Email is one of the most powerful tools for startup growth hacking. It allows you to communicate with your leads and customers in a personalized, timely, and relevant way. But how do you nurture them effectively and move them along the sales funnel? In this article, you will learn some best practices for email nurturing that will help you increase conversions, retention, and loyalty.
Before you start sending any emails, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and who you want to target. Your goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, you might want to increase the number of free trial sign-ups by 10% in the next month. Your segments should be based on criteria such as behavior, interests, needs, stage, or persona. For example, you might segment your leads by how they found your website, what features they used, or how engaged they are.
A case study from an online b2b marketplace: Email from: someone title CXO (preferable the CEO) to: all CXOs, preferable CEOs Subjected as something to the effect of: "Touching base to share an offer" and a short body simply asking if they are interested in looking at a few new exciting offers only available to CXOs, once you hear back, THEN send your brochures or the presentations etc. A campaign around these lines proved to be the most effective.
The types of emails you send will depend on your goals and segments. Welcome emails are used to introduce yourself, set expectations, and provide value to new leads or customers. Educational emails teach your leads or customers something useful or relevant to their problems or goals. Promotional emails offer incentives, discounts, or deals to encourage leads or customers to take action. Re-engagement emails try to rekindle the interest of inactive or unresponsive leads or customers. The frequency of your emails should be determined by your audience's preferences, behavior, and feedback. You don't want to spam them but you also don't want to be forgotten. A good rule of thumb is to only send emails when they have something valuable, relevant, or timely to say.
After roughly the 100 years of Management education, it has dawned on some founders that the objectives of the MBA program were to create managers that could RUN a company, not to BUILD a company, MBA can actually become TOXIC for startups culture - inspired by Steve Blank's work
When crafting your emails, it's important to ensure that the content and design are aligned with your brand, goals, and segments. Your emails should have a catchy subject line that grabs attention and curiosity, a clear and concise body copy that delivers your message and value proposition, a compelling call to action that prompts leads or customers to take the next step, and a responsive and attractive design that fits your brand and device. To create and test your email templates, consider using tools like Mailchimp or Sendgrid.
The end goal of any email is to create an opportunity for your business. With this goal in mind, don't put too much effort into creating a "catchy and funny" subject line or email. Sure, you can come up with the most creative and entertaining subject line, and you will get a high open rate. The question, however, is: will your buyer receive enough information to assess the opportunity and react to it? For the content to grasp attention, bet on "straight to the point" and "relevant" rather than "catchy and fluffy." Your prospect's inbox is already drowning in irrelevant offers and follow-ups, so why not stand out with a short and informative subject line instead?
To determine whether your email nurturing is working, you need to track and analyze your email metrics, such as the open rate, click-through rate, conversion rate, and unsubscribe rate. Google Analytics and HubSpot are helpful tools for monitoring and reporting your email performance. Additionally, you should conduct A/B tests to experiment with different elements of your emails, such as subject lines, content, design, or timing. Optimizely and VWO are great options for running and comparing your email variations. Ultimately, email nurturing is a key component of startup growth hacking. By following these best practices, you can build trust, loyalty, and revenue with your leads and customers.