Recently we talked about why you might want to set up a sales funnel as a freelancer, and how doing so can help to grow your business.
One of the core elements of any effective sales funnel is the emails that you send out to potential clients.
In a funnel, the emails you send out need to guide your clients (or potential clients) through a process. This will hopefully improve their relationship with you, and make them more likely to want to work with you.
So these emails are crucial for the success of your entire funnel. In this article, we’re going to explain everything you need to know to set up some great emails that achieve your goals – so buckle up!
What is an email sequence?
An email sequence is a series of emails that are sent out to people in your funnel. They are usually sent automatically based on something like time – so one email every other day, for example.
You can also set it up so user behaviour influences when an email is sent, or even which email is sent to who.
If it’s based on behaviour then your email software can be set up to deliver emails when someone completes a predefined action – like filling in a sign up form, clicking a link in a previous email, or booking a call with you.
You want to create your email sequence before people start entering your funnel – otherwise, you risk having potential leads get stuck in your funnel – and there is little chance that you will eventually make a sale.
The great thing about email sequences is that they can be fully automated.
This means you can set them up once, and they can intelligently send the right emails to the right people.
Of course, you will need to choose an email service for this. But don’t worry, there are lots of great ones out there, and a few with good free plans – so you don’t have to worry about your budget when you are just starting out.
An email sequence doesn’t need to be anything too complicated. For example, a sequence could just be six emails that you send over the course of two weeks, when somebody downloads your lead magnet and gives you their email address.
You can make your email sequences as simple or as complicated as you want.
Emailing software we use and recommend:
Here at Freelance Success, we use Flodesk which is nice and simple to use – you can get a free 30-day trial here and get 50% off the monthly subscription for a lifetime with our affiliate code FREELANCE.
Why do you need email sequences as a freelancer?
Your email sequences will be a crucial part of your funnel – they will be the main tool that you will use to keep growing your relationship with people who enter your funnel, in order to turn them into clients.
Position yourself as an expert
With the right emails you can build a relationship with your audience and position yourself as a trusted expert who has their best interests at heart.
If you can create a series of emails that offers genuine value, and helps out your potential clients, then they are likely to grow to trust you and appreciate how you can help them.
This kind of ‘nurturing’ helps to improve how open to doing business with you they are likely to be.
Build a relationship with your potential clients
Thanks to email software, you can also divide your audience up into categories – or ‘segments’.
This makes it possible to be more specific and send out really personalised emails that can solve the exact pain point your prospects are facing – without bothering those people who won’t be interested in it.
All of this will help you to nurture your audience, introduce your services as a solution to their problem, earn their trust and eventually get more people to hire you.
Without email sequences, you have no control over your funnel, and there’s nothing to move your sign-ups along the funnel – so all of the hard work that you put into creating an amazing lead magnet and distributing it to the right people won’t pay off.
You are in control
Many freelancers overlook all of this, because it sounds complicated.
They believe that a social media presence is enough. While this can help you land great opportunities and get yourself out there – you are at the complete mercy of algorithms – one change or tweak can leave you empty handed overnight.
Also, you can automate a much more personal approach in your emails than you can using social media.
You have very little control over who sees what on social media – unless you target a specific group using paid advertising.
When it comes to email sequences, you decide what you send, to who and when. It’s then up to your leads whether they want to engage with you and your content or not.
And whatever happens with social media, email will never disappear – so there’s no risk that any of your efforts will be for nothing.
You will never have to ‘pay to play’
Finally, you can rest assured you will never have to pay to get more exposure for your business when it comes to email. The social media channels need businesses to pay for advertising, so they’re not really on your side.
With email, if your emails are valuable to people who have signed up, they will keep reading them, and new people will keep coming in.
You might have to pay a fee for your service provider, but they have no ulterior motive in the same way that the social media companies do.
Types of Email Sequences:
So let’s take a look at the types of email sequence you might want to set up and send:
A Welcome Sequence
This type of sequence will be triggered when somebody joins your email list.
If they have signed up for your lead magnet, then the first email from this sequence should contain the freebie you have promised, and maybe some additional info about it, like how to use it for example.
