7 Email Marketing Funnel Ideas for Turning More Subscribers into Customers

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The following excerpt is from Susan Gunelius’ book Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing for Business. Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | IndieBound

Conversion email marketing funnels are created to motivate recipients to make a purchase or complete another action right now. Sending highly targeted, personalized messages is essential to your success when it comes to conversion email marketing funnels. Make sure the actions you want recipients to take are extremely relevant and specific. In other words, the call to action should be abundantly clear.

Here are some popular conversion email marketing funnels:

Abandoned cart. When someone starts the checkout process on your website but doesn’t complete their purchase, don’t let them get away. You should immediately follow up with an abandoned cart funnel that sends a series of messages created to motivate them to complete their purchase. The first message might say something as simple as, “Did you forget to complete your purchase?” The second message could offer a discount or free shipping, and a third message could capitalize on the recipient’s fear of missing out if they don’t make the purchase.

Trial upgrade. If you offer a free trial of your product to acquire leads or move people to the middle of your marketing funnel but they don’t purchase your product after the trial ends, you should follow up with a trial upgrade conversion funnel. The messages in this series should remind them of the benefits they’ll miss out on if they don’t upgrade. Be sure to offer ways for them to get more help. It’s also effective to send a message in this sequence that offers free setup, free training, or a discount on the product price.

Free demonstration. Free demos are often offered for complex products, particularly software-as-a-service (SaaS) products that people need to see in action to truly understand. Not only do people have to give up their contact information and email addresses to get a free demo, but they also need to speak with a salesperson….