Every week as SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with experts on my Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. The show takes place every Wednesday on Twitter from 8-9 pm ET. This is excerpted from my recent interview with @autobizchris. Chris Davis is the CEO and Chief Automator of Automation Bridge. As the founder of Automation Bridge, Chris is passionate about helping business owners increase their profits while working less by utilizing automation. Chris is leveraging 7 years of corporate experience as an Electrical Engineer (Lockheed Martin), and over 10 years experience as a Web Developer, to help entrepreneurs create a web presence that will effectively scale their business. Visit his website, http://automationbridge.com
SmallBizLady: In one word, how would you define automation?
Chris Davis: Necessary. Automation is an absolute necessity for any business owner who takes scaling their business and profits seriously. Scientists have been looking into how to clone humans for years; automation makes it possible for the small business owner. If you need to deliver a high quality of customer service to every prospect that enters your business, you’d be crazy to try to do it without automation.
SmallBizLady: What is one of the most common hurdles you see small business owners face when it comes to automation?
Chris Davis: A lack of marketing strategy. I tell business owners all the time, “Automation is like multiplication. The better your strategy, the bigger the results you can expect”. Automation is a tool. To use it correctly you must first understand clearly what you are trying to accomplish. You cannot just purchase the latest tool and expect it to fix your lack of marketing strategy. It is impossible to automate a marketing strategy that doesn’t exist.
SmallBizLady: What would you say is the key to being successful with automation?
Chris Davis: Streamlined processes. A business can be looked at as the sum of its processes. The more effective the process, the more successful the business will be. As an automation expert, my job is to ensure all the processes are streamlined before I implement any automation. Streamlining is a fancy word for simplifying. Simplified processes are the key to being successful with automation.
SmallBizLady: Let’s shift gears a little, where did your interest in email marketing come from?
Chris Davis: I have always liked email. Partly due to its silent, and non-obtrusive nature of communication. You can read an email without disturbing your spouse sleeping next to you, waiting between meetings, or while you are on the go and find some spare time. It’s the convenience of email that really attracted me to it. So when I found about email autoresponders and how they could be used to automate marketing and businesses growth at a rapid rate…I was all in.
SmallBizLady: Can you take a second and help us understand what exactly an email autoresponder is?
Chris Davis: An email autoresponder is a tool that sends out a sequence of emails when a specific trigger event takes place. In layman’s terms, email autoresponders send an email when someone does something either on your website or in an email. A good example is a web form on your website. When someone enters his or her information, it acts as a trigger event. Your email autoresponder will see that trigger event and send out a sequence of emails.
SmallBizLady: Let’s talk about email etiquette, what are some of the Do’s and Don’ts for a successful campaign?
Chris Davis: The do’s
- Email regularly. Make sure you have a proven path into their inbox. The best way to establish that is by sending regular, content filled emails to your subscribers.
- Segment your list. You’ll want to make sure you’re using segmentation to filter the hot leads from the cold ones. This will result in a hyper responsive email list.
- Call them to action. Every email should have a clear call to action that is backed with high value content. This will help your subscribers get used to receiving value every time they click a link.
The don’ts
- Be inconsistent. A common misconception is that the second you start sending emails, people will open and take action. Every business owner has to build relationships by delivering value consistently and by giving people multiple opportunities to jump on board when they are ready, not just when the business owner is ready.
- Import a random list. Make sure you are sending emails only to people who have given you permission to do so. Failing to do so will result in high bounce rates, damaged reputation, and getting banned by your email marketing service provider. Instead, do your research and create a compelling offer your audience wants and use a killer follow up sequence to push them through your marketing funnel.
- Begin until you have an end in mind. Don’t collect email addresses without a clear follow up strategy in place. Your subscribers are at their highest point of interest when they first opt-in so you want to take advantage of that opportunity as much as possible.
SmallBizLady: How often should someone send emails out to their list?
