So you’ve decided to implement an email newsletter and sales funnels into your marketing engine. Fantastic! Making the decision to engage with your audience over email is a monumental step in the growth path of any business. But how do you know where to start?
You may have heard about the power of “broadcast” sequences, or the revenue-generating abilities of “evergreen” campaigns, but what’s the difference between them? And why might you use one over the other? Let’s break it down.
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Evergreen Email Sequences
An “evergreen” email sequence is a chain of emails that is not date, event, or special offer-dependent. Often referred to as an “email funnel,” this types of sequence guides (or “funnels”) subscribers toward a desired action in a non-invasive way.
The key components of an email sales funnel include:
1. An Entry Point
How will subscribers start their progression through the funnel? What triggers the email chain? Typically this takes the form of a lead capture or opt-in form somewhere on your website.
2. An Offer
What are you asking the subscriber to do? What will they gain by progressing through this funnel? Why does this funnel exist?
3. A Completion Action
Once the subscriber completes the funnel, what happens? Ideally, they should be transitioned to another funnel or evergreen sequence (for example, your newsletter sequence).
The great thing about evergreen email sequences is that, in theory, you can set them up, automate driving consistent traffic through them, and sit back and let the money roll in. In theory.
How to Make The Most of Your Evergreen Sales Funnels
Here are a few tips for how to make the most of evergreen funnels:
Always be Testing
Although you can “set and forget” these funnels, you will get much more value out of them if you are constantly optimizing them. From subject lines test to copy tests, send times and more, there are so many elements that can be tweaked to improve performance.
And since you are driving through your funnels consistently, you should be able to get results fairly quickly
For each product that you sell, you should plan to have anywhere from 2-4 evergreen funnels that promote it – including abandon cart, welcome emails, core offer, etc
Repurposing is Your Friend
We have found the most success from creating a “core offer sequence” for each product whose content can be repurposed and adjusted for other funnel types.-
The bottom line is: “If you execute evergreen funnels effectively, you can expect consistent revenue results.”
The classic example of an evergreen funnel is your core offer sequence.
With the help of a qualifying lead magnet, you can drive traffic through an evergreen funnel, where a subscriber receives an initial “gift” and then progresses through a series of “deposit” (content) and “withdrawal” (sales) emails that are entirely date-independent.
The goal of the evergreen core offer funnel is to introduce subscribers to your core offer and, ultimately, convert them. The tactics of how to put this funnel together deserve a blog post of their own.
Here are some example welcome email sequences.
Broadcast Email Sequences
If you execute evergreen email marketing correctly, you can expect up to 80% of your email revenue to come from evergreen sequences.
But there is a huge opportunity with broadcast sequences as well. Broadcast sequences, or “special offers,” are just that – they serve the purpose of notifying your subscriber list of some special occasion you want them to be aware of.
This sequence runs once and is typically date-based (ie. Send Email 1 on Friday, September 1 at 6:30 AM).
Opportunities for broadcast sequences include:
- Seasonal Sales, like Black Friday, Memorial Day & other holidays
- New Product Launches
- To fill seats for Event Registration, like a live event or webinar on a specific date
- Random Sales
Rule of thumb: You should make a direct offer at least once every 6 weeks to everyone in your community. Once a month if you can swing it, meaning you have an engaged, responsive list that appreciates your content.
The Bottom Line
In summary, if you want to make a quick buck, put your list through a special offer. Flash sales or other one-time sales will make you a significant amount of revenue in a relatively short period of time, and they’re a great way to hit your monthly revenue goal.
But, if you want to set up processes that will drive consistent revenue that will grow as you build your list and optimize, evergreen sequences are the way to go.
Do you have any sales funnels integrated into your business? Let us know in the comments. Get more digital marketing knowledge delivered right to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletter.
