You want to stay connected with your clients. After all, they’re the reason that you do what you do. You love establishing a personal connection with each of your athletes, and seeing them improve over time.
But, you know as well as anyone how valuable that time is. Wherever you can automate processes to make them more efficient, the better, right?
Automations empower you to gain time back to focus on other areas of your business, like building out new programs and events, preparing a sports camp agenda, or offering a new type of class at your facility.
You see automations in a number of areas in your business. With Upper Hand, for example, you can automate your memberships to drive recurring revenue. You can also automate your payroll and commission tracking to eliminate room for human error and save time on the tedious administrative side of your business.
But, have you considered how you might automate your email marketing?
Think about the emails that you receive each day–promotions for new clothes at your favorite store, a birthday coupon to treat yourself, or a reminder that you might need to schedule that doctor’s appointment.
Setting up recurring email communications will allow you to keep in touch with your clients and prospects, without taking time away from your already busy schedule.
What are email automations, and which ones should you incorporate into your marketing strategy?
Email automations empower you to plan and send automated messages to specific clients at certain times–without doing the manual work every time. By automating the process, you are able to focus on other areas of your business while still staying in touch with your clients and building positive relationships.
There are a number of reasons why you should automate email messages. First, it allows you to engage with your customers and prospects on a regular basis. Personal connections will always be a priority. But, especially as you grow your business, it can become extremely cumbersome to manually send out targeted emails from scratch. Automated emails can still be personalized, and will help you continue building those connections behind the scenes.
Next, email automations save you time to focus on important areas of your business such as your programming and offerings. By streamlining your marketing communications, you’re able to strategically invest time in your business and clients in a way that will show value.
Email automations also provide an easy opportunity to celebrate your clients. This will ensure no special day goes unnoticed, and will greatly contribute to your client satisfaction and retention. For example, you may choose to send a birthday email with a special coupon code to sweeten the deal. Whether these clients are working out with you frequently or haven’t been in for a while, it will show that you appreciate them and care about them as more than just a number.
There are a lot of ways to use email automations. But, to get started, here are 3 email automations that you can start using today.
Prospect nurturing email automations are emails that you trigger to send to prospective clients. These are individuals that may be interested in your business and offerings, but haven’t yet signed up. By automating an email marketing campaign after someone fill out the form on your website or sign up for your newsletter, you can immediately begin to establish a relationship with them.
Research has found that nearly 50% of leads aren’t ready to buy. By using email automations, you’ll keep your brand top of mind so when they are ready, they come to you.
When writing a prospect nurturing email, be sure to use this as an opportunity to share information that potential clients may want to read. Ease any hesitations, answer commonly asked questions, and provide resources that can help them make an informed decision about which offerings might be right for them. By personalizing the experience, you are more likely to convert your leads into long time clients.
A new client email automation is a triggered email that is sent any time you gain a new client. This gives your new clients a positive first impression and a warm welcome to your business.
New client email automations are a great opportunity to give an overview of your offerings and answer commonly asked questions. For example, you may give an overview of event schedules, staff contact information, or any other details that will be important prior to showing up for their lesson or class. As with prospect nurturing email automations, these emails establish a positive first impression with your brand, so they should be customized to fit your brand’s voice.
As the name suggests, birthday email automations are sent on clients’ birthdays. Birthday emails are an easy way to make your clients feel special and to strengthen your relationship with them. Recognizing their big day shows that you care about them more than just as another face in a class.
Birthday email automations are proven to have high transaction rates, meaning they are effective. You may consider sweetening the deal by adding in a special coupon or added perk. This will also encourage clients to come back to your business or to try something new.
For more on birthday email campaigns, check out this article on how to build a customer birthday campaign in less than 30 minutes!
As you build these marketing automations, remember that even the smallest actions can have a lasting impression on your clients. Putting in a few minutes on the back end to build and schedule these automations will help you continue positive engagements, influence prospective clients to come train with you, and make your clients feel important.
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