Welcome back to the Smart Send Authority series.
As you can see from this series, the focus has to be on the connection between you and your audience. Making sure you have the right people, giving them the right message, at the right time, in the right place for them to buy.
Let's say you've done all of this.
Let's say you've set up your marketing email, you have a decent lead magnet in place, you know exactly who your audience are, and you're ready to grow. You're ready to go from scrapping along and scrambling for leads, right through to massive payday months, a sustainable retainer model, building out your membership, or whatever it is you do for your services.
So today, we're going to talk about how to get into growth mode.
And I’m warning you now, it's not going to be sexy, it's not going to be a magic silver bullet, but it does bring sanity to your business.
Build a System That Frees You
The key trick for any escape velocity is to build a system.
You want to have a smarter workflow for your team. That is, instead of trying out a hundred different things at once, you focus on what works and double down on it. Your email system should be there to free you rather than trap you.
Your growth recipe:
Systemise your sales > Track what works > Fix the leaks > Add people.
It's really that simple.
Step 1: Look at Where You're Getting Your People
Who is flowing in through your front door? Where are they coming from?
For example:
- Your website
- Your ads
- Your events
- Your landing pages
If there’s a problem here, it’s either you're not getting enough people or your conversion rate is crap.
The average conversion rate across all industries is 2.35%. (Opt-in Monster).Ideally, you should be aiming for 4% or above. I’ve seen rates of 6% with just a few tweaks and I’m getting 12% with testing on two of my clients, at the present time of writing. Be ambitious for your conversion rate!
With ads, it’s more complex, depending on your chosen platform, audience and offer. I recommend checking what it should be against your industry and making sure you track both the opt-in rate and the ROI. It’s worth noting that most companies lose money on the ad offer and recoup it in the upsell, so you really need to track those numbers.
Once you've got a decent conversion rate, and once you've got enough people coming through, remember what I said before: 10% of the list will die each year. So as a standing start, you've got to get enough people through the door to keep it working.
Step 2: Where Are They Going?
You've brought them into your world. They are strangers and you want to get to know them better. What happens next?
Clicks don't lie.
Check what they're doing. Who opens, who clicks and when they stop engaging in your welcome and nurture sequences. This is when you sit down with your reports and work out where the problem is. Do you need to test an underperforming email? Do you need to add more emails? Where are they dropping off and why?
that activity is. How often they're opening. Do you need to add more emails? Can you get away with less? Where do they drop off? What are they doing?
This is where segments are so powerful - you can test your theories really quickly by rerouting people down different email paths. It does not take long to set up and depending on how big your audience is, you can have the answers within a week.
This will give you the crucial information you need to decide are you getting a good fit for your clients? In terms of what you're telling them, in terms of what you're offering, do you need to rethink that, do you need to sell more to them?
Remember, on average, people need between 7 and 9 touch points before they buy these days.
It's purely the noise of this world and the fact that you need to build up trust with them, first.
So, give them as much upfront information as they need. It could be:
- More testimonials
- More info
- More education
- More personal emails - people want to know who you are. It’s scary, but sharing yourself with your audience will get a response.
What Most Businesses Don't Do Well
Let's say that you've got people opening and clicking, but they're not buying. You’ve got three options, and most business people opt for the top two:
- Look for a silver bullet (a new method, solution or sales person)
- Bring in an expert (this when I usually get involved)
- Ask their subscribers
Despite decades of customers telling businesses to pay attention to them, we are still shy about direct questions.
Ask them why.
Put in a trigger conversation after, say, four email opens but no clicks. Just ask them:
- How can we help you?
- What do you need from us?
- What can we do to persuade you to try us out?
Some people will respond, some people won't, but that is crucial gold dust to you.
It tells you where you're going wrong.
What normally happens is, one of the two things I've seen here is: you've got the right offer, but the wrong audience, (there's a misalignment), or you've got the right alignment, but you’re not clear about your offer.
For example, a savings coach is not really selling her expertise on tax wrappers, interest rates and stock bonds. She’s selling a secure future and peace of mind. You need to find out what your audience really wants; your service is how they get there.
This is where face-to-face conversations really work well, because you can explain to people, “Oh yeah, I'm doing this, this, and this, and they're like, "We didn't know that, we didn’t know that”
You don’t have to spend thousands on research. When you are starting out, get a friendly stranger or business acquaintance to look through your sales page and get them to ask questions out loud as they go through it.
Companies like Crazy Egg will do that for you for a fee, or you can bribe a few leads to do it in return for a complimentary service or gift voucher.
I guarantee they will come up with stuff you've never even thought of.
Repeat, Improve, Repeat
Once you've got all this done, you've got a reasonable amount of people flowing through and they are buying, it’s time to increase and iterate.
- Send more people to your website or landing pages.
- Repeat, improve and repeat your sales system.
A/B tests. New ways of presenting your offer. More segments. Lookalike audiences.
It’s not sexy, but it is interesting.
This is when you can do things like:
- Find advocacy
- Partnerships
- Even more ads
It's at this point you have escape velocity.
Do the Hard Yards Now
Really look at your data, ask those questions, get out of your comfort zone. It’s easier to fix and less costly with a smaller audience than a larger one.
Good luck with all of this, and if you want my help to escape, you know where to find me.
