Using E-Mail To Increase Sales: Our 4 Point Strategy

True or false? Email marketing is outdated and ineffective. FALSE!

Done correctly, email marketing is arguably one of the most effective ways to sell your products or your services online.

All that’s left for you and me to learn is HOW to start using e-mail to increase sales. This four-point strategy contains proven methods that really work when followed in this order.

I challenge you to try it out for two months and I bet your sales will increase significantly.

This strategy is content-centred, so make sure you have some good content ideas up your sleeve—or at least a good content writer in your closet.

Here we go…

Using E-Mail To Increase Sales

Targeting the Right People (ATTRACTION)

You already have customers out there. You’ve never met them, and they don’t even know you exist. But they’re YOUR customers even though they don’t know it yet.

Your first step is to find those customers and make them aware of your product or service. Wait. Did I say “find those customers”? What I meant to say was, “help them find you”. I’m going to show you the quickest way to do this.

The Lead Magnet

A lead magnet is a free gift you offer a potential customer. It’s not something you convince them to take; it’s something they already want. If you’re convincing people who aren’t already interested in your product to take your free gift, you’re wasting your time.

Let Them Come to You

It’s called a ‘magnet’ for a reason. All you have to do is lay it out there. The customers will come—I promise. This is a proven method that works.

What is a lead magnet?

The trick is to create a lead magnet that gives away just enough value to attract your customers, while leaving them wanting more. There are a few examples of this, and content is the centre of them all.

  • An eBook providing how-to information the client needs.
  • A chart that provides statistical data needed to perform a task.
  • A calculator that provides a unique and instant answer.
  • A list of references in blog or PDF form.
  • A template that helps the client adhere to certain legal or procedural detail
  • A quiz or test that provides insight into what the client needs
  • A free app that produces assistance with something

Examples of lead magnets

Let’s take these examples even further by coming up with some hypotheticals:

  • An organic garden produce company could offer a guide on how to grow vegetables organically.
  • A carpet cleaning company could create an eBook on how to remove eight of the most stubborn stains.
  • A blogging firm could give you access to an online app that analyzes your grammar.

Do you see how it works?

Here’s another piece of advice that’s integral to the success of your lead magnet step: always make your lead magnet searchable. That’s how people find you. They Google what they need, you’re your solution and obtain access to your lead magnet.

And what do you get in return? An email address! Doesn’t sound like much does it? Just wait, I’ll show you how valuable that email address is in a minute.

Someone who isn’t interested in your product wouldn’t even search for what you’re offering. So you get viable leads that are already interested in your product or service. Do you see now why I told you that they’re YOUR customers?

Starting a Conversation (AUTHORITY)

The hardest part is over. You’ve already built up a report with your client. He or she has their free gift, and they perceive much value in that gift.

Now it’s time to give them more. Yes, they want more. Remember you didn’t give them everything—just enough to leave them wanting more.

Since you have their email address, you can start to mail them some more information about your product or service. This doesn’t have to be sales material. It’s newsletter material with lots of valuable info.

Your future clients will appreciate that you make contact with them, speaking about things that are interesting to them—your product!

There are different ways and timelines to do this within. It all depends on what your niche is. Most experts agree that two mails per week is enough.

Remember I said this strategy is content-centred? Well, this is where great content comes in.

Your blogs should be enticing your clients to want your products. You’re not selling them anything, but that desire is starting to build—which brings us to the next point in our strategy.

The Scarcity Principle (DESIRABILITY)

You’ve whet the appetite and paved the way for a sale. Now you can make your offer.

Your client is the absolute perfect person to sell to right now. If you can’t sell to them, you can’t sell to anyone!

Create an offer he or she cannot refuse. Your product or service at a discounted rate for a limited time only. The scarcity rule will prompt them to act fast. After all, they already want what you’re offering!

They will accept your offer and become a paying client.

This part of the strategy takes a bit of forethought. You have to overcome hypothetical objections throughout this process. To do this, we have to put ourselves in the shoes of the client.

So imagine…

You’re a subscriber to this mail correspondence.

You already have an interest in the product. You like reading the articles. You’ve been thinking about buying. But there are a few reasons you haven’t bought yet:

  • PRICE: You like the product but it’s just outside your budget.
  • VALUE: You want it, but you can’t justify buying it for that price.
  • CONVENIENCE: Time or effort are preventing you from making the purchase.
  • TRUST: You’re not entirely sure you can trust this company.
  • CONCEPT: You’re not sure you have a complete understanding of what you’re paying for.

These are very common objections in the buying process. Now that you know what they are, you can overcome them by pre-emptive selling:

  • PRICE: Offer the client a discount. Let them know it’s a limited offer.
  • VALUE: Focus on the benefits of the product rather than the features. Do this in your newsletter and in your offer.
  • CONVENIENCE: If time is the issue, rush the client by setting a time limit on your special offer. If effort is the concern, put forth the various convenient ways they can order & pay.
  • TRUST: Add two or three testimonials to your offer. Show them that others have had a satisfying experience after buying from you.
  • CONCEPT: Show the client the product. Add a list of accessories if necessary. Make sure the client knows exactly what they get for the price you’ve offered it at.

Creating a Regular Customer (TRUST)

What’s that golden business rule you learned on day one of business school? “It’s six times harder to acquire a new customer than it is to retain an old one.”

You’ve done the work in obtaining a new customer. Now it’s important to retain him or her.

This is important for two main reasons.

  1. Selling to a regular customer costs almost no time or money. They already trust you, and you’ve already overcome all their objections. Permanently!
  2. A regular customer is the perfect candidate for an upsell. This gives you more sales! Easy sales!

The Upsell

Yes, this is the final step. Upselling to existing clients is the beauty of this strategy.  Not only are your existing customers easy to sell to, they actually WANT to be sold to. They trust you, they like you and they’re familiar with you and your products.

If you sold them a DVD, sell them the sequel.

If you sold them a cookbook, sell them kitchen utensils.

If you sold them eyeglasses, sell them sunglasses.

Get the picture?

Remember: to successfully implement this strategy, you need to use content to entice your prospects. Great content in your newsletters and blogs will build up that desire and create a platform where selling is easy. So clean your desk, get out your laptop and go for gold.

Give it a try and let us know how it went!


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email to increase sales

2 thoughts on “Using E-Mail To Increase Sales: Our 4 Point Strategy”

  1. Hi Chris!
    I am a blogger and I have been trying to find ways to increase sales and conversions on my site using affiliate, social media, etc but it is still not very effective.
    I have always though email marketing is a very hard method but after reading your article, and you disecting every part of email marketing, it does seem like something manageable to do and I should get ahead on doing it!
    Thanks really helped a lot and looking forward to your next articles!

    Reply

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