My heritage is selling stuff. My grandfather was an ad man on Madison Avenue – was actually one of those Mad Men, with much better behavior. My dad sold pharmaceuticals and products to medical supply companies, and now I help other businesses sell more effectively. What I’ve learned from them – their core values and rules on selling – is still valid today, even if today I use terms that didn’t exist twenty years ago, like Drip Feed Emails.
The principle behind drip feed emails is a relatively basic one. Get your message in front of your customers eyes as often as possible without being a bother. The rule that comes into play here is “The Rule of Seven”… It usually takes 7 interactions with a prospect before they actually turn into a customer.
Drip feed emails also work on the premise that converting a prospect into a customer is a lot easier when that lead is a warm one instead of a cold one.
Warm Leads
We’ll discuss lead generation in another blog post, but if you’ve been in business for any length of time, or done any amount of selling at any level, you know that the worst, most difficult way to make a customer is through cold calling. Cold emailing is even worse, and totally sketchy, if not downright illegal.
But you’ve got some leads – whether they’re past clients, people you met at a trade show, or some other personal interaction – and you should use them. Because how will you know if these leads are just ONE interaction away from signing a contract with you? You won’t, unless you remind them again about how fantastic your service is.
And then you need to remind them again, because your customer has a ton of stuff going on in his life, and he can’t be bothered to remember how stellar you are.
Setting up the Drip Feed Emails
Any automated mail program worth its salt has a drip feed system that you can and should be taking advantage of. Basically, you set it up with pre-determined messages that go out after a trigger has taken place. The trigger can be any number of things…
- Once they join the mailing list – either automatically through your site, or when you manually add them.
- Once they have purchased from your e-commerce store – you do have your e-commerce provider hooked up with your email list right?
- Once they fill out a form on your site – like a squeeze page, a landing / sales page, etc.
- Once they fill out a request for more information via your contact form – a perfectly valid way to add someone to your leads list!
If we follow the Rule of 7 above, then we should set up a drip feed system with at least 5 emails in relatively quick succession, with another email or two following after a longer delay. These first 5 emails will be the main selling emails, with your personal connection (a phone call, a non-automated email, a notecard in the mail) comprising a vital part of the 7 “touches”. The two emails following after are not really part of the Rule of 7 – they’re there to try and bring back a lost sheep, a last effort to convert them from a cold lead back to a customer.
Of course, every system should be set up differently, with different offers, content, and giveaways for the emails that will vary depending on your market, product, and personal touch. That’s where we come in. Let us consult with you on the best strategy to build a drip feed system; a system that’s just one part of a totally cohesive, comprehensive marketing strategy for your business.