Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

Ask Yellow Dog: Do Drip Campaigns Delay a Sale?

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Do Drip Campaigns Delay a Sale_I’m starting to work with a new client and we’ve discussed adding a welcome series of emails with an opt-in offer to their website. This is something I often talk about with clients when we’re getting their newsletter setup. Do you have an opt in offer and should we have a series of welcome emails about it? The answer is usually:

  • Yes
  • No but I can
  • No, hard pass – please don’t make me.

Here’s the specific question from my client:

I know we’ve talked about doing a four part series. In theory, I’m fine with that, but I have been wondering if continuing to drip useful information to potential clients may inadvertently prevent/delay them for reaching out because they know more information is coming… I definitely want them to have that “whoa this is a lot we should probably just pay them to help us” feeling but not the “well this is manageable I’ll just keep waiting for these emails” feeling.

I LOVE this question.

It’s how we all feel about our opt in and any drip campaign series. Will they wait to buy or will they buy now? Here’s my response…

Good question…Downloads are a funny thing. Some people will download the list because they want something for free and never really plan to hire you – they just want the DIY. And some people download but never look at it. And then the 3rd group download it, use it and realize that yeah, they need you.
SO – I don’t think someone who needs to hire you NOW will wait the whole 4 weeks (or however long we make the series last) to call you if they need you. AND at the bottom of each email we can add a button to “schedule your initial consult” or whatever we decide to do.

Most Importantly?

What you measure matters. Make sure that you’re tracking where your leads come from. Did this person download the opt in and then schedule a consult a week later? Did they schedules 3 months later once they were on the newsletter list and started to get a better feel for how you work? Did you meet them networking and they checked out your website so were already warmed up to your awesomeness before they opted in?
The right clients come along when THEY are ready, not when you want them to be ready. The purpose of your opt in is to have a healthy sales pipeline continuously growing so the right people come in on their timeline and you aren’t panicking about where that next piece of business is going to come from.

Ask Yellow Dog: Why Are My Unsubscribe Numbers Up?

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I recently spoke with someone about their newsletter. Their unsubscribe numbers were up and they asked me to take a look. Not a problem! I looked at a couple recent newsletters and noticed a very common mistake:

Too Much Selling

You may be scaring potential clients away because you’re trying to sell to them ALL THE TIME. Back up.
The point of your newsletter is to educate your network so they WANT to hire you when it’s the right time FOR THEM. Your newsletter is consistent so when they are ready to buy they know where to find you. (This happened again for me last week!)
If you only are ever selling me stuff I’m less inclined to buy. Prove it. Show me how awesome you are each and every month in your newsletter with the knowledge you have to share.
I agree that there’s a lot of selling, but then how do you let people know you’ve got stuff that could help them? this is what I don’t understand.
You can sell, but tone it down a notch (or 10). My suggestion in this case was to streamline the message and only focus on one offering a month. If you have 5 great offers that’s AWESOME – and put that into 5 months of content. Your readers have a million other things going on each day – I’d much rather read a quick newsletter with one clear option and realize “nope, not the right fit for me.” Instead of having to decipher which one of these 5 is the right one for me right now.

Be clear in what your newsletter is supposed to do for your audience:

  • Educate your audience about your awesomeness (you’re the expert, you can help them with this problem, you have the answers)
  • Give them useful tools and/or information so they can try it themselves
  • An option to work with you if outsourcing it or hiring someone is what they need
If you’re giving away too much information people will go in the opposite direction of what you want. Take a minute this week to review your newsletter – are you overwhelming people with options and they’re running away?