You can’t just create a great product & pray that people will get out their credit cards to buy it.

Here is what you do: You make people aware of your product, state the problems it can solve, tell them what they will miss if they don’t buy your product & see the dollars do ‘ka-ching’ in your account. The interesting part is, you can do it from anywhere in the world while wearing your floral print shorts.

This is all done through a sequence of emails sent on a schedule to leads in order to convert them into customers. The length of the sequence depends on the type of product (one-time purchase or subscription-based), price point (high, mid, or low), and of course your business strategy.

The visual representation of this process is an email marketing funnel. Lesser and lesser leads move from one stage to the other, making it look like a funnel. Hence, the name.

Why Do You Need an Email Marketing Funnel?

 

People don’t buy from a brand as soon as they give in their email address. The 4 major stages a subscriber moves through are:

Stages that a subscribers moves through to become a customer

Awareness: Once someone subscribes to your list, they have already crossed this stage. Now they are aware of your presence and the solutions you might provide.

Interest: Subscribers who move to this stage are the ones who open your emails and are interested to know what you have to say, kind of solutions, and content you provide.

Consideration: At this stage, buyers are interested in learning about their options for solving their problems. This is when you can position your services or products as a solution.

Conversion: This is where a subscriber turns into a customer. Your sales emails containing the right CTA can make the transaction happen.

To maintain engagement in this journey, we need an email marketing funnel.

How to build an email marketing funnel (in a nutshell)

Start by defining your target audience and creating valuable content that resonates with their needs. Build a compelling lead magnet to entice sign-ups, then design a user-friendly landing page and opt-in form. Utilize an email marketing platform to automate and streamline communication. Craft a series of engaging and personalized emails that guide subscribers through the funnel, providing valuable information and building trust. Implement segmentation to tailor messages based on user behavior. Finally, analyze metrics regularly to optimize performance, tweaking the funnel as needed.

8 Kinds of Emails in a Sales Funnel

  1. Nurture Emails
  2. Problem & Solution
  3. The Pitch
  4. Content
  5. Social Proof
  6. Objection Killer
  7. Pitch with Offer
  8. Ask for feedback

Sounds like a lot? Well, it all makes sense if you read the full flow of emails below.

1. Nurture Emails

Send in what you promised them when they gave their email address. Then send content that will help you pitch as an authority in the field of your service/product.

Why sleep matters Nurture Email

2. Problem & Solution

Address a problem and how your product solves that problem. Sometimes, it helps to introduce a paradigm shift (a problem that people are not aware of but it exists) and then show them how you are right there with the solution.

Mindvalley Problem and Solution Email

3. The Pitch

This email announces your product. It should be simple & straightforward with features of your product explained in bullet points. Keep the CTA very clear like ‘Enroll’, ‘Add to Cart’, ‘Buy Now’. CTA should go straight to the sales page.

You can also tell why you created this product.

Be crystal clear about what you are selling & what it does for the customers. And you can repeat these two things over and over again in your email with different Variations.

Don’t overload this email with guarantee, testimonials, and such. People care about those things only after they are convinced about the product. So put all your focus on making your product as the hero.

4. The Lift

Don’t be angry or disappointed if people didn’t buy your product the moment you announced it. Let them take some time while you remind them about your product and value it will generate for them.

In this email, you give some value to the customer & then talk a little bit about the product. Nothing life-changing, a simple email. CTA for this goes straight to the sales Page. You can even provide multiple CTAs in the form of text hyperlinks.

5. Social Proof

This email is to build some social proof. You can do it through testimonials, case studies, showing the number of people who have bought the product before. You can talk about some awards and recognitions to build credibility.

This will build trust amongst your audience. CTA should be straight to the sales page where people can check out what’s the hype about the product or read more positive reviews.

Social Proof image email marketing funnel example

6. The Objection Killer

At this point, many people would be interested in your product but still sitting on the fence pondering about some questions they might have, like ‘Do they have a refund policy?’, ‘Does it work if I am 40+?’, ‘How is it different from other services?’

You can crush these objections by doing a Q&A style email. And remember, organize those Q&A from most concerning to least conversing questions.

Take away any risk by showing your refund policy, a trial period, or customer support access.

The Objection killer email by Mindvalley email marketing funnel example

7. The Close

At this point, people have all the info about your product. You have to now push people to make a decision. Use a very clear subject line e.g. – Time to decide, XYZ closes tonight., 48 hours left before the cart closes.

This also drives the scarcity factor if you are opening the cart for a limited time. It can be a longer & motivational email. This is where you bring in all the elements about your product together - its features, nice things people say about it, guarantee you are offering, etc.

Tell them what they will miss if they don’t invest in your product or service right now.

8. The Last Call

This is the last email in the sequence & reinforces scarcity. It works if you are taking pre-orders or have an online course for which classes start soon.

It should not be a long email but just a short, clear reminder. By now they have all the facts with them so you only have to convince them to do what they genuinely want to do & remind them of the situation they would want to picture themselves in.

You can use the 3-point close formula – give your readers the 3 most important things you want them to think about. Remind them clearly, e.g. ‘Cart closes tonight at 11:59 pm’, ‘You only have 18 hours to buy this course’

Mindvalley The last call email marketing funnel example

After the sale, you still have some potential to generate more revenue from the same funnel. You can use existing customers to generate more leads through referrals. You can upsell to existing customers and create more funnels. You can keep your customers engaged so that they become advocates of your brand and you hence you get more leads. If you compare a satisfied one-time buyer to a new prospect, your best long-term value lies with the existing customer. So keep sending them valuable content and take their feedback to improve your product.

What Will Make Your Email Funnel Great?

These are some fundamental points that will ensure your funnels keep performing:

  • Understand the degree of awareness for each of your contacts
  • Do segmentation that helps you do better marketing
  • Include personalization and your brand’s personality that will help your message resonate
  • Maintaining high-quality lists
  • Use persuasive sales copy and always deliver high-quality content

Wrap Up

An email marketing funnel, written well, and executed timely can work like a well-oiled machine to turn your subscribers into customers.

With slightly advanced email marketing software having automation capabilities, you don’t even have to worry about scheduling, segmenting, tagging. You can build your list, set your rules, send emails & maintain communication all through one channel.  That's an automated email funnel for you right there!

Just about every business has the same goal of increasing its income and impact, by turning subscribers into customers.

If you want to increase your revenue and engagement, you should check out SendX and it’s automation capabilities. It’s a free trial for 14-days. No credit cards. No long forms. No tricks. Just an ESP that has already helped 3000+ companies achieve their goals with email marketing. You can get access to all features if you just sign up here.


FAQs

1) What is an email marketing funnel?
An email marketing funnel is the series of stages through which a user passes from being a visitor to being a customer. The stages are: Visitor -> Subscriber -> Lead -> Qualified Lead -> Customer.

2) Why do I need an email marketing funnel?
The main purpose is to maintain customer engagement in the customer journey whereby he/she moves through the stages of awareness -> interest -> consideration -> conversion.

3) How do I build an email marketing funnel?
Building an email marketing funnel involves four main steps:

  • Generating leads
  • Lead nurturing
  • Lead conversion (to customers)
  • Customer retention


4) How does an email marketing funnel work?
The way an email marketing funnel works is:

  • Gather email subscribers through forms and landing pages
  • Send subscribers targeted and well-timed emails to build trust and respect
  • Keep engaging them until the subscribers become customers


5) What are the different stages of an email marketing funnel?
The different stages of an email marketing funnel through which a user passes are: Visitor -> Subscriber -> Lead -> Qualified Lead -> Customer.