[VIDEO] HOW DO YOU SEND THE RIGHT EMAIL TO THE RIGHT PERSON?

Remember, we're looking at the Close stage of the Inbound Methodology, and today we'll start analyzing

How do you send the right email to the right person?

Since email is an important piece of your inbound strategy, let's learn how to send the right email to the right person.

Let's look at the 4 best practices that, together, will help you succeed with your emails.

When I think about best practices for writing a good email, I use a simple formula:

1. Determine who your audience is
   
2. Segment your contact database so you can single out the contacts that truly fit your audience.
   
3. Send the right content to that audience at the right time.
   
4. And use it to nurture that prospect and turn them into a customer.

The question we're trying to answer with these best practices is: Who is receiving your email, and why?

First, let's determine the audience.

Email is all about the right content, sent to the right audience, delivered at the right time, and you'll succeed.

Remember, inbound marketing is the marriage of context and content. When you divide your contacts into small groups based on similarities, it allows you to use context to make your content more relevant and engaging.

So how do you segment your contacts?

Think about it …

Exactly! By your Buyer Personas. Buyer Personas are very, very important to our inbound strategy, so it's no surprise that I'm mentioning them again at this point in the course. But how can this help you write better emails?

Here's an example: let's say I'm selling washing machines.

My ideal customers are homeowners between the ages of 30 and 50 who live in the suburbs.

They're interested in saving energy, but their Achilles' heel is the high cost of energy-efficient washing machines.

They tend to compare options online before making their purchase, and because they spent time on their research, they feel confident in their decision to buy a quality product at a high price.

A clear definition of your Buyer Persona helps you determine your audience. I have a clear picture of WHO will be on the other side of the email when I send my message. Now you need to consider another question:

Where is your audience in the Buyer's Journey?

Sending a great email to the right person at the WRONG time can be a BIG problem.

Let's say, for example, that our homeowners are still researching whether to buy a washing machine, regardless of the type.

The old washing machine still works fine, so for now they're just looking to learn more; they aren't necessarily looking to make a purchase.

If I start sending them emails with coupons, discounts, and offers to replace their old washing machine, it would be really annoying, and instead of helping, it could make them unsubscribe from the list. And I want you to know that when someone unsubscribes from your list, you've lost them forever.

An email that is perfectly positioned for someone in the decision stage could be very off-putting for someone who isn't looking to buy anything right now.

But an email with the right information that lands in the prospect's inbox at just the right time, well, that could be a real relief!

Use your Buyer Personas and the Buyer's Journey to guide you when slicing and dicing your contact lists into segments.

See how it doesn't sound so bad? These are very good foundations for an effective segmentation strategy.

And I can hear some of you saying: “OK, Rob, this talk is about segmentation. Do I really have to work beyond identifying my Buyer Personas? Do I need to segment beyond where they are on their path to purchase?”

Don't worry, I don't expect you to believe me blindly, but I've come prepared with a simple fact. Did you know that sending targeted content dramatically increases open rates and click-through rates?

In fact, emails sent to segmented lists get 62% more clicks than emails sent to non-segmented lists.

We're talking about concrete improvements in your email sends.

If there's one thing inbound businesses love, it's data, and in our next video we'll look at the different ways you can use data to improve your segmentation.

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