Even with the forever changing conversational channels available, email still remains one of the most popular and trusted approaches to engaging with customers. It can however be difficult to gauge how often and how many emails to send at any given time. Too many and the customer is less likely to read them, as they become almost a chore and just a hindrance; too few and you have become forgettable and appear uninterested. So how do you get the correct balance?
3-2-1 Campaign
A 3-2-1 Campaign lets you separate your email list into three main sections.
3, being the most important leads on the list, these are your ‘Hot Prospects’. Hot prospects are the type of prospects that have already showed a lot of interest in your products and just need the tiniest of nudges in the direction of a sales personnel as they are ready to buy!
2, are those that are fully aware they have a problem, unlike you however, they don’t know you’re the right person they need to fix it. These ‘Warm Prospects’ need to be nurtured in order to be convinced you are what they have been missing!
1, are the ‘Cold Prospects’, these people aren’t sure they even have anything wrong and they haven’t thought of using your company and may not know what they want or need. These are the prospects that need a lot of attention and dedication to be convinced in parting with their time and money!
You may think because a cold lead is going to take longer to potentially become a client, this is where you should start. But you already know that your hot leads are almost sales ready, so why would you not save everyone some time and contact them first! While you’re waiting for someone that could potentially become sales ready, the sure thing hot lead may have gone elsewhere, so always start with them first!
Try sending a first email with a prominent call to action, to draw in your hot leads and find those who can instantly be passed to the sales team. Then follow up a little while later with a more relaxed approach to a call to action, accompanied with some intriguing information about your services or company in general. This will help attract those warm prospects that can potentially reach a new list for further nurturing into a hot prospect. Lastly, you can now focus on those cold prospects, after a longer period of time send another email explaining to them what you can offer and allowing them to determine a problem they may not of realised they had. If the cold prospects seem interested and click on a link or follow through on instructions on any emails, you can then add them to a new list and begin nurturing them into warm leads. Alternatively if the emails are unanswered, it is safe to say these are disinterested prospects that you can add to a cold list, allowing you to concentrate just on those that are worth your very busy time.
Onboarding Campaign
When you have found that great interested client that has just joined, a very personal approach is needed to work out the best product and approach for them. The best way to do this is obviously to talk to one of your sales teams, however, why not put them on an onboarding campaign first to prepare them with any potential information they could need. You can begin by sending them frequently asked questions to help them settle anything they may be unsure of. After a short period of time it is maybe a good idea to then send any relevant training resources or next steps they should expect. It would be beneficial to continue in this manor until you are certain the customer is feeling informed and their process is underway, in order to keep them loyal and happy.
Renewal Campaign
Keeping your existing customers happy is just as important as generating new ones. You can set up reminder emails to be sent at any given date before contracts are up, reminding customers to renew and continue receiving your business. You can also ensure you keep them up to date with any new developments that may benefit them such as add on products or new trainings, helping to remind them that you still care even after their business, possibly even encouraging them to return or generate more business through word of mouth.With such a great tool at your disposal, keeping track of your current clients and generating new ones through email communications has never been easier. So what are you waiting for! This is just one section of the many amazing aspects pardot can do to help benefit your business. Take a look at more great features on our Pardot blog section and get the most out of your marketing automation efforts. Why not get in touch today and find out how else your business could benefit form Pardot and Salesforce, contact us here.