The Frequency and Tone of Follow-Up Emails

by jimbo69

Posted: 13 years ago 14 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

I'm really interested to see what you guys think about follow-up emails through Awebber or whoever.
My gut instinct has always been to build up customer confidence, as I was taught. The old slow build-up, sending irregular emails over a period of a few weeks before hitting them with a semi-hard sell.
Recently I've heard a lot about sending out daily emails with a much harder sell. People like Russell Brunsen claim to have huge increases in sales doing this, citing the example of rapidly repeated TV ads that come thick and fast having the most impact.
I also checked out Mass Money Makers (which would have benefited from some judicial editing!) and note that the idea here is to send out loads of short, hard-sell emails over a period of 12 days (although only 11 emails are actually provided!). The theory here is that when people are initially searching they are hot and every day you wait to persuade them, they are cooling off.
This makes sense, but it goes against everything I was initially taught.
What works for you?

#emails #followup #frequency #tone

Wizardofwisdom 13 years ago

I think the answer lies in shifting your focus. Your question has, just below the surface, the sub-question of, "What level of posting will maximize my profits without p***ing off the people?"

Instead, think of how often you'd phone or write to a friend! What, of genuine value (to him or her), and/or of interest have you got to say today?

If the answer is "nothing" - keep schtum!

The folks you are writing to may be worth tens or even hundreds of thousands to you over the years, so why would you even think that you'd better write to them if you have nothing useful to say?

I only have a small (2k +) list and sometimes I don't write to them for a month. Other times I might contact them three or four times in a week - just with tips or advice if some new insight or idea has excited me.

Then - and only then - if I have something I think is worth selling, (usually my own), I tell them about it and I have never yet drawn a blank. That's how you'd treat your friends isn't it? You know: "Hey, I saw this great gizmo this guy had. I really wanted to try it and it was brilliant ..."

As for tone, again it depends on the age and interests of your market. You're going to write very differently if your audience/niche is knitting patterns compared to people interested in online games, aren't you?

This is no different from any other genuine and trusting friendship, so treat it that way. You can't work out how often to see your friends, or what tone to speak to them in as if it was a science, so don't try with your list either! They'll soon smell the BS if you do and they'll leave you.

In short, the answer is: be natural.

Hope that helps.

Cheers.
Trevor Emdon.
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NateRivers 13 years ago

I've always like the analogy of speaking to your best friend. What you're asking about really depends on how "hungry" your market is... I think the "hungrier" the more aggressive you can be.
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hypnoskills

13 years ago

I signed up for the Double Your Dating mailing list just to see how Eben Pagan does it. I figure if he went from $0 to $20 million a year starting with this AR sequence, I might learn something.

His mails are sent out every couple of days, and so far they all have this template:

------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you want all the tips and tricks in one place, get my ebook here: [link]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

good content

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

[link to advanced course, usually related to above content]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The mailings started out that way, so you know to expect it every time.

Brian

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paulie888

13 years ago

Originally Posted by hypnoskills

I signed up for the Double Your Dating mailing list just to see how Eben Pagan does it. I figure if he went from $0 to $20 million a year starting with this AR sequence, I might learn something.

This is a good template to follow, as you're weaving in what you're promoting quite naturally into the email, and it doesn't seem overly pushy since you also have good content in it as well. This approach would work effectively with people who don't like to be sold to using the "hard sell" approach.

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bobsilber

13 years ago

Originally Posted by jimbo69

My gut instinct has always been to build up customer confidence, as I was taught. The old slow build-up, sending irregular emails over a period of a few weeks before hitting them with a semi-hard sell.

I agree with your gut instinct.

You need to build up trust, with good content, at least once a week, so the subscribers remember you. Nobody likes to be sold to so a soft sell works best. Along those lines, Brian's post analyzed a good template.

Thanks
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Cali16 13 years ago

I quickly unsubscribe from the list of anyone who sends me several emails per week. I simply don't have time to read all of them (not to mention the lengthy sales page of the link included in the email) and I find it annoying. It comes across as "What I have so say is sooooooooooo important that I'm sure you don't mind if I flood your inbox with a ton of emails every week..."

I recently unsubscribed from Eben Pagan's list for this reason. It seemed to me that at least 90% of his emails were selling something (often in the $400 to $2000+ price range). I respect the fact that he is one of the most successful internet marketers ever, but 5 to 8 emails a week was far too much for me.

I think slow and steady is better overall. Constant selling gets very old very quickly, as do constant emails. An age old truth is that if we get too much of something (even a good thing), we quickly tend to value it less.

Just my 2 cents!
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- Michael Shook 13 years ago
  
  If you are at heart a hard sell person, then maybe you could try sending out a bunch of hard sell emails right away and see what happen.
  
  But if you are not like that, I suspect you will wind up with a credibility issue.
  
  There is plenty of room online for you to be the person you are and still be successful.
  
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- myob 13 years ago
  
  It really has to with your market, and setting expectations upfront. All of my subscribers begin with an initial sale of a product. They are buyers, and know that I'm selling many other products. So, I don't incentivize with freebies or any "confidence-building". They do expect to get hammered everyday with new products and offers, but it comes also with valuable tips, freebies, and even a few jokes. Many of my subscribers have been getting my hardsells everyday for 8 years. You need to test different approaches to your list buidling and subscribers.
  
  Thanks
  
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  jimbo69 13 years ago
  
  Thanks everyone for your help and advice. I think I'll follow you and my gut.
  
  Thanks
  
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  Randall_Christian 13 years ago
  
  Paul Uhl
  
  Where did you find that 'Going Platinum" icon! hah
  
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TZ 13 years ago

Do under others as you would have.....(you get it).

I consider the frequency of emails that DON'T annoy me, and the same with the tone.

Your subscribers will appreciate it.

My wife used to love Oprah, but after being hit with 3 emails a day from her newsletter- that changed!
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JHC81 13 years ago

You should build up trust first, your list needs to know they can trust you and think of you as an expert in whatever niche you're in. So whenever someone asks me this type of question I always tell them you should send 80% of good content something they can learn from and the other 20% is advertisement.

Hope this helped.
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fated82 13 years ago

Thanks for the valuable insights. I particularly like the Eben Page template...something I am searching for...
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PaulMark 13 years ago

It really has to with your market

Right.

How do you want to operate your business?

If you just like sending offers, just send offers and let folks know that's what's coming.

If you're passionate about the market, let your people know.

But there's not one answer to the question.

We can all say, "here's what I like" but who cares?

1. U can approach business like a formula and follow steps and you'll get some success.

2. You can make business about your heart and get success that way too.

But there's no way to predict the point of connection.

One person will connect and want emails daily. Others will drop if there's more than one a month.

The question is who do you want?

If you ONLY want people who will read every word of your emails, then design your business around that. Get a small, loyal following. A buddy of mine makes 2.1 mill from a list of 5K only selling his stuff, no affiliate promos whatsoever. 1 content email a month. And 1 offer email per week.

Can others replicate that "formula"? I doubt it.

But what anyone can do is say, "How can I best serve people with my strengths and attract people with the same style and focus?"
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The Frequency and Tone of Follow-Up Emails

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