How to Use an Email Marketing Drip Campaign

Use your website to prompt visitors to sign up for your newsletter list. Then, by sending consistent and compelling content, you demonstrate your expertise and knowledge to prove how you can effectively help them achieve their financial goals.

Visitors will be more inclined to sign up for your newsletters if they receive a benefit in exchange for doing so. This is referred to as an incentive-based opt-in.

What is an incentive-based opt-In?

An incentive-based opt-in, also known as a lead magnet, is a gated piece of content offered in exchange for a prospect’s contact information. They will be incentivized to share their information if offered something of value, such as a PDF guide or financial checklist.

Lead magnets allow prospects to stay connected with you without fully committing to a consultation if they're still assessing their options.

Pair your lead magnet with a web form that’s connected to your email marketing platform so that prospects are automatically added to your email list when they submit the form.

Start an email drip campaign to stay prominent and provide value to a potential client.

How to create a lead magnet

Before you implement lead magnets on your web site, clearly identify your ideal client type and create resources applicable to their specific needs, questions, concerns, and interests.

By understanding what information your prospective clients are seeking, you determine which type of lead magnet will be most compelling. You can offer an informational PDF, whitepaper, recorded webinar, checklist, or quiz.

Three Oaks Wealth offers “The Business Owner's Guide to Wealth” – a niche-specific downloadable PDF featured on the home page. The panel is straightforward and clearly outlines what people will gain when they sign up.

Establish trust with your web visitors before asking them to sign up for your incentive-based opt-in. Three Oaks’s lead magnet is prominent but lower on the home page. Visitors gain a sense of who the firm is and what it offers before being called to action.

If you have multiple audiences, I recommend creating a more general lead magnet for your home page and several targeted pieces of content for each audience type. These can be placed on an audience-specific page, such as “services” or ”who we serve.”

Three Oaks Wealth offers multiple lead magnets on its “what we do” page. This page is further down the funnel of a visitor’s journey, so it’s a great place to be more direct and drive attention toward the lead magnet.

Set up an effective email drip campaign

Now that you have gathered potential clients’ contact information from your incentive-based opt-in, add them to an email drip campaign.

Email campaigns keep you at the top of prospect’s mind and enhance your reputation by sending consistent, valuable content directly to your audience.

The first email should include a link to or download of the lead magnet’s content. Share a brief overview of your firm and set expectations for the emails to come (timing, content, etc.).

Start a nurturing campaign to establish trust and provide value. This consists of three to four emails sent over a period of two to three weeks. Types of content can include:

• A client case study;
• An overview of why you started the firm, what you stand for, and who you help;
• A link to a resource, such as a podcast episode or blog article;
• A list of your favorite financial tools and resources; or
• News on the latest financial or economic trends.

Regardless of the type of content, your emails should always be clear and short. People won’t want to read long, multi-paragraph emails. Keep it concise with only one or two sentences per paragraph.

While you don’t want to sell too hard in these emails, aim to drive traffic back to your web site. Include links to resources in the body of your email or a “P.S.” section.

Once your nurture emails have been sent, send a sales email. This email should clearly and directly ask people to act by giving you a call or scheduling a consultation through an online calendar.

Remind people of the problem they’re facing and the solution you can offer with your services and support. Reiterate your call to action more than once so people know exactly what you’re requesting of them.

After the sales email has been sent, continue to connect with your email list by sending a monthly or bi-monthly newsletter.

Conclusion

Your web site is a sales and marketing tool that guides people toward conversion paths, from call scheduling to email sign-ups.

Effective incentive-based opt-ins relevant to your ideal clients provide clear and valuable information to convert them to a client.

When executed correctly, lead magnets are effective conversion tools. But, if you shift your niche or your clients’ preferences and concerns change, your lead magnet’s content should be updated to match. Consider a website redesign.

To optimize your success, drive all marketing efforts to your email list, which will then drive traffic to your web site. Since all your digital efforts are interconnected, make sure everything looks and sounds consistent.

Monitor the open and click-through rates of your emails. If they’re low, try sending your emails at different times, testing different subject lines, or adjusting the formatting of the email’s content.

Mikel Bruce is the CEO of TinyFrog Technologies, a San Diego web design agency specializing in WordPress web design & development and secured hosting & maintenance. Founded in 2003, TinyFrog offers a conversion-based approach to web design and has built over 1,100 websites. TinyFrog also has extensive experience in designing and building websites for financial advisors.

Read more articles by Mikel Bruce