The Blog>What Is Email Marketing Funnel and How to Use it

What Is Email Marketing Funnel and How to Use it

Posted by Max Komonov

More often than not, having agreat product orservice isn’t enough onits own toachieve your hopes foryour business. People need tobeaware ofwhat you’re offering sothat you can run asuccessful business. This all starts with increasing public awareness ofyour product/service andensuring that your target audience knows that your business isout there. This iswhy marketing issoimportant, especially intheevolving digital world.

Inorder torun successful marketing campaigns, you need tomake people aware ofyour product/service andstate theproblems that itcan solve. Bydefining acustomer need, andbuilding your marketing campaigns off ofthat need, you can better relay theimportance ofyour product/service. Now more than ever, email marketing “leads” theway ingenerating andconverting leads.

This iswhy implementing aneffective email marketing funnel inyour campaigns issoimportant. So, what isanemail marketing funnel?

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What IsanEmail Marketing Funnel?

Before exploring thevarious types ofemail marketing funnels, how they work, andhow touse them, one should first understand what anemail marketing funnel is. Funnels convert web traffic into customers. Think oftheshape ofafunnel, andhow its opening islarge atthetop andprogressively shrinks into asmaller opening.

Inbusiness terms, your funnel will have web traffic coming through thetop, qualified leads atthetop, interested prospects inthemiddle, andcustomers atthebottom. The main purpose ofafunnel istodetermine which prospects are ideal tomarket toandalso how successful your campaigns have been. Inessence, marketing funnels help track analytics aswell asconvert leads into customers atthesame time.

Agood way tothink ofanemail marketing funnel, inparticular, isbygauging theprospect. This means judging awareness, interest, consideration, andconversion. Anemail marketing funnel involves sending out sequences ofemails based onapredetermined target audience andschedule. The goal ofanemail marketing funnel istoultimately convert more leads into customers. With this inmind, let’s take alook athow tobuild aneffective email marketing funnel.

How DoICreate anEffective Email Marketing Funnel?

Creating amarketing funnel that works ultimately boils down totheeffectiveness ofthesteps you take during each customer phase. Aswepreviously discussed, thefour phases are awareness, interest, consideration, andconversion. This means that during each step oftheprocess, you can utilize your email marketing funnel correctly inorder tofunnel potential leads into customers. Let’s take amore detailed look atthis process.

Top ofthefunnel— Generating interest

The very first step oftheemail marketing funnel process istocreate brand awareness sothat consumers will beinterested inwhat you have tooffer. After all, consumers can only become your loyal customers ifthey know you exist, right?

Besure tohighlight andemphasize theproblems that your product/service can solve foryour customers instead ofmaking your marketing strictly about your business. Consumers want something they can consume that will make life easier forthem.

Consider where your leads come from. Inmost cases, with thedigital landscape ever-expanding, your leads will come from search engines, site pages, social media, etc. This iswhy finding theright channels toutilize during your marketing campaigns issoimportant. You want tobesure that you have fresh content that isapplicable tothevariety ofchannels your leads will becoming from.

One way toensure that you generate more leads isbyoffering your leads something enticing. This means offering discounts, giveaways, downloadable pdf files, etc. Ultimately, you’ll want tooffer value inexchange foralead’s entry into your sales cycle.

Middle ofthefunnel— Nurturing leads

Now that you’ve generated some interest, it’s time tonurture your leads inorder toprepare them forconversion. You’ll want toeducate subscribers regarding your business, product, service, etc. byoffering personalized content that improves click-through rates. Inmany cases, businesses rely onanautomation platform tosegment subscribers onthebasis ofwhat they signed upfortobegin with. Inthemiddle ofthefunnel, you should beinteracting with leads tofind out more about their interest andbackground. Regular follow-ups are vital during this stage inorder tomove leads further ondown thefunnel towards conversion.

Bottom ofthefunnel— Converting Leads

After generating interest, andnurturing your leads, hopefully, you’ve established therelevance ofyour product/service andhow itcan help make your leads’ lives easier. The next step after nurturing your leads intheemail marketing funnel istoprompt anemotional response. Consumers often buy things based onemotion, how certain products/services make them feel. For you andyour business, this means that you should bemaintaining thepersonalized form ofnurturing mentioned intheprevious section, only more aggressively.

Your final conversion emails should consist oftime-sensitive offers andretargeting customers. For example, thehottest leads forEcommerce businesses are abandoned carts. Time-sensitive offers can help entice customers toturn their abandoned carts into purchases. This means sending time-sensitive, urgent emails tocustomers who have displayed high levels ofinterest. Make anoffer that your customer(s) can’t reject andcreate asense ofurgency. Nocustomer wants tomiss out onagreat deal!

Out ofthefunnel— Retaining Customers

Repeat purchases are essential forbusinesses. Not only dothey increase your overall ROI, but itmeans that customers are beginning touse your product/service regularly andthey love it! This means they’ll potentially tell their friends orfamily about you, which will generate even more leads.

Inthis stage ofthefunnel, you will have totake onadifferent type ofapproach toward lead nurturing which means talking directly about your brand. Atthis point, customers have determined that they like your product/service. So, what’s stopping them from getting itsomewhere else? The answer ishopefully your brand! Besure toalso utilize thepower ofupselling andcross-selling bycarefully analyzing acustomer’s purchase history. The goal istoalways offer thebest solution atthebest price.

Besure tokeep sharing useful content during your marketing campaigns inorder toretain your value. You’ll also want topromote advocacy, which means offering anincentive tocustomers toadvertise your brand. This ismore relevant now more than ever given theprevalence ofsocial media andhow different channels can affect abrand’s relevance. Whatever thecase, you’ll want todetermine thebest way toretain your customers, beitthrough emphasizing what makes your brand unique orbyoffering incentives.

What Makes anEmail Marketing Funnel Great?

Making your email funnel great ultimately boils down tounderstanding thefour stages inwhich leads are converted into loyal customers. Even more importantly, you’ll want tocreate amarketing strategy foreach phase that can beimplemented inorder toachieve your goals foreach phase.

Inorder todothis, you’ll want tounderstand thedegree ofawareness foreach ofyour leads, dosegmentation, include personalization, andcreate persuasive sales copy. You are themastermind behind your email marketing funnel, soit’s uptoyou tomake itgreat byunderstanding each phase andhow tomarket toleads ineach phase.

Are You Ready toConvert Your Leads?

Well, now that you have asolid understanding ofemail marketing funnels, it’s time totest your knowledge! Begin bycreating fresh, relatable content that highlights aconsumer’s need foryour product orservice. Asweb traffic trickles inthrough different channels, it’s time totarget those who have expressed interest inyour product orservice.

Next, you’ll want toconvert your leads through personalization, andthen follow upwith your new customers regularly toensure that they return. Asalways, besure tocreate enticing andcompelling content when marketing! Itreally isvital tolead conversion tobepersuasive. Always highlight theneed that your product/service helps with!

About The Author
Max has been working in the ecommerce industry for the last six years helping brands to establish and level-up content marketing and SEO. Despite that, he has experience with entrepreneurship. He is a fiction writer in his free time.

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