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From Problem to Product Aware with Sales Emails · Master The Inbox

• 0:00
  Data suggests that on average it takes about eight touch points before a lead becomes a customer.
• 0:07
  Obviously there's more to the situation, but today I want to introduce you to how you can implement this concept in your sales emails. It's one of the things I do with every promotion and it's actual strategy rather than a one time task. You welcome to master the inbox, the podcast where course creators, coaches and consultants come to learn how to sell with email marketing in a non spammy, non aggressive way.
• 0:41
  My name is Monica Badiu. I am an email marketing copywriter and for the past four years I have worked with dozens of creators all over the world. We use email marketing as the primary channel for converting their leads into students. In some situations. We promoted the same product every month and there was a science to it because we didn't burn the list, we didn't get hate email, we didn't get unsubscription rates. Why? The opposite has happened. We were able to get better and better results every time. And that's because selling with email marketing isn't just a tactic. We're not just focusing on presenting the offer. We are implementing some very basic and powerful marketing strategies. And today I'm going to introduce you to my favorite one. It's something that I use in every promotion I write. It's something that I have taught dozens of course creators before. And this allows you to create a sales pitch that isn't aggressive, that isn't spammy, but actually delivers value. It connects with your audience at the right time. It makes your content relevant. It helps to guide your reader through all the essential parts of making a decision. Now, in marketing theory, we have something called the five steps of consumer decision making. And this implies being problem aware, researching information around your problem, researching various solutions, and then actually making a decision, which usually implies a purchase. Then we also have post purchase and we'll talk about that in a different episode.
• 2:31
  Today, I want us to focus on these first five steps because this allows you to create justification in the mind of your reader as to why they actually should pay attention to what you have to offer. Let's start from the beginning. Most of the creators I have worked with were found by their students or subscribers by performing search on Google. They had a problem and they wanted to learn more about the problem, and they also wanted to learn more about what solutions they have at hand. So somehow they found you, whether it was through a blog post or through YouTube, or maybe through performing search on social media, because that's also something that's been happening a lot recently. So they ended up on your system, they joined your email list because you had something that helped them learn more about the problem. And then that's where most brands stop communicating with their readers or actually getting them back into that first problem awareness stage. Because if they don't buy from that first interaction, a lot of people, a lot of brands kind of give up. Or they just assume that if somebody joined their emails because they had a problem, they will be in the same state one month, two months, three months later, which isn't necessarily true. That's why with every email promotion I write, I take the reader back into the problem awareness stage because that justifies why I am sending them this email and it reminds them why they have signed up for that creator's email list in the first place.
• 4:16
  Plus, everybody wants to learn more about themselves and that allows you to position your brand and to position your offer as the logical, convenient solution to their problem. So that's where we start email promotion again and again.
• 4:34
  So over the last few years, I've promoted the same product monthly for a couple of months in a row. And that was difficult to achieve had I not been able to be very creative about the context and have a very good understanding of how people, they just move across different awareness stages, consideration stages over the course of their lives and even the course of a month or even the course of a week.
• 5:05
  Now, taking these two things into consideration, I was able to position the same product in a different way every time as it relates to the problem. They initially came to this creator and show them another benefit or another potential outcome of them taking the course. It's not easy, but it's effective if you only have one product to promote. Now I'm not saying you have to do that every month, but it's important to keep this in mind whenever you want to send a promotion to your audience. Remember, they are not in the same problem awareness consideration stage, or solution awareness, or product awareness stage as they were when they first joined your email list. And I'll explain a little bit what happens at every stage. So in problem awareness, we have a problem, we know the problem, but we want to learn more about the problem. And while doing this research, we become aware of the fact that there are solutions. So solution aware, this is where we gather information and then we move into the consideration stage. Because at this point we know we have several solutions at hand. So we want to make sure that we're choosing the best solution possible. We're going to look for social proof. We're going to look for case studies, money back guarantees and all of that. And then we are in the decision stage and that's where that discount that everybody likes to throw around and the urgency can come in very handy. So how do we implement this in a sales promotion with email marketing? Well, I have three stages. The first stage takes them from the problem awareness. Again, we mix with context and relevancy. So in my case, I'm also a student.
• 6:55
  I'm in my 30s. It's my second university. It's not easy. I'm also a mom. I'm also a freelancer.
