Most marketers understand the influence of automated drip campaigns in turning leads into customers by moving them through the sales cycle and an excellent opportunity to create sales opportunities by nurturing the existing customers through these campaigns.
As per a marketing research data, the chances of selling to a new customer is mere 5-20% whereas the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%. Smart marketers very well understand the benefit of selling to existing customers than to cultivate new leads which they cash on through the drip campaigns.
A successful customer drip campaign begins with strong content marketing strategy that can steer your efforts and maintain the focus of the goal of the drip. Starting with a strategic initiative allows you to create drip campaigns that respond to the exact needs and interests of your target customers.
Begin with the End in Mind
While creating your drip campaigns ensure that you set the right expectations at the outset and impart value to a long and valuable relationship from the first campaign itself.
- Welcome Email: A well-written welcome email should offer customers exactly what they want and a little more as a “thank you” from your end for being your customer. Provide them with all the information and a link to supporting content or access to valuable assets such as white paper or eBook. Sometimes you have to only add information of helpdesk or customer support if the customer has any queries.
- Blogs: Welcome emails can also be used to introduce new customers to your blog section. Provide the prospects with the link to a sample blog post that they are looking for. Again, that blog post should have links to other posts on similar topics. Evergreen blog posts are a must for overall content marketing strategy because they can be used in various ways to help existing and new customers. A good evergreen post can drive traffic to your site for years—both through SEO and in your email nurture program.
- Segment and Set Rules: Content segmentation gives a touch of personalization and tailor campaigns for the target audience. Marketing automation platform should be used to set rules and trigger to ensure that you proactively deliver precise content that matches your customers’ viewing and search behaviors while they are on your website. Serving relevant content gives a nudge to moving the customer closer to another sale.
Offer Solutions and Establish Thought Leadership
Drip campaigns are a great way to project your brand by promoting useful content and establishing you as a valuable thought leader. Build trust and extend relations with prospects in well-planned nurtures. Here’s how to get started:
- Don’t Sell, educate: If you aim at establishing a long term and profitable relationship with your customers, you need to make honest attempts of creating viable drip campaigns that educate and keep the customers well informed on industry related topics of their interest – challenges and solutions. By catering to their information requirement, you’ll reinforce the value of your relationship and increase the odds that your customer will return undeniably.
- Exclusive Content: By offering exclusive content, you have two birds in a single shot by exploiting the most powerful tools of influence: scarcity and reciprocation. Recipients often open exclusive content. The fact that it is exclusive suggests the content is quite significant. Exclusive content also does tricks on the customer’s ego. The term ‘exclusive for you’ gives them a feeling of being unique and valued. This special offer increases the opportunity of reciprocation by your customers through new purchases or return visits to your site.
- Link to Vital Blog Posts: Knowledge is power and providing links to helpful blog posts is one of the least task-intensive yet fetching ways to give them access to information that can help them succeed. Ensure that you don’t falter in the eyes of the customer, you haven’t just given them a blog, you’ve given them a gift on knowledge. A simple link paves way to establish goodwill with your brand.
Feel Good E-mails
Feel-good emails are a great tool for building rapport, trust and confidence with your customers. Here are some instances of popular and proven emails that make the customer feel appreciated and unique.
- Anniversary Emails: Emails to celebrate anniversaries and other milestones are a fantastic opportunity to enhance customer engagement. The secret to a successful anniversary-style emails is to ensure they’re all about being customer-centric and making them feel special on their important day, not about your company, product, or service. If you hit the nail at right place, anniversary emails make the customer feel important, appreciated, and part of the family.
- Holiday Emails: The major concern of most holiday emails is they just go to spam. However, intelligent ones know how to make it through the clutter by connecting emotionally with the holiday spirit. Your email should be about the holiday season and by not being salesy. Try to keep it exclusive as per customer’s preferences through segmentation. Whether you’re offering a discount, a free gift, exclusive content or merely wishing the customer, holiday emails should be devoid of sales and purely imbibe the spirit of holiday.
- Client Newsletters: Newsletters have semblance to tricks – many can be boring, uninteresting and intrusive. But those that are good are nothing short of amazing. But you have to clearly set some ground rules to get started:
- Be very specific and clear about the subject line – the most import content in your newsletter. It is the subject line that decides whether the customer will open and read your newsletter or not.
- 90% of your newsletter should have meaningful information and relevant content, and only 10% should be an offer or pitching a sale.
- Make the option to unsubscribe subtle yet easy else the entire content will reflect to be spam.
Conclusion
Your success depends upon providing genuine and valuable content. Once you digress from your goal and intend it will immediately tick off your customers and develop a perpetual risk of creating the perception that your content marketing strategy belongs to junk folder. Give your content the right podium and your clients will likely do the same in reciprocation.
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