But downloading your lead magnet is just one way they can enter your funnel. Another way can be, for example, if they sign up to receive your weekly or monthly newsletter. In this case, you might set up a slightly different funnel with a different, more personalised, welcome email for them.
It’s up to you to decide how many emails each sequence should have – in some cases, one might be enough, in others you can have multiple emails, sent out across a number of months.
For example, if they have signed up for the lead magnet, you will want to follow up with them after a few days to see if it has helped them and if they have any questions for you.
Or if they didn’t download the file (which you will be able to see in your email software), you can send another email to remind them about it.
When you are crafting your sequence, have in mind that the primary aim of this is not to sell – it’s to start a conversation and a relationship – so introduce yourself, your company, and allow them to get to know you.
Nurturing Email Sequences
A nurturing sequence can, follow straight on from your welcome sequence.
This is typically a series of emails that has one aim – to provide great value to your subscribers.
You will use this sequence to build a relationship with your audience, earn their trust and position yourself as an expert who is here to help them. It will also keep you on their radar.
Again, there’s no rule as to how many emails should be in your sequence, so it’s completely up to you.
Try to strike a good balance, not too few, but not too many either.
This is the kind of thing you can start testing and adjusting once you’re sending your emails. You can look at the stats to identify what’s working, and what’s not.
Things to have in mind:
When you are creating this sequence, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Base your email content around your audience’s problems and goals. This sequence is all about them – make sure you are speaking their language and showing you understand their aspirations, as well as the challenges they are facing.
- Educate, educate, educate. Your audience will appreciate the empathy and start to listen to you – but if you don’t provide anything to help them solve their problems – they will quickly stop listening. Remember, you are positioning yourself as an expert here, so you need to show them why you are the one to help them move forward.
- Don’t sell. In a nurturing sequence you’re still building your relationship. So don’t be impatient and jump too soon with some special offers and discounts. Save the sales pitches for the conversion sequence, when the time is right.
- Don’t make it all one-way. Just because you are sending out these emails to everyone, and automating the process, this doesn’t mean it can be entirely a one way conversation. Always encourage your audience to reply to your emails and make yourself approachable. Be sure to reply soon if people do respond.
- Keep improving. Nothing is set in stone, which is why analytics are your best friend. See what works, what needs improving. If you can, do A/B testing until you perfect it – this is when you test different emails and sequences against each other to see which performs best. Again, more advanced email software will help you to do this easily.
Engagement Email Sequences
After your nurturing sequence, a percentage of your audience will likely feel ready to buy from you, but a lot will still be in the interest stage of the sales process. If you don’t keep engaging with them, they will stay stuck in the middle of your funnel – and eventually leave.
That’s why you need to have engagement sequences.
The idea here is to keep them actively engaged with you. So you might send them new content you have published, like blog articles or videos.
Try to keep them engaged with emails that they will find valuable and keep them active.
Conversion Sequences
When you have nurtured and engaged your audience for long enough, and you think they are ready to buy from you, it’s time for a conversion sequence.
This is a sequence in which you will directly, and unambiguously ask for a sale. So it might promote your services, special offers or an event you’re running.
For example, if you offer website copywriting, you might run a five-day email course on how to write the perfect copy for your clients’ About website page.
Then at the end of the course, you can send an email with a strong call to action that will convert some of them into your clients.
Try to be natural, but don’t avoid asking for the sale here. You want them to make a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decision at this stage.
Check-in Sequences
You should always try to keep your funnel tidy, so you can completely focus your energy into nurturing and converting the right people.
If someone has entered your funnel but has been inactive since then – which you can see in the stats section of your email service provider – you might want to remove them.
For example they might no longer be using the email address they provided to you at first, or your emails could be going straight to spam. They must also simply not be interested in what you have to say.
That’s where this type of sequence can help. It shouldn’t be long – sending two to three emails asking if they are still interested will be enough to give someone an opportunity to stay subscribed if they want to.
You won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, and you shouldn’t – that’s all fine, but if there’s no chance they will ever reach the end of your funnel, they shouldn’t be there clogging it up. It’s better to give your full attention to 5 potential clients than to 500 inactive subscribers.
If you like this article, we have a feeling you will like this as well:
Get More Clients With Sales Funnels – A Crash Course For Freelancers
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