• 7:02
  I'm also an in house copywriter. I'm recording this podcast.
• 7:06
  So I have so much stuff to do. Well, in this case, if you're someone who's teaching about productivity and you know that your audience is made up of people who have a goal to learn new stuff, they're busy professionals. They don't mind having a busy schedule. They're high achievers. So that's the context. Let's talk about how we can implement this. So, hey, Monica, you joined this community because you want them to learn how it is possible to get more stuff done with the same 24 hours that everybody has. Now. Slowing down isn't an option for you. We know that. But we are here because we have a similar mission, to be able to make more with the time we have. So let's take this example now, in January, lots of high achievers create plans for the months to come. A lot of them, they like to put lots of things on their plate. If they're like me, they already have like a long list of things they want to achieve, both in finances, personal relationships, education, professional marketing, branding, traveling, health. So much stuff. Right?
• 8:19
  So how do we tap into that specific context? Well, we begin by saying, so, hey, Monica, you've joined this community because you're a high achiever. You have big goals, and so far, you've always been able to achieve the majority of them. However, from every now and again, you hit exhaustion and you hit burnout. So what if 2024 would be different? What if this year, instead of going high, hitting your picks and then going low because you hit burnout, you're able to achieve the same amount of stuff, but with less exhaustion? This is January and we're sure, like creating long lists of things. How about we help you plan this in a better way? And that's the beginning of your promotion. We're talking about the problem, which is exhaustion. We're talking about the context, which is a new year and we're also talking about the goal, which is to achieve a lot of stuff. Now, this email is very specifically geared to a target audience. We know they're high achievers, we know they want to achieve more. We're also creating curiosity. Now, at this point we can have a short call to action that sends them to the sales page. But what I like to do in this first stage, where I'm raising the awareness of the problem, is to create engagement, to deliver value, to get the reader's attention, and to establish the fact that I am here as a brand to help the reader. I am not here to make money out of them, off of them. I am here to help them achieve their goals. So in the first stage, I have three emails that walk this audience through problem agitate, solution. And this is a very basic copywriting concept. The idea is that I have a specific email for each of these three stages. So, problem. We talk about the problem agitation. We explain how the problem they have, which is wanting to achieve more without getting burnout, without getting exhausted, is impacting other parts of their life, whether it's a relationship, whether it's.
• 10:31
  I know, their body image, whether it's their mental health, whether it's like the long term benefit of doing this or the simple thing of enjoying life. That's the second email. Again, I'm not selling anything at this point. I'm still in the part where I am in problem aware and I am giving them more information about the problem they have now.
• 10:53
  I'm trying to make it very contextual based, which means that I'm going to focus a lot more on the idea of how do you create a plan for achieving what you want in the year to come that is both realistic and it's not going to send you into burnout? That's the whole idea. This is basically where I'm describing the problem, where I'm showing them that trying to push through this problem without solving it or trying to solve it is going to create more problems down the line.
• 11:23
  And then in the third one, which is a solution, I give them a short glimpse of what it's possible, whether it's like, here are ten different ways you can do a better job using your time more productively. Whether it's introducing a perspective shift, it's not about how much stuff you do, it's about how beneficial that stuff is to the end goal. Like what do you want to achieve? Is it just like claiming a lot more stuff that got done on your to do list, or is it something else oftentimes it's just like a short exercise or a sample of what they would be learning in the coaching program or in the course.
• 12:04
  Now, at the end of that third solution, email, I basically tell them, look, if you want to learn more about this or if you want more exercises like this, you're going to love what's coming next. And the next part is basically the consideration stage. It's where I introduce them to my solution and then I give them the information that would allow them to collect enough details, social proof, potential outcomes. We tackle objections that would allow them to go into the decision making stage. Now in this part of the promotion, I basically combine the solution aware with the product aware stages and I give them all the answers to the primary obstacles they have around actually enrolling in my course. Now, I'm going to have several emails in here and that is a concept that freaks some people out, but that's the idea. It allows like a slow burn of the sales pitch, it's not annoying, and it also allows you to deliver a lot of value because through each of those emails you can actually shift perspective. So let's say they have a personal belief that they're not going to be able to get the same amount of stuff done without going into burnout. Now what is something specific to that limiting belief that you can tackle? Because if they don't believe they can do it, they're not going to enroll. You can even say, look, we know you've tried so many other things before and this is amazing, but unfortunately, by the time by Q one or by March, you find yourself hitting another low point where you're exhausted and you feel burnout and you're wondering, why are you doing all of this? So how is this one different from anything else you have tried? And you answer that specific objection or fear. Now, in this stage, we also talk about social proof and we give them case studies and we basically demonstrate how this solution, how this alternative can work better than anything else they've tried before. Now, one of the things that I love doing at this point is allowing the reader to basically qualify themselves by sharing information about who is the best person who's going to have success with this program.
