a link to your sales calendar at the bottom of this page to try and get sales calls scheduled quickly.
Follow up emails
Anyone who does not convert at or immediately after the event will receive another series of emails. These follow-up emails will each contain the same CTA you had in the video. Some ideas on how to position your follow-up series include the following:
- Email 1 - Thank them for attending and congratulate them for attending. They went out of their way to become more knowledgeable about whatever you had to teach them. That’s more than most people are willing to do, so acknowledge that. Remind them of what you covered and of your offer.
- Email 2 - Provide bonus tips. Especially if you are teaching a process, help them through where they might get stuck. Adding additional value after the event is an unexpected bonus.
- Email 3 - FAQ/Objection handling. Proactively answer questions you often get about your product. Your prospect is likely in the consideration stage, so help them decide by answering questions they might have and trying to get them to book a call to ask more. They are looking for a reason to say no. Handle common objections before they get a chance to make them.
- Email 4 - Testimonial. Tell the success story of a past client who bought what you’re trying to sell. Make them want to be your next success story.
- Email 5 - Breakup. This is the last email you’ll send them. Give them one more chance to take advantage of the offer or continue to stick with what they’ve been doing that hasn’t worked.
Remember, these are just ideas. Feel free to make it your own. You know your business and your audience better than anyone. Sometimes the series is five emails, and sometimes it’s only three. Sometimes they are automated emails, but if it’s a small webinar and a highly customizable product, having your sales reps handle the follow-up might make sense.
CTA
This will be part of the watch page, follow-up emails, its own page with a VSL, or any combination of the three. The key is to keep it consistent and only ask your audience to take the next step. It could be to buy a product, but it's most often to book a sales call or demo.
Continued nurturing
If they don’t convert on this offer, that’s okay! Resume them in your regular email nurturing campaigns until your next offer.
To make it even easier, check out our Landing Page Studio Pro HubSpot Theme. It contains everything you need to build high-conversion landing pages on HubSpot and help you to develop a complete masterclass strategy around it.
