Finding leads for your B2B business will always be a priority, but once you’ve got your leads, how do you convert them into paying clients? Automated emails can help you easily turn leads into clients, and once they’re set up, they take very little effort!
With the ability to track and analyze the reaction your automated emails receive, automated emails can give you valuable insights into your clients’ habits, provide you with data that you can utilize in your marketing strategy, and simplify the notoriously long sales cycle associated with B2B sales.
What are Automated Emails?
Let’s start by delving into what automated emails actually are, and how they differ from the emails you send to colleagues and clients.
Automated emails are generated by someone ‘doing’ something that triggers an email response. Sounds pretty complicated, doesn’t it? Thankfully, with email marketing services available, it’s really straightforward.
Unlike the standard emails you send and receive every day, the contents of automated emails are tailored based on specific actions your potential client undertakes. They get sent automatically, regardless of the time of day – so you’ll never have to worry about a delayed response to those who interact with your business out of hours. You can personalize automated emails so that your recipient really feels as though they have a connection with your organization, but you won’t need to monitor your inbox 24/7. Best of all, automated email sequences can help you develop trust with your clients.
How do Automated Emails work?
When someone who’s interested in your services interacts with your business, you can set a sequence in motion that will mean that person receives a specific email response. Usually, this will be from things like signing up to a mailing list, expressing an interest in a product, or trying to download free content, like an ebook or whitepaper.
Based on the action your potential client has taken, a specific email will be sent to them that acknowledges their interest, sends them a video, or simply acts as an introduction to you and your company. Automated emails can be set up to do pretty much anything you want them to, and they can include your personal signature to make them even more individual.
By creating sophisticated and well-crafted email templates, automated emails have the potential to dramatically improve communication with your clients.
7 Automated Emails your B2B Business Needs
Now that you know you want to utilize automated emails, you’re ready to find out more about when automated emails can be implemented. Here are 7 automated emails your business needs to encourage more leads to convert into clients and to generate more sales!
- Autoresponder Emails
Autoresponder emails will give those interested in your services an instant response when they choose to interact with your business. For example, if someone signs up to your newsletter, they could receive a thank you email telling them what to expect or when the newsletter is typically sent out. If someone has booked to attend your webinar, they could receive a confirmation email to confirm the details of their booking.
Autoresponder emails tell recipients that you really care about them, and lets them know that their action has been remembered (and won’t be forgotten).
- Behavior-triggered Emails
These emails are slightly more intuitive than auto-responder emails because recipients might not always expect to receive an email. These can be triggered for doing something as simple as clicking a link in an email, submitting a form on your website, visiting a specific web page, or making a purchase. When someone demonstrates an interest in your business, you can generate an email to give them more of the same, or direct them to something they may like even more.
- Personalized Recommendation Emails
Personalized recommendation emails could be triggered by a whole range of activities. They could be sent out based on clicking a link on a previous email, signing up for a piece of free content, or even because they’ve bought a specific service.
Everyone wants to feel as though they matter, and anything that’s personalized specifically to an individual is likely to be received well. Rather than feeling as though they’re one of many potential clients, the recipient will feel special and will be more likely to read the whole email. Personalized recommendation emails will also make your business appear more human.
- Re-engagement Campaigns
When clients have been inactive for a while it’s vital that you don’t just let communication drop off completely. With re-engagement campaigns, you can get back in contact with clients who haven’t engaged with your business, and encourage them back by sending them something that will pique their interest. Re-engagement campaigns could include an offer, or limited-time service, but it’s important never to make these emails too long. Keep them short and sweet!
Warm leads are always easier to convert than cold leads, and automated re-engagement campaign emails can ensure you retain as many of your clients as possible.
- Up-Selling Emails
If your clients have just purchased from your business, it’s the perfect time for you to see if they want more! Their first purchase has already demonstrated that they’ve bought into your brand, so why not strike while the iron’s hot, and tell them about another service that will benefit them?
Cross-selling emails can be sent in the same way. If you sell connected services, make sure you tell your clients about other services that may interest them while they’re still thinking about their first purchase!
- Emails asking Customers to Leave a Review
The time straight after you’ve made a sale is the best time to receive reviews! Clients are unlikely to think about leaving a review themselves, but if you give them a nudge at just the right time, you’re far more likely to get a response. Leaving a good review will also remind your clients of just how much they value your services – and may encourage repeat custom!
- Unsubscribe Emails
If a proportion of your clients haven’t engaged with your content for a long time, send them an unsubscribe email. Give them the option to remove themselves from your mailing list, or push them into getting in touch!
Ultimately, if they are interested in your services, they’ll stay subscribed, but if they aren’t interested in the services you offer, you don’t want them on your mailing list anyway! Remember, it’s always important that your mailing list contains only those who are actually genuinely interested in your business.
Final Thoughts about Automated Emails
One of the most important things to remember about automated emails is that just because they are automated, it doesn’t mean they are generic! With so many email marketing services available for all sizes of business, there are a whole host of ways you can connect with your target audience.
At the end of the day, all customers want to feel as though they are being given personalized content. No one is interested in generic, run-of-the-mill emails that don’t demonstrate any connection between business and consumer. Instead, think about sending valuable content in short emails that are easy to digest, have catchy subject lines and clear calls to action.
When you begin setting up automated emails, don’t forget to keep an eye on how they are received. You can always tweak and adjust certain emails as you go along, and it won’t be long before you find out which automated emails result in the maximum benefit for your business. Once you’ve found the top performing emails, optimize and improve them until you’ve got a perfectly honed system! You’ll be surprised at how quickly you start to see results…
Guest Author Bio: Sophie is a copywriter based in South Wales, UK. Sophie has a First Class Honours degree in English Literature, a Masters in Creative Writing, and several years of experience working in Social Media and Marketing.