Wouldn’t it be amazing to have an extra employee that…
- Helps you sell and contact leads
- Saves you hours of work each day
- Works 24/7
- Doesn’t take breaks
- Does exactly what you ask
- Always executes perfectly
- And costs only $20-$200 a month (for most businesses)?
Well, you have that resource at your disposal and that resource comes in the form of email marketing software. Email marketing software will allow you to set up email drip campaigns that will completely automate your follow ups to prospects and customers. Not only that, but it will also allow you to sell more, sell faster, sell easier, and reduce the amount of work you and your team need to do on a daily basis.
Let’s talk more about how drip campaigns can help you.
What is an email drip campaign?
An email drip campaign is a series of email messages that are sent (aka “dripped”) in chronological order to a new prospect. Plain and simple, you write a series of messages one time that speak to your target buyer’s pain points or needs and offer a solution. Then, those messages get sent automatically in a pre-chosen order.
The idea is that rather than re-creating the message every time you get a new prospect, you are saving yourself the time and effort. Ideally, you will be able to easily “plug in” your prospect’s personal info to make it customized to that prospect.
For instance, say “Prospect A” reaches out and says they’re interested in buying. As soon as they reach out, email #1 will be sent to them immediately. 3 days later, email #2 will be sent, and (you guessed it) email #3 will be sent 3 days after that. You’ll be able to focus on your workday and let the automatic drip work its selling magic for you.
Why use a drip campaign?
There’s research that suggests drip campaigns really work. Why, and how?
Brand awareness
Most prospects want to do business with a brand they know a thing or two about and can trust. Consider that 67% of consumers feel that they need to engage with a brand 3-5 times before they can trust their claims. Using an email drip with 3-5 messages is the perfect way to achieve this goal. By the final message, if your prospect is opening your emails (chances are, they will if they are a low-funnel lead who is actively looking to buy) they’ll feel confident enough in your brand to seriously consider doing business with you.
Build trust
Building trust with a prospect is important, but many salespeople don’t realize that establishing trust is way easier than it sounds. According to psychology and lots of sales studies, buyers buy emotionally and then justify their purchase logically. What does this mean? It means that if the prospect has intentionally filled out a quote form and asked to be connected with suppliers, they already have a strong emotion driving their need to buy. If you can give that prospect just a little bit of confidence in your brand using a 3-part drip campaign, that buyer will be more convinced by what you have to offer.
Speed to lead
Tons of sales studies over the years have shown that “speed to lead,” or being the first caller to reach an active prospect, seriously impacts your chances of winning that prospect’s business. In fact, sales experts say that 2-5 minutes after a prospect expresses interest is the “golden window” for effectively building rapport. Setting up a drip email campaign that targets prospects as soon as they express interest in buying makes sure you are reaching out to that prospect as quickly as possible. If you can automate the email to be sent as soon as the prospect reaches out without even clicking “send” manually – even better!
Automated
It’s no secret that sales professionals are busy. It’s so easy to miss a notification that a prospect is interested in buying. If you don’t reach out to that prospect right away, there’s a good chance you’ve missed the opportunity. Don’t let those prospects slip through the cracks. Set up an automated drip campaign to target that prospect as soon as they submit a form online. You can continue with your workday while the automated email does the work for you.
Win new business
Did you know that more than half of salespeople admit to “winging it” when they try to win new business? Closing sales deals involves more than luck – you need a sharp selling system and execute it with every new prospect that enters your sales funnel. If you don’t believe us that using a well-planned drip campaign works, consider this. Recent studies show that using a drip campaign to contact new prospects results in a 20% increase in sales opportunities. Being organized and automating your outreach process as much as possible really works!
Do I need expensive marketing tools to get started?
The simple answer is: no. You don’t need to purchase any new marketing tools in order to use a drip email strategy. However, it makes your life a lot easier if you use tools like a CRM and email marketing platform. (By the way, if you’re new to CRM’s, learn about why they’re so effective!)
Why? Paid email platforms allow you to set up email drips to run automatically. So even if you forget about a prospect or you’re too busy to reach out to them immediately (ie. in less than 5 minutes of receiving the lead), the automated email drip will do the work for you. Plus, automated email marketing platforms will integrate with your CRM so you can get real-time data about the success of your campaigns at any time.
Even if you’re worried about the monthly investment involved with an email platform, we’re confident you’ll see a great ROI as those prospects feel more confident to do business with you. Many email marketing services start at $50-$60 per month or less. Chances are if you close one deal thanks to the drip, you’ve paid for the service already.
Take a look at our recommended email marketing platforms depending on your type of business.
Easy Solution for Small Business Owners
If you run a small business with just a few sales reps, you probably don’t want to dish out the money each month for a complex email marketing system that you’ll have little time to manage. The good news is there are tons of email marketing platforms today that are extremely cost-efficient. They can help you easily set up simple email drips to reach new customers at minimal effort.
If you use 360Connect’s service, the easiest thing to do is to find an “all inclusive” CRM and email marketing platform that we support. This will allow you to get our leads delivered directly to your CRM. At the same time, the integrated email marketing platform will send your email drip campaign messages automatically. You’ll never have to worry about contacting our leads manually or quickly enough.
We recommend Zoho CRM Plus, which lets you set up basic email drip campaigns, view leads and opportunities, analyze close rates, and much more. Take a look at the features offered by Zoho CRM Plus, as well as this easy-to-use email marketing guide by Zoho.
Enterprise-level Solutions for Medium-Large Businesses
If you have the budget and sales team to utilize a more complex email marketing service, there are options for you as well. Enterprise-level email marketing systems typically allow you to build larger prospect and client lists and more complex marketing tools.
For instance, Pardot is an extension of Salesforce, which is one of the most popular CRMs. Pardot will allow you to fully utilize email automation, such as:
- “Intelligently” nurture leads
- Adapt messages to your audience
- Measure and track campaign data
- See how customers are engaging with emails
- And much more.
For more information on how to technically setup email drips in Pardot, check out this link.
How to set up an Email Drip
Wondering how to set up the email drip? It’s pretty simple. The goal is to create at least a 3-message series to be sent out to each prospect as they reach your inbox. We recommend spacing the messages 3 days apart, but send them at the same time each day.
Remember, an automated email marketing platform will let you set this up once by plugging in simple email templates and choosing when you want them to be sent. Then, the platform automatically sends them for you. Make it so you can easily plug in the prospect’s details with little to no effort. Then set reminders to make sure you send the emails on time.
Here are three email topics that you can use as a framework for your drip campaign:
1. Brand Intro
Your first message should introduce the prospect to your brand. Assume they’ve never heard of you before. Think of this as your “30-second sales pitch.” You want to share who you are, what you do, and what pain point your product/service can solve. Always end the message with “clear next steps,” or an easy way the prospect can set up a call with you. We suggest recommending a specific time for a follow-up call.
2. Reinforce value prop
Send the next message 3 business days later. Remind the prospect of your value prop or how your product/service can solve the buyer’s needs. Again, recommend a time for a follow-up call.
3. Soft sell
By the third message in the email drip, you can include a “soft sell.” Again, state why you can help the buyer reach their goal with your product/service. You can say, “We can help you {solve x problem} with {your product/service}.” Then, give them a clear next step or way they can buy from you. You can provide a link to buy online, send them a demo video, or ask them to jump on a call. Whatever it is – make it very easy on them to follow-up and continue the interaction.
To get started with a simple drip campaign for your company, we recommend reading our “Follow-up Sales Email Guide” or this basic B2B email marketing guide by Albacross. We have also created some basic email templates you can use to kickstart your drip campaign and reach new prospects.