Updated on November 4, 2019
Ever wonder why your seemingly interested prospect goes dark?
Every sales person knows what this is like. You hook the prospect, they email back interested, and you think you're well on your way to converting them to a customer. Then WHAM - you never hear from them again. Now you've not only wasted your time, but you're confused and wonder, "Why didn't they respond when they seemed so interested?" However, the first thing you should ask yourself is "Can this be avoided in the future?" The good news is, yes, it can be avoided and we're going to tell you how!
The email template that will save the day
In our previous article on writing email subject lines that stand out, we touch on how crammed everyone's inbox is nowadays. While a good subject line will get your email opened, you'll still need a powerful strategy to bring your prospect all the way to the close...even if that close happens to be way down the road. You will most likely hit a few bumps in that road and it's important to have a strategy outlined that will keep your prospect engaged and carry them through the sale.
Enter: drip campaigns
What is a drip campaign?
A drip campaign is a series of carefully tailored emails sent out to a segmented audience that will nurture leads through the sales funnel. You can have drip campaigns for all different goals, like bringing new prospects through the sales funnel, retaining current customers or bringing back old leads. The best part about drip email campaigns is they really work! According to this Email Monks' Infographic, drip campaign open rates are approximately 80% higher than single sends and the average click through rate is 3 times higher!
Often when people think of drip email campaigns, they think of prewritten, auto-sent emails that are sent to segments of your customers depending on where they are in the sales funnel. While this is a very effective way to reach all your clients and keep them engaged, there's no reason you can't use an drip campaign strategy in your everyday prospecting. At Toofr, we like to keep things simple. We've broken down drip campaigns so you can apply one in any setting.
A basic structure of a 4 drip series:
- Hello, here's the pain I think you have and how I can solve it.
- Here's some helpful info about this problem and some actual ways to address it (may or may not involve your solution but must be create value)
- Who else in your organization feels this pain? Can you introduce me?
- I'll check back in 3 months.
We'll give you an example from the fictional company, Email Prospecting Inc. They build email lists based on your ideal customer profile.
Drip 1
Subject: Do your sales reps need better leads?
Ryan,
Is your SDR team spending time manually researching prospects or using bad sales data? Do they complain about high bounce and low response rates? I've spent the last decade refining an artificial intelligence-based technology that learns who your best customer is and then builds custom lists for you from our database of millions of high quality prospects. Can I show you how it works? It will only take 10 mins and could increase your team's productivity 10X.
Cheers,
Tom
Drip 2
Subject: Following up -- better marketing leads for your team
Hi Ryan,
I'm contacting just a few top sales managers about a unique opportunity to get a constant flow of high value prospects to your CRM automatically. In addition, I wanted to share a report with you on which email templates work best; we see the open and reply rates on thousands of sales emails every day! To download this report, just click here: Get Report. It's free, no strings attached, and is the accumulation of millions of data points. If you want to talk leads and reply rates, I'm here!
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Tom
Drip 3
Subject: Who else on your team needs leads?
Ryan-
I didn't hear back from you on my previous email so I wanted to follow up.
You must be busy or not the right person -- would you mind passing me along to the right person? I'll happily share our research with them too.
Many thanks,
Tom
Drip 4
Subject: Last chance to get this amazing report.
Hi Ryan,
Reaching out a final time before I move on to the other top VPs and Directors on my list and share our proprietary research and data with them.
If time opens up in the meantime, though, I'm happy to pick this back up. I'll reconnect in a few months!
Best,
Tom
Not saying Goodbye, but See You Later
One of the most common mistakes sales people make is not knowing when or how to back off of a prospect. While that final drip in your email campaign is often the most difficult to navigate, it could end up being your golden ticket! We found this LinkedIn article that gives practical tips on how to artfully "break up" with your prospect, even if only temporarily. Give it a looksy!
Final Words
Remember to:
- Segment your audience
- Track your results
- Continue drip after the conversion (a common mistake is to stop a drip series after a sale/conversion)
- When you reach the final drip and tell a prospect you'll reconnect in a specified time frame, DO IT!
About the author: Tara Caguiat is a marketing professional with a passion for blogging, travel and yoga. She frequently writes for SarasotaYogaCollective.com and her personal blog, SheNeedsLess.com.