• 14:39
  Because let's be fair, your program could be amazing, but it can't really help everyone.
• 14:46
  That's just not how it works. So if you have a specific outcome that says, well, by June you're going to be able to enjoy better sleep, sleep, have more free time than you ever thought possible, still be able to get stuff done and learn and achieve everything you want. Here's what you need to do right now, or here's who is the best candidate for this?
• 15:12
  Here's what people who are able to achieve this specific outcome in this specific time frame, this is what they're saying, or this is what they're doing, or this is what they believe, and then you just allow them to qualify themselves, to identify themselves in those people. You can have a list of testimonials, you can have a case study, you can even have bulleted points that say people who have success with this are people who have a strong work ethic, people who are able to kind of hire a va, people who want to let go of control, people who are motivated to learn new and better ways of doing things. So you give them that option. Now, in the decision making stage of this whole framework, we're going to have something that's called the going going emails. And in my strategy, these are like the last three emails of any promotion. And what they do is very simple. Now, three emails.
• 16:17
  The first one is going to answer the whole list of possible questions that people are going to have. It acts both as a reminder of what's included, of what they can achieve, of what they can get for the amount of money they're expected to invest.
• 16:36
  It also has a list of all the potential objections or fears they might have. So it's just like you scroll through it and you find your question and then there's an answer from the brand and there's also an invitation that says, if your question isn't here, reply to this email and my team is going to get you an answer.
• 16:58
  Asp this one also includes a mention that a discount is going to be expiring and a countdown.
• 17:05
  So this stage of the promotion, we can be more sales focused. Just because they walked through all the other stages before. We're not just hitting them with a sales pitch without actually making sure that they know what we're talking about. These other emails, emails that go before this sell stage are very important because if they have interacted with at least some of the emails you have sent before, there's a bigger chance that they're going to buy from those going emails. And that also allows you to focus on other more powerful elements in those going, going emails, not just like blasting them with urgency and an expiring discount. So we had the first email, which is the faq one. We give them all the answers to all the potential questions they might have. Now, in the last day, I usually send two emails and the last day is one of the most profitable day of any promotion I have gone through, and this is because we're kind of tying the knot. And yes, we are tapping into urgency and scarcity, but we have a good reason. And most people just go with the basic version, which is like, hey, your discount expires today. Which is fine if you're only going to promote your course once or twice a year. However, if you're going to run more frequent promotions, I suggest you focus those last two emails on actually consolidating the idea of investing in your course. Now you're going to satisfy the biggest two fears. One is, what if I don't like it? What if it's not as good as it looks like and you're going to talk about the money back guarantee. The other one is, why should I get this now? Why does it matter? Could I wait? I think I could wait. Right? So you can talk about procrastination, you can talk about the bigger picture, and you can explain what it means for them to wait right now. And obviously, throughout all these emails, you're going to have a compassionate way of talking to your audience. You're delivering emails that show you care about your audience and you care about that person going beyond their problem and achieving the goals they desire.
• 19:25
  So in this framework, we walk the reader through all these different stages and this allows us to tap into that awareness, to tap into that initial motivation for your audience to have joined your email list. Because they did have a goal, they did have some kind of curiosity. But if you forget about the fact that people just have multiple different priorities throughout the day, throughout their week, throughout their month, and that they won't be in the same problem awareness as they were when they joined your email list, your sales emails are going to miss the point and they're going to have a hard time converting an audience that is simply not paying attention because they're not clear about the problem you're trying to solve and why it matters to them.
• 20:17
  Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Master the Inbox.
• 20:20
  For more tips on using email marketing to sell your course or service, please go to my blog, monicabadio.com blog, and you'll find a lot more case studies, examples and frameworks that are going to help you sell from a place of love instead of fear.