Chris Davis: The short answer is – however often as they need to. When you start building an email list, there should be an end goal you have in mind. Most of the time, achieving that end goal requires you to build relationships with your subscribers over time.
If you would like to build relationships quicker, send emails more frequently.
If time is not an issue and you are nervous about people being bothered by receiving too many emails, send emails less frequently.
What my years of professional experience have taught me is that value is more important than volume. If it is valuable content, very rarely will people complain about the frequency. In fact, most of the time, they will end up asking for more.
SmallBizLady: Can you give some examples of how a small business owner could leverage email autoresponders to scale their business?
Chris Davis: Sure. I’ll use 3 different business models to help illustrate my answer.
- Product Launches. Email autoresponders are the heart of pulling off a successful launch online because it allows you to effectively, and continuously, market to both new and old leads to drive them to the same destination.
- Freemium Model. This is where the business owner offers a free version of their product but the additional features are only available to paying customers. Once a customer signs up for the trial, the business owner can use an autoresponder sequence to deliver case studies, latest results, and further value to help them make the decision to upgrade to premium.
- ECommerce. If you have an online storefront you could leverage different autoresponder sequences per product and/or product category. The purpose of the sequence could be to give exposure to similar products you offer that may interest the buyer. Adding a coupon code in the sequence is a nice addition.
Overall, the key to leveraging email marketing for business success is creating autoresponder sequences that convert.
SmallBizLady: What are some tips to creating a sequence that converts?
Chris Davis: You must be good at writing headlines. What’s in your email doesn’t make any difference if it doesn’t get opened. Take the time and learn how to write headlines that get emails opened.
Understanding your target audience is critical. You must be in tune with what problems they are looking for you to solve. Make sure you are effectively communicating the value and promise of your product.
Utilize the power of story. We are all naturally drawn to stories. Drafting email autoresponder sequences that incorporate the power of story will always perform well and convert.
SmallBizLady: Do you recommend a particular email marketing platform for the best automation experience?
Chris Davis: If you’re just starting out and cost is more of a factor than getting a return on investment, pretty much any autoresponder will do. The most popular ones are Aweber, GetResponse, and Mailchimp. I recommend GetResponse over them all since it gives you the most advanced automation features.
For business owners that are serious about scaling their business with automation only two tools come to mind. Infusionsoft and Ontraport (formerly Office Autopilot). These are all-in-one marketing platforms that help the business owner unleash the true power of automation in their business. These tools, of course, require a steeper monthly fee and should be looked at as an investment for the serious business owner only.
SmallBizLady: What metrics do you use to measure the success of an email campaign?
Chris Davis: A strong metric to measure is email link clicks. These are commonly referred to as “click-throughs”, and are recorded every time someone clicks a link in your email. I always recommend tracking email link clicks instead of open rates because open rates are rarely accurate.
An even stronger metric is clicks to sale. This metric will show you the value of an email click in your business. If 20 link clicks equal $1,000 in sales, you know that each click is worth $50. That is a powerful metric to know when it comes time for advertising or launching a product.
SmallBizLady: What are some key factors in building an email list successfully?
Chris Davis: Building an email list successfully can be done by executing the following steps:
1. Have a great offer – 95% of the time your offer is the reason people are not subscribing to your list.
2. Have a sequence ready – Be intentional on the taking your subscribers to a destination. Respect their inbox by only sending emails that provide value.
3. Have traffic – With the previous two steps in place you will need a consistent flow of traffic to put your offer in front of. Common sources include Facebook ads, guest posting, and social media.
Once you have all 3 steps integrated…test, test, and test some more. It’s the only way for the business owner to know what is really working.
If you found this interview helpful, join us on Wednesdays 8-9 pm ET; follow @SmallBizChat on Twitter. Here’s how to participate in #SmallBizChat: http://bit.ly/1hZeIlz
For more tips on how start or grow your small business subscribe to Melinda Emerson’s blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com.
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