Do you know the importance of email campaigns and how they can drive clients to your coaching business? This article will teach you the essential elements of an effective email marketing campaign and give you tips on a simple email marketing strategy that can help you engage subscribers and maximize sales.
You can use email to reach out to potential customers, build customer loyalty, increase customer service, and help promote your coaching programs and services. But there are a few things you need to know about email marketing first.
What is email marketing?
In the digital age, email marketing is an inexpensive way to reach potential customers and is one of the easiest ways to increase profits by using a simple and cost-effective approach. This method allows you to share information and connect with customers at scale via email.
Why is email important for coaches?
Email marketing is the number one proven method of lead generation. It works because it’s personal. It can be automated and you can segment contacts according to their preferences and behaviors.
It is a powerful tool to create and nurture relationships with your audience. It allows you to communicate with them directly and individually on a mass scale with zero manual involvement in the process.
Email is a proven way to connect with your ideal customers and keep them coming back for more. Loyal customers and repeat customers are the best sources of referrals and new business.
Because coaching is a relationship business, email is a great way to build trust with your new and potential clients and grow your coaching business.
How does email marketing work?
Email marketing campaigns are an effective way of keeping your customers informed about your products and services. It’s also a good way to grow your business, by creating new leads, building relationships with prospects, and of course, generating sales. The more people that sign up for your emails, the more sales you will make. This is why you hear so many people saying how powerful it is for you to focus on building your audience and an email list of your own. Email marketing is the most cost-effective and efficient way of communicating with your tribe.
Is email marketing outdated?
Not at all. In fact, email marketing is still one of the most popular, cost-effective, and efficient ways to communicate with your tribe. How many times do you check your emails each day? Communicating with people who care and sharing messages of hope, love, and genuine value can have a lasting impact on the people you serve.
Sure, because you're not personally involved in every interaction there will be people for whom your message doesn't quite land, and that's ok. For those who matter, email remains one of the most powerful ways for you to connect and build relationships at scale.
How do I get started with email marketing as a coach?
You can start using marketing emails as a coach by asking yourself what information you would like to share with your clients and prospects. Take this a stage further by focusing on the journey people go through when deciding to purchase coaching from you.
Ask yourself: What do prospects need to believe in order to buy my coaching?
Brainstorm a list of answers to this question. The answers will usually include things like:
This coach understands me
This coach has what it takes to get me where I want to go
They have done this before with people just like me
This coaching program is the BEST way for me to achieve X
I really want this
This is called the Chain of Beliefs, things people need to believe in order to say yes. With this list in hand, you now have a great starting point for creating what I call content with intent. This is valuable content that guides prospects toward making a purchase.
Create a Compelling Email Welcome Nurture Sequence
From an email perspective you could take the chain of beliefs example above to create an email campaign nurture sequence using exactly these steps, something like these 5 welcome emails with example subject lines you can use to drive sales:
Email 1 - Email subject line: I feel your pain. Write a welcome email in the sequence that reflects the pain your ideal clients are going through. I call this the prison state. By describing what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like, you show understanding and create affinity.
Email 2 - Email subject line: I hit rock bottom... Write your origin story email to show how you've been through the same things your clients are going through right now. Share how you overcame the difficulties and how you are now on a mission to help people just like you.
Email 3 - Email subject line: I can't believe it! This is what Jenny said to me after she completed our second call together. Show them the successes your coaching clients have had after working with you. This way, your prospects can feel what it will be like to work with you and achieve similar results.
Email 4 - Email subject line: A proven process. Share how your unique process gets clients where they want to be. This is the mechanism or way they get to the results they desire.
Email 5 - Email subject line: Ready for a new you? Paint the picture of the paradise state. How will it look, how will it feel? Include a CTA (call to action) inviting them to take action and sign up for your program via a landing page or conversion-optimized checkout page.
Can you see how this structure works beautifully to create a bridge between cold subscribers who don't know you, to warm prospects who feel connected both to you and the outcome your coaching can bring to them?
Email personalization and hyper-relevant emails
Using personalized subject lines in your promotional emails massively enhances the effectiveness of what you do here. Instead of faceless communications, your prospects receive personalized messages. Hey FIRSTNAME. The personal touch makes this approach so much more effective at building relationships.
Relationship building and getting more clients are the real power of email marketing.
What email marketing tool do I need?
My recommended email marketing software for coaches is ConvertKit. This is by far the simplest, and most cost-effective email marketing service, also known as an email service provider (ESP for short). ConvertKit has simple but powerful marketing automation features that help you get the most from your marketing efforts and is designed specifically for coaches and online content creators.
How do I grow my email list?
There are a few different ways to grow your coach email lists and get new subscribers. My personal favorite is to create valuable pieces of content in a blog post, and resources that you can use as lead magnets or opt-ins on your website and on social media. These are things that visitors get in exchange for their email addresses. Think free ebooks, worksheets, guides, quizzes, mini-courses, etc.
Creating and publishing great content and having these lead magnets or content upgrades for people to sign up for your list is the best way to grow your audience organically. Once you have captured the email via a signup form, you can begin the process of nurturing those contacts using email nurture sequences, like in the example above, turning your audience into clients like magic.
Final Thoughts
Email should be a foundational pillar of your digital marketing strategy as a coach. This is one of the marketing channels you simply ignore at your peril. I hope this article has given you ideas and food for thought on a few ways you can send targeted emails and use email campaigns and email automation strategically to get more email subscribers onto your list, grow your audience, get more clients, and increase your impact as a coach.
