Step 1: Automate
Have you heard of the trend known as digital nomadism? Essentially, it’s the idea that in the age of computers, there’s no longer any need to sit in an office for 8 hours a day; instead, you can work from anywhere with an internet connection. One of our clients – Mr Karel Chába – heard about this and decided he’d like to work from the beach himself.
It’s possible, but your work must be efficient. One way to save yourself from daily administrative tasks is to automate. The second condition is that campaigns must be conversion-focused and address specific customer problems. Such a campaign then naturally has the potential to generate revenue.
As a first step, we proposed an automated email campaign to Mr Chába that would sell his services and save him time.
Step to the beach #2: think strategically
For any campaign to be effective, it must be well thought out and planned. You need to go through and consider these 11 steps one by one:
1. Setting campaign goals
We’ve written here about how to set goals correctly so that they are SMART.
2. Analysing the current situation
Consider how many daily visitors you have on your website, how competitive your industry is, how strong your brand is, and how much trust users have in you. Also analyse what products and services you can offer and which of these users would be most interested in.
3. Defining your persona
You need to know exactly who you’re speaking to. Every customer has needs, concerns and expectations. Offer a suitable product or service, address those concerns in your campaign, and offer something extra that exceeds expectations. That’s the recipe for a successful campaign.
For example, Mr Chába’s campaign targets men and women aged 35–50 who are dealing with a long-term relationship problem. The typical user belongs to the middle class. They live in a larger town (primarily in Prague) or commute to a major city for work. They are tech-savvy and have no trouble navigating email, the web or using Skype.
Sample persona – Eva
4. Choosing the product/service you will sell
Choose a product that will meet your goals whilst offering sufficient benefits to your customers. We have chosen written consultations, as these can be provided remotely – even from the beach – and we know they have helped dozens of clients resolve complex relationship crises.
5. Developing a strategy
When preparing your strategy, answer the following questions:
- Who is the campaign aimed at? Define a specific segment of your target audience.
- What is my customer’s problem, and how will the campaign help them solve it? Effective campaigns don’t sell; they help.
- Where will you communicate with users? Choose a suitable channel. In our case, email.
- How will you communicate with users? Set the tone of your communication.
- What product will I be selling?
- How can I make it easier for customers to buy the product?
- Why should customers want it?
- What might put them off buying it?
- What else might they like to receive?
Based on the answers, you can then prepare the outline and content of the campaign. First, help users solve a problem – perhaps with a downloadable e-book – and only then focus on selling. By offering advice, you’ll build trust, and a longer campaign gives you the chance to address any doubts that might prevent users from purchasing your service or product.
6. Choosing software
You’ll need the help of technology. In this case, we’ve chosen ActiveCampaign. It allows you to map out your automation workflow most clearly, select various conditions, and tag users for segmentation based on actions in your emails and on the website itself.
7. Content creation
Set the right tone for your communication so that it inspires trust and builds a relationship. People like to communicate with people, not robots. Prepare your emails as if they were written by a real person. This is what an email looks like that a consultant might send personally. During testing, 60% of testers told us they felt as though Mr Chába was communicating with them personally, which won them over.
8. Setting up automation
Set up the technology with time intervals and conditions, following the diagram you created.
9. User testing
Test the campaign with users to ensure it works as intended
10. Launching the campaign
11. Post-launch campaign optimisation
Step to the beach #3: test with users
Because if you don’t test the campaign with users, you can never be sure that it’s set up correctly for them and will convert.
Testing helped us choose the most suitable contact form, identify emails that users found too formal, and tailor the entire sales process to them.
For example, thanks to Mr Chába, we discovered that we were offering the wrong product. Mr Chába is a relationship counsellor and wanted to use emails to sell written consultations, but his clients preferred to discuss their problems in person, so they didn’t buy the written consultations.
Thanks to testing, the campaign can be optimised and its conversion rate increased. We have prepared a step-by-step guide to user testing for you:
Incidentally, Daniel spoke about why it makes sense to test campaigns at WebTop100:
Step to the beach #4: optimise
Launching a campaign isn’t the end of the story. Monitor the results, try A/B testing and optimise to ensure you get the best possible results.
Why is it worth testing with users?
Because thanks to their feedback, we managed to
- Increase the click-through rate by 15%
- Collect 36% more email addresses
- Save 50% of sales by changing the product offered in the third sales email
We discovered, for example, that after sending the third email, users no longer read the subject line but open the email automatically. It therefore makes sense to build a relationship with them.